When Life Gets Cluttered
What do you think of when you hear the word clutter?
Piles of clothes on the floor? Kitchen tops overflowing? Cupboards stuffed full of random things? The 'hoarder' house at the end of the street?
In today’s world, clutter is far broader than simply the physical junk you have in your home. It manifests in many different areas of your life;
Digitally - everything stored in your digital life; mountains of emails, photos, unnamed files, old apps, notifications and subscriptions all become clutter.
At work - the unnecessary things that add little or no value or don’t get you any closer to your goals. The endless hours of time wasted in meetings, emails that nobody reads or tasks that don’t need to be done.
Your emotions - the negative ones you feel about yourself and others; fear, guilt, blame, anxiety, regret, and raw anger.
“Clutter is anything in your life that gets in the way. That stops you from achieving your goals or curating the life that you want to lead. It eats up your time and fills your mind leaving little space to focus on the things that are important to you.”
The Impact Of Clutter
You may not have noticed your clutter or the impact it’s having on you. Maybe you just feel ‘meh’, unproductive, stuck on a treadmill or constantly living in a state of disorganisation.
There is zero doubt the impact of too much clutter is real. It can;
Stress you out - studies have been done that show that those living in a cluttered environment experience higher cortisol levels (the stress hormone). How do you feel when you have 5,000 emails in your inbox? Or when your wardrobe is overflowing and you can’t find anything to wear?
Impact your sleep - how relaxed are you when your bedroom is cluttered? How hard is it to switch off when your phone is buzzing with late-night emails or notifications?
Hurt your relationships - all types of clutter can impact your relationships with your family. Feeling relaxed and giving quality time to your partner and children can be hard when the mess in your home stresses you out. Emotional clutter can be passed onto your kids and impact your relationship with your partner.
Affect your health - Clutter can get in the way of achieving a healthy lifestyle, eating well and exercising regularly. When we don’t know what’s for dinner and the pantry is disorganised, it can seem easier to reach for the takeaway menu. Spending hours on our phones distracted by notifications can stop us from committing the time to get to the gym or go out for that jog.
Suck up your time - the distraction of clutter sees you spending time on things that are not important to you, meaning less time for the things that are.
Sheesh.. that's a lot to take on board! So my life's cluttered! What do I do about it?
Top tips for tackling your clutter
Goals - working out your life goals will help you clarify what is essential and what is not (‘your clutter’). When you know where you are going it can help you avoid distractions.
Develop your clutter hit list - write down all the clutter you have in your life, ranking it by which has the most significant impact on you.
Start small but do it often - commit a small amount of time every day to removing some clutter. Tackle a drawer or a cupboard, delete some emails, photos or apps you don’t need. Doing this will help you form a decluttering habit.
Identify the cause of your clutter - to make a long-term change stick, you need to understand why your clutter builds and turn it off at the source. Do you shop for stress relief? Do you always sign up for email notifications? Are you constantly comparing yourself to others on social media?
Categorise - rather than a scattergun approach, putting your things into categories and bringing each type together is the best way to review what’s important and what’s not.
Remove - now you’ve worked out what’s essential and what’s not, make sure you remove what you don’t need as quickly as possible. Try to avoid getting stuck procrastinating, make a decision and move on.
Once you start on the journey of decluttering your life and mind, you’ll begin to notice clutter everywhere, and your brain will, over time, become tuned in to weeding it out. You’ll feel more relaxed, you’ll value things more, and you’ll have the time and headspace to focus on those goals.
If you feel like its time to start decluttering your life but need some support on the journey, get in touch, we’d love to help.
Lisa Hodgson is a former Finance Director turned Professional Organiser. After years of juggling a busy finance career with the demands of a family and going on her journey of decluttering her life and mind, she now provides life-changing decluttering and home organisation services to busy women and shares other helpful tips on Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram.