Guest Post - Free Yourself From Clutter | A Simple Guide To Get You Started

Free Yourself From Clutter | A Simple Guide To Get You Started

We’ve all got a junk drawer at home. You know the one. It’s the drawer in your kitchen that accumulates just about everything. Scissors, toothpicks, three different kinds of tape, a lighter, some rubber bands, a knife cutter, a few random jelly beans for some reason, and a receipt from three years ago, among other things.

Some people don’t limit it to their junk drawer, though, and the clutter that’s in the junk drawer takes over their entire house. Every drawer is a “junk” drawer. Closets are jam-packed, and the doors won’t shut. You can’t eat at the dining room table because it’s full of mail and other...stuff. There’s not a single surface in the house that isn’t covered.

If this sounds familiar, you probably live in a cluttered home. Clutter is simply anything you don’t like, don’t use, or don’t really need. In feng shui philosophy, it’s believed free-flowing energy creates health, wealth and love. If you have clutter in your house, you probably feel the opposite of those feelings. Clutter typically produces feelings of stress, anxiety, and recklessness.

But don’t worry; if your house is cluttered, it’s not too late to fix it. The thought of getting rid of all the clutter can be very overwhelming, but it can be done. In the article below, we will talk about clutter, and how to finally get rid of it.

The Signs Your House Is Cluttered

First things first; we need to find out if your house really is cluttered. Below is a list of 10 things that are telltale signs that you have a cluttered home. If you read anything off of this list and think, “This is me!” you probably live in a cluttered home.

• Your medicine cabinet is full of expired medicine

• You’re embarrassed to have guests over

• You have a drawer full of chords that you’re sure you need, you just don’t know why

• You find something you forgot you own every time you clean

• You have posters and artwork on the floors and tables, not your walls.

• There are clothes in your closet with the tags on them

• You have a stack of cards and letters several years old

• To you, cleaning is just putting things into the correct pile

• You can’t even throw away your junk mail

• You have the same shirt in ten different colors

If any of these struck a chord with you, your house is probably cluttered. Some of the things listed above might not seem like a huge deal, but they are often a symptom of a much larger problem.

Where Does Clutter Come From?

So you’ve accepted that you have a problem with clutter. The first step to getting rid of your clutter is to understand where clutter comes from. All clutter stems from indecision. You have ten colors of the same shirt because you couldn’t decide which color you liked best. You haven’t hung your artwork yet because you can’t decide where you want it.

You have stuff just laying around your house because you can’t decide what to do with it, and there is clutter in your life because you haven’t taken control and decided what’s important to you. When you fail to make decisions, you end up with clutter. It’s as simple as that.

Once you start making these decisions, then the clutter starts clearing up without you really trying. When you decide that shirt looks best in blue, you don’t need the other nine. When you decide that picture you bought looks fantastic over the mantle, it’s no longer taking up space on your dining room table.

If everything in your home has a place, and you put it where it belongs, and you get rid of everything that you don’t have a space for, clutter wouldn’t exist.

Why You Should Declutter

Admitting to the problem isn’t enough. If your house is cluttered, you need to fix it. Some people tend to justify their clutter, and say things like, “I know where everything is,” or, “If I didn’t need everything here I would’ve already gotten rid of it.” Those are just excuses, and the clutter really needs to go.

When you finally declutter your home, you will instantly start noticing how things are different. First, you’ll feel an instant wave of relief. All that stress you had because of the clutter will be gone. There’s science that backs this claim too. There’s a link between high cortisol, which is a stress hormone, and people who own homes with a high density of household objects. So, the more stuff you have, the more stress you experience. Remove the stuff, remove the stress.

You won’t feel as tired anymore. That’s right, the reason you’re always so tired could be directly related to the clutter in your home. A study done by the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute found that people with cluttered homes experience exhaustion as a result of expanding mental energy on stress that’s caused by your messy environment. Also, it’s harder to focus when your house is cluttered, so you have to try harder and spend more energy doing everyday tasks.

You won’t be putting yourself in constant danger anymore, either. How many times have you tripped over something in the floor, or knocked something off of a shelf above you because it was so cluttered? Every time you walk through or do any chores in your cluttered home, you’re putting yourself in physical danger. No one needs to sprain their ankle or get a concussion because they can’t figure out what to do with all their stuff.

Time To Declutter

Decluttering your house is one of those things that is easier said than done. The clutter in your home could have accumulated over years and years of indecision. It can be incredibly overwhelming, and the process of cleaning up the clutter is often more stressful than just living in the clutter. But because of what we’ve talked about above, the payoff is worth it. Living in a clutter-free home will significantly improve your quality of life, making the stress of decluttering worth it.

But, where do you start? You can’t just grab a trash bag a box and go nuts. You need to have a plan. The absolute first thing you have to do before you can accomplish anything is believing it’s possible.

For some of you reading this, your house has probably been cluttered for so long that you’ve given up hope of ever being clutter free. If that’s you, then the first step for you is to really believe that you can do this. Your home can be clutter free. You will never get rid of the clutter in your home if you don’t remove the clutter from your mind and allow yourself to believe it’s possible.

The “Hurricane List”

When you’re ready to start, a first thing to do is to decide what you would replace if you lost everything. If a tornado or a hurricane came through and just destroyed everything you own, what would be the first few things you replaced?

Don’t do this sitting in your home. Go to a friends house a coffee shop, or the library; somewhere where you can’t see any of the stuff sitting in your house. Just sit down and make a list of everything that would be on your list to replace immediately. Don’t worry about model numbers or brand names either. If your TV is the first thing you'd replace, just write TV. Once that is done, you can go back to your house and start cleaning, armed with a list of the things that are truly important to you.

Short, Focused Bursts

Once you’re ready to clean, it is best to work in short, focused bursts. It took a long time to accumulate the stuff, so it’ll take a long time to organize it and get rid of it. Don’t expect to complete a marathon session and get it all done in one day. Make a plan that targets specific areas you’re going to declutter, clean up, and organize over an extended period of time. Then stick to that plan, so you don’t get overwhelmed.

Something that works for a lot of people is picking one room, and then working on it in 30-minute bursts. Declutter for 30 minutes, and then rest for 30 minutes. The point of this is to avoid the emotions and stress that come along with decluttering a room that hasn’t been touched in years. When you start, set a 30-minute timer, and drop whatever it is you’re doing when it goes off and walk away. Leave the space completely and allow yourself to detach for 30 minutes before you come back. Then rinse and repeat.

Utility Over Sentiment

Anyone that has decluttered their house before will tell you the absolute hardest thing to do was get rid of sentimental items. It’s very easy to get attached to things. Maybe you’ve had them since you were a kid, they have a special meaning to you, or because they represent the hard work that went into buying them. That’s completely normal; everyone has things that are sentimental to them. When you’re trying to declutter, though, you need to be able to separate yourself from those feelings.

The best way to do that is to ask yourself these questions:

What Does This Do For Me That Nothing Else Does?

Think about the utility of the item you have. Why is it unique? What does it do? Can it do more than one thing?

Do I Own Anything Else That Can Replace This?

This is the point where you line up all of your staplers and decide which one is best. Because really, who needs eight staplers? Pick the stapler that does the best job, and that holds the most value to you. The other seven aren’t necessary.

Does This Have Sentimental Meaning To Me?

When you’re deciding which appliances or electronics to keep, those first two questions are pretty easy to answer. However, when you start looking at things like old photos and knick-knacks, utility doesn’t really apply. Sentimental value is important; we’re not here to downplay what something means to you. Just try not to get overwhelmed by how much everything makes you feel versus what it does for you and how much space it takes.

You can apply those three questions to everything you own. Give yourself the appropriate time to review everything instead of deciding a room or closet is fine just the way it is. It probably isn’t. Even if it seems okay to you, that box in your office full of old papers needs to be shredded. You’ll be much happier when they’re gone and they’re not crowding you at your desk.

Take A Deep Breath And Go

This won’t be easy. This is going to take time. You aren’t on an episode of hoarders, so there isn’t going to be a fleet of dump trucks and a team of movers and psychologists that show up to help you out.

But you can do this on your own or with the help of a select few loved ones. Start out by making your plan. Take it room by room and day by day. Work in thirty-minute bursts and don’t overextend yourself and get overwhelmed.

Once you’re done, you are going to thank yourself for working so hard to get everything cleaned up. You deserve all the advantages of living in a clutter-free home.

Republished, original text here.

Author Bio: Anna Kucirkova works as a copywriter for over 4 years. She speaks 3 languages, loves traveling and has a passion for kids and writing. While she has been to many places in Europe and South East Asia, she still wants to explore the rest of the world.

Guest Post - Declutter Your Home in 21 Days

Clutter can really take hold and ruin the appearance of an otherwise beautiful home. This infographic from our friends at HappyCleans looks at how you can make your home clutter free in just 21 short days. One area of concern in many homes is paper and this can pile up needlessly with the amount of bills, mails and other random bits around the house. The reality is the majority of these items can be thrown away or recycled.

The fridge & freezer is one appliance in that also needs regular decluttering. Old jars of peanut butter and other random concoctions we never plan on consuming are often kept needlessly. Spend one of the 21 days just clearing this area out and it’ll be like having a new fridge.

Magazines and books can also tend to pile up and the majority of these will never be read again. Sort through them keeping your favourites and consider donating the rest to local charities. They would sure appreciate them and someone would of course benefit from reading them!

The entertainment area is another place we tend to needlessly store piles of DVDs and CDs. With the advent of streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify the majority of these have become redundant. Again, these would be perfect for local charities.

Check out the full infographic now and begin your decluttering journey today. Today is the beginning of your brand new home, enjoy!

Author bio

Kat Buckley is the owner of a local services company called HappyCleans. She is passionate about giving people a little extra time to spend with loved ones by cleaning their homes.

Marie Kondo Revisited

Now that Marie Kondo’s Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo has dropped people can't stop talking about her methods. We read her book a few years ago and thought it was worth discussing again.

Joy Indeed

Many of you have heard of Marie Kondo the Japanese decluttering guru. Her two books “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and “Spark Joy” are hot on best seller lists.  After attending her lecture this past January at the Japanese Society in New York City and reading “Spark Joy”, we recognized that at H2H we already incorporate some of Kondo’s methods. Here are 5 of Kondo’s tips from the book “Spark Joy” which we feel are especially useful.

“The key to success in tidying (organizing) is to finish discarding first"

We find it much easier to plan for systems to help you organize when we know the quantity of what is being kept. At H2H with our efficient, sort, simplify and store process we help you determine what to keep and then make good decisions regarding how and where things will be stored.

“It might come in handy is taboo"

At H2H we realize that keeping objects because they “might” be used someday usually creates much more clutter than needed usually in closets and garages. We gently help you to understand how to sort through and keep what is useful, practical or sentimental.

“Don’t throw away things that bring you joy simply because you aren’t using them"                                                                                                                                    

If something puts a smile on your face when you wear it or see it, relax! Don’t listen to that friend who says, you don’t need or haven’t wore it in ten years. We won’t encourage you to part with anything that brings you happiness. We will help you find homes for your special items.

“The words tidying (organizing) and cleaning are often used synonymously, but they are two completely different things"                                                                                             

Many clients find themselves overwhelmed by the two and cannot separate them. As mentioned before the closets tend to get cluttered during cleaning. At H2H our expertise will help you with the 3 S’s sort, simplify and store. We will also recommend cleaning tips to maintain a beautiful home.

“Make accessory storage as attractive as possible"                                                        

Kondo suggests using items from your home such as attractive boxes or dishes to store jewelry or accessories. At H2H we believe in utilizing storage compartments or holders from your house if possible. If necessary, we will recommend outside storage solutions, but you would be surprised how little you have to buy. We want to leave you with an attractive and organized systems, which will help you to love the space you are in.

Make it Go Away

When potential clients contact us, we ask them about their space challenges and one of the most common answers is one or all of the big three: attic, basement and garage. We call these areas “Make it go away” spaces. The habit goes past out of sight out of mind to reveal a deeper issue with clutter and how we deal with stuff. When we have homes for items, organizational systems make sense; however, for many household items when they don’t have a home they end up in the attic, basement or garage. You ever notice people don’t use “put it” that much, but rather “throw it” when talking about those make it go away items.

The Items in Question

Stuff we hide in the attic usually falls into two camps, those items we don’t know what do with in the first place and those items that don’t have an easy category. Think about your holiday decorations. That category is pretty straight forward. Items that don’t have an easily defined category usually have to do with the word “could.” Saving items for what if scenarios can lead to a clutter attic or basement. These items tend to be bulky like canoe oars or skis. Another challenge can be the “I feel I need to keep it” section. This is where that chair from your great uncle’s house comes in.

Solutions

Why does it matter if the attic or basement are clear, anyway? We not only want to use that storage space to keep items we don’t use often like keepsakes and seasonal items but one way or another you will move eventually and those heavy clutter zones make a stressful time that much more stressful. When it comes to excessive clutter most people get stuck even knowing where to start. The attic and basement require time, physical labor and a plan. A professional organizer not only provides you with special motivated time, experience, and a systematic approach we also bring the manual labor. Focus on why you are keeping the item in the first place. If the item isn’t expensive or can easily be obtained again maybe it is time for it to move on. Consider splitting a dumpster with a neighbor for a day of bulk removal helping each other lug that rusty antique creepy baby carriage down from the attic. Kicking the can down the road adds up in your valuable space if you are stuck indoors due to weather why not use that time to actually “make it go away”