How Clutter Can Affect Your Life

There are many ways clutter can affect our lives:

It wastes our time: we spend our days looking for, moving around, dusting, storing, organizing and trying to sell our stuff. A lot of our time is wasted on our stuff.

It can cost us money - sometimes when we can’t find things, we buy them again only to realize later that we had it all along. Lost papers and receipts can lose you money in your business.

It can cause stress both mentally and physically and affect our health. Stress causes us to lose focus and affect our productivity.

It can cause us to isolate ourselves from society. Not wanting to go out for feeling overwhelmed, not wanting to have anyone over to our house.

WHY DO WE HOLD ONTO THINGS:

Each of us has our own reason we are attached to things. It may be an item that was left to you by a loved one and letting it go feels like letting go of that person. We also fear losing control. Once we open up the closet or the boxes, we have to deal with the feelings that we closed up.

There's also the what ifs....what if I need this one day? What if there was an emergency? This is living in a constant state of fear of what could happen.

You may have grown up surrounded with a lot of things and so you feel more comfortable having lots of stuff. For most the reason why things pile up is procrastination. We don't want to deal with things and so we shove them into drawers and closets to deal with later.

HOLDING ONTO MEMORIES:

The main reason most of us hang onto stuff is because of the memories that are attached. It could be the memory of a loved one, a memory of a time in our lives. Maybe we were younger or life was less complicated. Memory of a place we visited and a souvenir we purchased.

RELEASING THE PAST

If you or a loved one are having a hard time letting go, you might want to consider talking with a friend or family member about how you are feeling. If the feelings go deeper and you need more help, talking with a therapist can help you work through things. Working with a professional organizer can bring a new perspective and help you get through it. No matter how you decide to work through things, remember to recognize and honour the feelings as you go through this process.

WHY DECLUTTER

There are so many great reasons to declutter our homes. It feels so good to be able to let go of stuff. There are actual health benefits to decluttering. If you have been holding onto stuff from the past, releasing them can make you feel lighter and more carefree.

Decluttering creates space in areas of our homes that we forgot we had. You may find something that you thought you had lost.

Decluttering creates good habits to continue and pass along to your children. Lead by example!

Having less stuff, means that there is more time for you to do the things you love. When you have less to deal with in your home, you could do something else, like take a walk, have a bath, meditate, play with your kids, exercise.

When there is clutter on our surfaces its harder to clean properly. Having a decluttered home, also leads to a cleaner home. Clutter can also cause hazards, like tripping.

You can help others. There are so many great charities out there that could use a helping hand. You might not realize that your donation of clothes, or housewares could change someone’s life.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLUTTER

PHYSICAL CLUTTER - of course this is the main cause of clutter. This can be too many clothes, toys, books, kitchen stuff, garages, closets. This can also be paperwork and files.

DIGITAL CLUTTER  - in a fast paced world of technology we are experiencing more digital clutter. Sometimes it can feel like our computer files, photos and emails are taking over. When you are going through the processing of decluttering you might want to spend some time decluttering those digital files as well. The thing about digital files is that they are not seen out in the open, but these too can create clutter in our minds and our lives.

MENTAL CLUTTER - this is all the things that go on in our mind. Our endless lists of things to do, volunteering, work, our kids, our families. All the thoughts and feelings we have on a daily basis. Have you even taken the time to declutter your mind?

RELATIONSHIPS CLUTTER  - there will always be relationships, whether with a spouse or with family and friends. Sometimes we might not realize that a relationship is no longer healthy and causing us to feel overwhelmed. Sometimes we might need to consider letting go of a friendship or relationship that is making us feel bad.

SCHEDULE CLUTTER - In our busy lives our schedules are constantly full with work, meetings, children sports, birthday parties and events. Do we ever take a minute to schedule time for ourselves?

In blogs to follow, I will dive deeper into each of these categories. In the meantime, if you are in need of assistance with phyisical clutter in your life, let’s connect!

Corey, Organize My Space Kelowna