decluttering – Keeping it creative

life hacks, lifestyle, productivity, self care, Setting goals and intentions

Monday Matters: 7 benefits of a clutter free and well-organised home environment plus some tips for getting started with decluttering

Posted on Oct 20, 2023Oct 23, 2023 by Laura

One of my current goals, which has been ongoing for quite a while now, is to declutter, tidy and organise my craft room / office, in a way which makes it a pleasant and distraction free environment and consequently a productive place to work and get creative. It’s an enormous job because a) I have soooo much stuff and b) it’s packed into what, in house buying terms, would be described as the box room / box bedroom. I did get started with the process, but then, I found other easier and more preferable projects and activities to do, and now, even the thought of ‘it’ is overwhelming and enough to put me off.

My knowledge and experience of tackling large projects tells me that taking it one tiny step at a time and making a list of tasks to work from (and tick off) would be helpful but I’m sure any of you who have ‘lots of stuff’ can relate and sympathise with me when I explain that pretty much anything and everything else is getting prioritised instead. To give myself the idiomatic ‘kick up the backside’, the idea of writing this blog post was born, to hopefully be a good reminder of the main benefits of a clutter-free and organised space even though I’m pretty sure you can guess a few of them. This might also help with the absorbing of information and fingers crossed with taking action. Clutter-free, super-organised readers can read and then polish their halos plus maybe leave a tip or two in the comments to help me and others. If today’s post has motivated you or helped you feel less alone in having a less than immaculate home environment I would love it if you dropped a comment below to generally make me and others feel better.

Without further ado, here are, what I consider to be the main benefits of a clutter free and well-organised space whether it’s your whole home, a room within your house or just a small area, such as your pantry or the junk drawer. I hope you find the following useful and that, fingers crossed, it gives you the incentive to take that first baby step and then keep going.

Reduced stress and anxiety

Being in an environment full of clutter causes sensory overload, heightened stress levels and feelings of shame and embarrassment (especially if you have visitors). The opposite is true of a clutter free and well-organised home. You’ll find yourself calmer, more relaxed and in control. You’ll likely feel a sense of pride when you look at your environment and what you’ve achieved and are able to maintain, and, you’ll also be much happier showing visitors in – even those who are unexpected! Plus you won’t be needing to apologise for the mess anymore or spend frantic hours trying to hide clutter in random, out of sight places.

Boosts productivity and creativity

A neat and tidy work environment means fewer distractions and plenty of space in which to work. This generally leads to better concentration levels, deeper focus and improved productivity. It also helps to free your mind of mental clutter and provides the space for innovative thoughts and letting your creative juices flow.

So much easier to find things

When you have fewer possessions and every item has a specific home, it makes it much easier to find something when you need it saving you a lot of time and energy. On the other hand, if you’re house is in disarray, it can become extremely frustrating and time consuming to locate the item you need. Often, when I’m struggling to find something, I get myself so worked up that I end up in tears. Aldo, searching places that the item might be reminds me of how much stuff I actually have (and creates feelings of guilt) and brings to mind how, in the past, I’ve bought things to try to make myself feel better when I’ve been depressed.

Rids your home of allergens

As someone who is asthmatic and has a dust allergy, this one is a huge plus for me. Keeping a tidy and uncluttered home makes it much quicker and easier to clean and remove dust, moulds and mildew. Plus, less stuff in general helps with airflow and ventilation. This is good news for anyone with respiratory conditions or other allergies which many people have.

Improved sleep

A neat, tidy and clutter free bedroom creates a sanctuary in which to seek comfort and relaxation ready for a restful night’s sleep. It also provides a peaceful and calming space in which to enjoy a slow start to your morning routine, rather than being immediately overwhelmed by stuff as soon as you open your eyes.

More time for hobbies and socialising with family and friends

A clutter-free and organised home environment is so much quicker and easier to clean and keep tidy. Less time on household chores leaves you with more time to engage in your favourite hobbies and more opportunites to socialise with family and friends. It also means that you can happily invite people round to enjoy your home with you.

Better relationships with those you share your home with

When researching today’s blog post, I came across a range of articles and studies which discussed how mess and clutter can affect relationships and even completely destroy them. This can be due to the clutterer struggling with psychological issues as a result of their stuff, leading to feelings such as stress, anxiety, overwhelm, shame, depression and low self worth. Or, the clutter can cause conflict between individuals living in the home creating feelings of anger, resentment and frustration as well as being a source of arguments and ill feeling.

On the other hand, a tidy and clutter free home environment creates a harmonious and happy house, where all occupants can relax and feel comfortable. A well-organised home also reflects personal qualities such as a sense of control, high self worth, confidence, purposefulness, self love, resourcefulness and resilience, which, together with teamwork and authentic conversation with regard to belongings can result in a much more amicable and loving relationship with your partner or housemates.

Tips for getting started with decluttering

Make a commitment – before you start, you need to be prepared to put in the required time and energy for decluttering. Creating a clutter free and organised home doesn’t happen overnight, it takes a huge commitment which is why it’s good to consider the benefits discussed above. Tidying and decluttering needs to be a priority in your life and something you put your heart and soul into. The tip below should really help to get clear in your mind about what the benefits are for you personally.
Think about and visualise your overall goal – imagine what your tidy home would look like and how it would feel to be there. Visualise yourself walking through your house when you’ve met your goal. Consider exactly how you would spend your time at home. Sketch or write about the improvements you’ve made and ask yourself why it feel the way it now does – a key to manifesting a clutter free and organised home is to imagine you already have exactly what you desire.
Start small – set tiny goals such as tackling one box, one drawer, one shelf, a single pile of papers. Work on one room at a time and make a note of places to work on which will really make a difference – so for example your desk space in your office or craft room, the main counter in your kitchen or the coffee table in your living room.
Allocate an amount of time to the job – you might decide you have 5 or 10 minutes, an hour or a whole afternoon (starting small is good if you’re feeling overwhelmed) . Set a timer and turn on do not disturb mode on your phone.
Take before and after photographs – want a visual reminder of how much progress you’ve made? Take a quick snap on your phone of what the area looked like before and what it looks like at the end of your allocated amount of time. Repeat before and after each decluttering and tidying session.
Get support from an expert Once you’ve got started with the process and have seen some of the impact you can have, you might want to get help from a professional declutterer or a celebrity who has created a home you admire. So, for example Marie Kondo has developed the Spark Joy method for tidying where you work on categories of items in your home in the order suggested, whilst Stacey Solomon has her TV series ‘Sort Your Life Out’ plus her ‘Tap to Tidy’ book full of advice and tips. You don’t need to actually invite Kondo or Stacey Solomon to your home – just make use of their skillset.
Enlist help from family or others in your social circle – if you find decluttering overwhelming, you might want to enlist the help of a family member or friend, even if they’re just there to help you gather things together, make decisions about where to store things or to offer moral support. And if they can’t be there physically, use them as an accountability partner asking them to regularly check in to see how you’re getting on and what progress has been made.
Donate, sell or recycle what you can. This will help you reduce waste (and feel good about your impact on the environment), make a little extra cash or help someone in need (just because it doesn’t spark joy for you, doesn’t mean it won’t for others).
Find a specific home for each and every item – the key to keeping your home neat and tidy is to have a specific storage location for every single item. That way, you’ll know exactly where to put it when you’ve finished with it or where to display the object in your home. Try to keep most things out of sight in drawers, cupboards and boxes as this will make it easy to clean surfaces.
Don’t strive for perfection As you embark on your decluttering journey, be kind to yourself and celebrate small achievements and elements of progress along the way, rather than expecting everything to be perfect before moving on to the next task. Decluttering is a process and can take a lot of time (often much longer than you think), so little and often is the way to go. Also, slightly lowering your expectations can help you to feel like you’re getting there.

I hope you’ve found today’s blog post useful and have picked up a few tips as you’ve read. I’m sure you can see how beneficial a clutter free and well-organised home is for your mental and physical health and how it can make for a happier living space overall.

Additionally, I’m thinking about doing another piece at some point in the future that focuses specifically on decluttering and organising craft supplies, as this, for me, is the area that needs most work. Let me know in the comments if you would find this helpful too.

Happy decluttering, tidying and organising,

lifestyle, productivity, Setting goals and intentions

Monday Matters: 7 benefits of decluttering and some ways to get started

Posted on Feb 21, 2022Feb 21, 2022 by Laura

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been making a start on decluttering and re-organising some parts of our home. So far, I’ve got rid of some unwanted clothes, purged my vast collection of magazines and begun the mammoth task of clearing out and re-organising my craft room. I have a lot of ‘stuff’ and, at times, the process has been overwhelming and stressful but I’m doing a little bit each day and slowly, I’m seeing the difference it’s making. For today’s Monday Matters, I thought I would consider some of the main benefits of decluttering your home as I feel that knowing the effects it can have on health and wellbeing will help me to keep going and also might encourage some of you to dedicate a small amount of time each week to tackle an area of your home or a particular type of clutter. I’ll also offer a few ways to get started including some ideas based on the popular ‘Kondo’ method.

So, let’s start with some of the main benefits which can make a real difference to your life…

You’ll have more energy

A house full of clutter is very draining. There’s always things out of place and constantly seeing your stuff everywhere will likely consume your thoughts as soon as you enter your home or spend time in a particular room. Also, you’ll regularly have to make decisions about where to put things and this can cause stress and deplete your energy levels.

Clutter can make you feel both physically and mentally tired and can also prevent you from relaxing and replenishing your spent energy after a busy day. On the other hand, a tidy and clutter free home lowers stress levels as it is an inviting and calming place to be, where you can fully wind down.

2. Your sleep is likely to improve

A tidy and clutter free bedroom promotes peaceful sleep and allows you to switch off more easily. Whereas a cluttered environment fills the mind with uneasy thoughts and has been found to cause disrupted and less restful sleep. You might think it doesn’t matter if you have lots of stuff in your bedroom because you can’t see it when you turn out the light but your brain will be stimulated as soon as it sees the ‘chaos’ causing feelings of overwhelm and stress.

It’s best to make sure most of the items in your bedroom are put away and that a small number of carefully chosen objects are on display which reflect the style you want to achieve. So, for example, your bedside cabinet or table might have a pretty lamp, your Kindle or book and a single framed photograph.

3. You’ll feel more organised

Having an orderly home will mean that you can find things more easily. If all of your things have a particular home and similar items are grouped together, you’ll feel super organised and you’ll know exactly what you have and where each item is located. Less clutter will help you feel in control whereas an excess of stuff will have the opposite effect.

You’re also likely to feel extremely proud of your home and want to show it off!

4. Fewer allergens will be present

This is a really important one for me as I’m asthmatic and have a condition called allergic rhinitis which is triggered by dust and molds. If you have stuff everywhere, it’s very difficult to keep your home free from dust. Also a build up of clutter has been shown to contribute to poor ventilation in your rooms which can cause mold. Surfaces with only a select few items on them can really help reduce the number of allergens in the air and on your furniture which is great for anyone with asthma and other similar health conditions.

5. Cleaning and tidying will become a breeze!

Whilst I was struggling with depression and anxiety, my support worker helped me to plan some small housework tasks throughout the week to encourage me to contribute to the many chores involved in running a home so I was able to feel a sense of achievement. On one of the days, in my weekly plan, we decided that I would dust and vacuum our bedroom. When asked the next week how I’d got on, I mentioned that I’d got overwhelmed and upset because just tackling my dressing table had been a gargantuan task as there was so much clutter to clear before I even attempted to clean the dusty surface. I ended up just doing the dressing table and my chest of drawers when all of the other furniture really needed doing too.

Having less clutter will make keeping your home clean much easier and so much quicker. I’m not saying that dusting, vacuuming or mopping floors will become enjoyable, but it’s likely to be much less of a chore.

6. You’ll be more productive

If you want to get things done quickly and easily you need an environment with as few distractions as possible. This is why many offices have a tidy desk policy as it promotes efficiency and effectiveness at work. Less clutter in your home has the same impact. It means you can focus on the task at hand rather than being drawn towards your stuff which needs sorting out or has just become too much to deal with.

7. Overall, you’ll feel happier in your home

Clutter is known to fuel depression and anxiety as it promotes feelings such as sadness, stress, guilt, despair, shame or inadequacy. It can also make you feel embarrassed and apologetic if you have any visitors. A clutter free home, however, can have a really positive effect on our mood by freeing us of these negative emotions making us feel more content and generally happier.

As you can see, doing a spot of decluttering can really help improve your physical and mental health and generally make your home a more pleasant place to be. But, getting started isn’t easy, especially if you have a lot of stuff. Here’s a few suggestions to get you going…

Visualise what you want

Once you’ve committed to decluttering, try a little visualisation exercise. Think about your ideal lifestyle and create a picture in your mind of what it looks like. Also, imagine how decluttering will help you work towards or achieve this and how you will feel as a result of your improved home. Perhaps you’ll have a well-ordered space where everything is neat and tidy. Maybe you’ll feel more organised and happier. Or, you might be able to relax more easily when you finish work. You could even find that you have more time to do the things you love with the people you care about. Obviously, this will differ greatly depending on your personal goals and the lifestyle you want. You might even want to write down some of your ideas after visualising so you can re-read them to help you stay motivated. If you prefer pictorial representations, you could make a vision board for your bullet journal or to pin to your wall.

Dedicate some time

It’s a good idea to regularly schedule a block of time in your bullet journal or diary and think about what will work best for you and your lifestyle. You might choose 10 minutes and set a timer for a quick spot of decluttering or an hour on a Sunday afternoon if you want to tackle your entire wardrobe. If you have a family and the stuff doesn’t all belong to you, try to get everyone involved in the process ensuring everyone takes some responsibility and can reap the rewards too. Make sure, whatever timeframe you choose, you stick to it, just like you would any other commitment.

Start small

In her popular first book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying, Marie Kondo identifies a particular order to decluttering your home. She suggests starting with clothes and invites you to get all of your clothing together and work through it to decide what you want to keep based on if each item sparks joy. However, if you have lots and lots of clothes like I do, it might be worth starting much smaller. A good way is to categorise your clothing and just working on, for example, t-shirts or trousers. Working on a small number of items can help to prevent overwhelm and make the process less stressful.

Think about what bothers you the most

Although organising expert Marie Kondo suggests a set order for decluttering, you might want to start with something else or a particular space. For example, if the mess in your living room stresses you out when you sit down to watch TV, you might want to start with visible clutter in there. Or, if the state of your bedroom may be contributing to a less than restful sleep, you could tackle this first. Whatever would have the most impact, as long as it’s not too big a job, may be the best area to start.

Deal with visible clutter first

Also related to impact and choosing what to work on is visible clutter. You might have a cupboard under the stairs which is full of junk but does it bother you all the time or only when you need something from the back of it? You might be best off starting with your desk top, your dressing table, the top of your chest of drawers or floor space if you want to really see your progress. Then, when surfaces are cleared, you can tackle cupboards, drawers and cabinets.

Make a decision about the items you don’t want or need straight away

As soon as you’ve decided what to keep, including what sparks joy and which items are useful in your life right now, make plans for your discard pile. Some of your stuff will be fit for the bin (and you’ll wonder why you still have it!), some might be perfect for donating to charity, and a small number of items could potentially be sold on ebay (but only if you have the time to photograph and list them straightway and then deal with them once they sell / don’t sell). It’s really important to take action on the items immediately, so take the bin bag(s) out as soon as you can, place donations in a box and head straight for the charity shop that same afternoon and create your ebay listings as a matter of urgency. The quicker the items are gone, the sooner you can start enjoying the benefits.

Final words…

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading today’s Monday Matters post and it has prompted you to do some decluttering. Let me know in the comments if you’re already enjoying the benefits of less clutter or if you are keen to get started. It would also be great to hear any other tips you have for beginning the process.

Happy decluttering!