How Your Cluttered Home Can Cause More Stress

Most of us like our things. You look around your home and see items that remind you of people, vacations, and other memories. Decorations make you happy. You have things around "just in case" because you are prepared for various situations. You want to be helpful when somebody needs or wants something.

This may be okay if everything you own has its place, but if you have stuff hanging around taking up space on your counters, piles of mail or laundry, a garage that you can't find anything in, or a closet full of things you rarely wear (I certainly have all of the above!), then it is considered clutter.

Having more things than you truly NEED leads to more stress. Clutter can cause stress in many ways.

Overwhelm

First of all, just looking around and seeing a lot of stuff that you need to put away adds to your never-ending to-do list. Even if you don't consciously think "oh I need to put that laundry away" or "I really need to go through that pile of mail", your mind recognizes it as you walk by, and it adds to your sense of overwhelm. If you do get to it in a timely manner, good for you, but if you don't end up doing all of those things you see that you need to get done around the house it can make you feel like a failure. It adds to your stress. If you can't control the chaos in your home, how can you control other things in your life? You want to declutter but the overwhelm is paralyzing and you don't know where to start. You spiral into a never-ending overwhelmed feeling. (Not sure where to start? Sign up for a FREE decluttering challenge starting in February!)

More time cleaning

If you say you are going to clean the kitchen, you probably start with putting things away, right? You have to put the dry clean dishes away, remove the pile of mail, put random boxes or bags of food away, and straighten up. How will you clean the counters if the counters are full of stuff? If everything doesn't have a place to go, it's frustrating and you don't want to start. What if you didn't have to put things away and you could just start wiping down counters immediately? You'd be more likely to just quickly wipe down the counters each day instead of making it a huge task to put stuff away and then sanitize. By starting off with less stuff out and about, the thought of cleaning your kitchen/dining room/bathroom/living room will be so much easier. You won't procrastinate, and it'll be done before you know it.

All the extra stuff hanging around your home also adds more surfaces. The more surfaces there are in your home, the more space there is for dust to accumulate. This means you'll have to spend more time cleaning than you would have to otherwise. The less time you have to spend dusting, the more time you have to knock other things off your to-do list or sit back and relax.

A disorganized home leads to a disorganized mind

When everything has a place, you know right where everything is. It's easy to find whatever you are looking for because what you are looking for is in its place. When you have extra stuff and things don't all have a place, it is incredibly easy to lose track of where those things are. You may try your hardest to stay organized, but you often feel disorganized. When things are placed randomly, it makes it hard to find them when you need them. Plus, other people may move things to get what they need in that moment, so when you go to find what you are looking for it is no longer there. Now not only do you feel disorganized with your things, but you may feel disorganized with your mind. Have you ever felt like you are going crazy because "I KNOW I put it right here!" You feel like you're going crazy when you need something, and it isn't where you think it is. You spend way more time looking for it than you expected, and now you're running late and frustrated. You may feel shame, embarrassment, or guilt of not knowing where a certain thing is and not having a "perfect" home like you see in magazines, tv. shows, or social media. For you, a disorganized mind might be forgetting to do things such as RSVP to parties on time because the invitation is stuck in the giant pile of mail, and you'll never get to it by the RSVP date (I have literally done this.......multiple times).

How Decluttering Helps

Having more of a clutter-free home can "clear the air" and make you feel lighter. You won't constantly be reminded of the many things you don't get done in a day, so you will be happier. You can spend way less time cleaning because you'll only have to do a quick wipe down instead of sorting through everything and putting things away. You can dust less. You'll feel more organized and in control of your home, and therefore you'll also feel more in control of your life.

Free Decluttering Challenge

Ready to start reducing your stress by decluttering? I'm running a free decluttering challenge in February! I'll send you emails each week with a structure of what to tackle when, tips and tricks, and motivation! To join, simply enter your email here!