1.09.2012

I hate clutter.

New year, new themes for the blog. Clutter drives me nuts, both in my home and others. There are some spaces in my house (and in my garage, and on my hard drive, and in my business) that seriously need some attention in 2012.

Need some motivation to de-clutter? My best tip is to schedule a party... it gives you a deadline to get projects done and spaces clear, and it REALLY helps to look at your house/car/yard through someone else's eyes. Found these tips in an article that made me think of several people I know...

1. Clutter Keeps You From Being Productive

Keeping disorganized piles (OR ORGANIZED PILES, for that matter) of stuff lying around your home is a mental and emotional drain. Seeing those piles reminds you of things you need to do, but drains your energy and motivation to do them. Clutter makes it difficult to focus and makes it difficult to find the items you need to complete tasks.

When your house is cluttered you may start a project only to find that you are missing an item. While looking for the item, you may get distracted by the piles of other stuff. Rather than finish your original project, you spend the rest of the afternoon dealing with those piles.

Few things irritate me more than to have to look for something that I KNOW is buried SOMEWHERE. Ugh, if I just had LESS STUFF this wouldn't be as big of an issue! Time to de-clutter!

2. Clutter Costs Money

Clutter not only prevents you from being productive, it also costs you money. When you are constantly distracted and wearied by the disorganized chaos in your home, you don’t have the energy to cook, plan or do other time and money saving activities. You may also spend extra money on gas and purchases because you “lose” items in your home or you forget that you have them.

When the clutter really begins to pile up, you may choose to spend time away from home to avoid it. Being “busy” away from home costs money: eating out because you’re too busy to cook, buying unnecessary items because you’re in the stores too often, and gas money driving to all the places you go to avoid being at home.

3. Clutter Keeps You Stuck Emotionally

Many times we hold on to stuff rather than dealing with our true feelings of fear or loss. We fear that we won’t have enough in the future or we fear that we will need the item we are holding onto, but we won’t be able to replace it.

The truth is that most items can easily be replaced for very little money. Is it worth the emotional drain of keeping the item rather than risking the money you may have to pay later if you actually need it? The freedom gained by dealing directly with fear and grief is far superior to the bondage of trying to keep those feelings buried.

If you assess your situation and realize that you need to get rid of some things, don’t be overwhelmed. Instead:

::Grab a box for give-away items, a trashcan for throw-away items and set a timer for ten minutes. Clean one area until the timer goes off.

::If you declutter one area a day for only ten minutes, you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in the next few weeks. The clean spaces in your home will fuel your motivation to continue.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Love this! For the past couple of weeks I have been working at cleaning, organizing, and de-cluttering my home. It's been overwhelming at times thinking of all the things I have left to do, but then I remind myself what I have accomplished so far. What helped me was to make a list of things to get done, that way I pointed out to myself and to others what needed to be cleaned and organized. Once I finish the first list, I will probably make a second one, because there is always de-cluttering to be done!!