Mindset
Reading Time – 7 minutes
Here are 5 scenarios about why people have clutter. Clutter is different for everyone but most people have some clutter in their lives. Let’s look at the psychology of clutter.
Scenario 1 – Retail Therapy
I was talking with a friend about people who buy something when they are sad to make themselves feel better and how this can cause clutter, financial problems or health problems if it is food. She said when she had a bad day at school her mom would take her to a store and buy her a teddy bear. So she understands her joy in shopping.
Why do people shop and create clutter in their homes and offices? It’s the process of assigning the emotion of fulfillment, satisfaction or simply “non-depression” to an item. You were feeling sad and now you bought something and feel better, for a while.
This quote is from a book called Living More with Less:
“As someone once said
- we have bought into the foolish obsession of buying stuff we don’t need
- with money we don’t have
- to impress people we don’t even know.”
I think we can all relate to a purchase that we have made fitting this description.
Scenario 2 – Fear causes clutter
Perhaps it is fear that helps people hold onto things
- What if I need it someday – fear of scarcity
- I’ll keep it just in case – fear of uncertainly and doubt
- I can’t give that away it was a gift – fear of rejection
- I can’t decide so I’ll keep it and what if it is worth something someday – fear of making mistakes
In an article by Hellen Buttigieg, she talks about Steps to eliminate your fears and conquer the clutter
- As you sort through your items notice the thoughts that come up and begin to acknowledge them, say okay now you’ve got my attention.
- Notice where you feel the fear in your body, stomach, chest or headache?
- Analyze the fear and try to understand where it’s coming from then thank it and move on
- Replace fear with trust
- What if I need it someday replace it with all my needs are abundantly supplied
- I’ll keep it just in case – replace it with what are the odds I’ll ever need to replace it?
- I can’t give that away it was a gift – replace it with my real friends always love and support me
- I can’t decide so I’ll just keep it – replace it with I’ll make a decision and trust that everything will be okay
- What if it’s worth something someday – replace it with it will never be more valuable than joy, health, friendships etc
Scenario 3 – Sentimentality and Clutter
I have clients who if they touch an object will automatically keep it, so I hold up the object and don’t let them touch it when they are deciding to keep it or give it away. Other clients need to touch an item before they can donate it, it is like saying goodbye to it.
The sentimentality can be associated with
- Someone you loved gave it to you or
- Someone you once loved used it
- Stuff that you associate with a time when you were happy. (memorabilia)
Being able to separate an object from a person can be difficult. Make sure to keep only a few objects that are the best representation of that period in your life period or moment. Learning that you can still have the memory and the corresponding feeling without having the object will help you to be able to donate items.
Scenario 4 – Control
Clients will hire me and want me to do their plans. As I work with them and make suggestions about alternative ways to organize things generally, they say no and then at my next appointment they usually say I thought about your idea, let’s try it.
People want to have control over their decisions and environment. Avoiding power struggles over decisions about what stays and what goes makes decluttering easier.
Scenario 5 – Keeping your Stuff to Sell
I have clients who want to make lots of money selling their stuff. Sometimes it is possible and sometimes it isn’t. They will hold onto stuff for garage sales, to put on Kijiji, eBay or Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes they hold onto it for so long that it has lost its value. They think I paid good money for it. The reality is the money has been spent
Just because it was costly to purchase does not mean that it’s valuable today. Items change in value. What’s important is whether you are using what you have now, or if what you have is distracting you from the lifestyle you want. If you are not loving, using and enjoying your things, then reconsider their ‘value’.
I summarize these 5 scenarios into
- Social – learning that you can’t always feel happy and that acquiring things will not make you happy
- Psychological – trusting yourself helps you have the courage to let go,
- Emotional – learning you can have that wonderful feeling without the object
- Personality – people need control over their decisions, you can’t make it for them
- Financial – The value of an object in the enjoyment it brings to your life
The important thing to discover is what reasons make it hard for you to let go of the things or cause you to buy more things and change those mindsets.
Which scenarios do you relate to the most?
If you need help clearing the clutter contact me julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 10 minutes
My guest blogger is Marianne Simmons a licensed therapist that has been working in her private practice for more than 15 years. In recent years, she has discovered her passion for blogging and educating people about the importance of mental well-being.
Have you ever had your home in such a mess that you don’t even know how to begin organizing it? Usually, our brains tend to shut down and convince us to procrastinate in this situation because we don’t want to deal with a task that seems too demanding. Even though we get over this feeling and get on with decluttering, we always seem to end up in the same situation a few months down the line. Although this seems like a somewhat stressful but essentially not harmful process, certain consequences arise if we keep repeating the same cycle. We’re here to discuss how clutter can affect your mental health.
Clutter makes you stressed out
One of the ways clutter can take its toll on your mental health is by causing stress. Stress can lead to many physical and mental diseases, and it would be best to reduce it to a minimum. Even if you’re not consistently spending your time in a cluttered home but have those all too familiar bursts of organizing about once a month, that might be just as harmful. If you leave your items lying around and they pile up, you’ll need to set aside the time that you probably don’t have to be able to deal with it, which may require multitasking. Unfortunately, multitasking leads to stress, so you’ll end up in the same spot as if you were living in a messy house.
Clutter brings more clutter
Living in messy and cluttered spaces does more than just cause stress. If you’re constantly surrounded by items you don’t have any use for, you’ll start to feel like your thoughts are cluttered as well. Mental clutter is a real thing – you can feel unable to process certain information, sometimes even crucial information. Your mind’s all over the place and your brain is tired. Not being able to focus, complete tasks and reach your goals can lead to mental health problems, depression or anxiety. Lack of concentration may lead to more life-threatening issues (e.g., if you’re not able to concentrate on your way to work, you could hurt yourself in traffic).
Unhealthy life choices
As you have probably heard a million times over, if your desk is clean and tidy, you’ll have a much better chance of doing your work efficiently and vice versa. The same principle applies to the ways clutter can affect your mental health. Many of your life’s aspects will inevitably suffer if you’re in a chaotic environment. Clutter can cause:
● Unhealthy eating habits
If you’re constantly surrounded by clutter, whether it’s in your kitchen or the rest of your home, you’re less likely to choose simple, healthy options. If the clutter affects your organizational skills, you’ll be more likely to order fast food since it’s more convenient, more rapid, and takes less effort.
● Sedentary lifestyle
Especially if you’re used to working out at home, you won’t want to do that surrounded by many random possessions. Cleaning up will motivate you to get up and do some exercises. There are many mental health benefits of exercise, which is why you want to try to stay active and keep your body moving. You’ll do yourself a great favour by staying active.
● Inability to get your chores done
When it comes to your work and your ordinary chores, such as paying bills, doing the dishes, or getting your child to school, you’ll find it more challenging to get it done on time in a cluttered home. You’re likely to spend hours looking for random items like keys. By developing routines you spend less mental energy worrying about getting chores completed. You’ll have more time for activities that bring meaning to your life. When your life has meaning your mental wellness improves.
Memory
Clutter can affect your mental health long-term by slowly impacting your memory. Of course, this won’t necessarily happen to everyone, but it could. Are you willing to take the risk? Organizing doesn’t sound that bad if it’ll save the future you from this struggle of memory issues.
Lower self-image
Just as checking off chores from a list can make you feel organized and fulfilled, not doing it and living in a mess can lower your self-image. If you’re always planning on decluttering and organizing but never get to it, your brain will get a bit more disappointed each time you fail to follow through with the plans. Eventually, you’ll not only have lower self-esteem, but you’ll also be less likely to get up and do the thing you’re putting off. If you’re already in this loop, getting out of it takes a lot of patience. Set realistic and easily achievable chores for yourself and declutter your home a little every day. After a while, you’ll get back on track and make this a habit.
Effects your social life
If your home’s messy, you’ll not only lack the motivation to go and hang out, you also won’t want to invite your friends over. A great way to deal with too much clutter is to deliberately invite your friends to your home and use that as motivation to clean up.
Clutter heightens the risk of hoarding
If you don’t work on this problem and start to increase the mess in your home, clutter can become an obsession. If you notice that you’re starting to save specific items just for the sake of having more stuff, if you’re forming a sentimental connection with practical everyday objects, if your rooms can no longer be used for their primary purpose, make sure to seek out help.
The negative effects of hoarding can be:
- Inability to throw away, recycle or donate belongings
- Anxiety when parting with items
- Difficulty organizing possessions
- Embarrassment about the number of items you own
- Fear of running out of or losing any of your possessions
Ways to improve your mental health
It’s important to continue taking small steps and improving your mental health, even if you still struggle with clutter. Bit by bit, you’ll be able to deal with this problem as well.
●Part with the items creating clutter
If you feel comfortable with it and it’s not causing you anxiety, try to part with any clutter that you own. Give it to a charity so other people can use it. Since we purchase many items, seasonal clearing can be done at any time not only spring and fall. Declutter frequently, it makes the task easier.
● Physical activity
Apart from decluttering and organizing your home, it would help if you also tried to stay active. It’ll do much more than keep you fit and be great for your body – it’ll increase the hormone of happiness in your body and significantly affect your mental health.
● Meditate
Just as much as physical clutter can take its toll on you, mental clutter can as well. Try to find at least five to ten minutes a day to enjoy the silence and clear out your head.
If you know that clutter can affect your mental health, you should take the necessary measures of precaution. Be regular with cleaning, and don’t hesitate to part with anything that no longer serves you. You’ll be surprised to see how much happiness a clutter-free life can bring.
In the comments let me know how clutter affects your life
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
In a previous blog, I used S.T.U.F.F. to help you examine how you feel about having a lot or a little. Your feelings guide you sometimes other times you procrastinate decluttering a room or your home and things keep piling up. Maybe you’re sentimental and think you are honouring your things by stuffing them in a box and hiding them away. Get them out and keep the best items and enjoy them. Let the other items make someone else happy. Are you a collector and keep adding to your collection? These are possible answers but think about how the decisions you make in everyday life can help you to have so much stuff.
I’ll change my weight.
So you decide you want to lose some weight but you’re not sure how successful you will be at keeping the weight off. Or maybe you are putting on a few pounds and your clothes are getting a little tight. The stuff in your closet starts to accumulate. Clothes that don’t fit now, clothes that used to fit, clothes that you might need in the future, a style that you used to wear, it might come back. Sound familiar. Now you have 2 or 3 or 4 wardrobes in different styles and sizes. What’s the solution?
Invest in the new you, you’re worth it.
Keeping clothes around from a weight you don’t want to be is setting yourself up for defeat. Donate clothing that doesn’t fit. Donate it before it becomes out of style, no one will want it and it ends up in the landfill. Buy small quantities of clothing that fit, you like, people compliment you when you wear them and are affordable. You are worth the investment. Remove the clothing that makes you feel discouraged and takes up valuable storage space.
I’ll buy in bulk to save money
For a lot of items we have been taught it is cheaper to buy in bulk. It may be true in some situations. If you have a large household, run a daycare, operate a cleaning industry. Usually buying in bulk costs you money. You need to buy more shelving or cupboards to hold everything. Your food supplies don’t get used before the best before date and you throw them out. Items get damaged, (broken light bulbs), you no longer need them because you changed appliances and fixtures, (filters for coffee, furnace or water), your tastes have changed ( vegetarian foods, green energy products or chemical free cleaning products ) and things you used to use are no longer needed. What’s the solution?
Buy in different quantities for different items
If you enjoy going to membership stores like Cosco, use your membership for buying things in bulk you use up quickly, toilet paper. Always check what you have at home and how much space you have to store things before you go shopping. Buy proportionately to how much you use an item and how quickly you use it. This rule works for food, clothing, cleaning supplies, kitchen gadgets, gifts, candles, books, cosmetics almost everything. You don’t want to be throwing your money in the garbage
I’ll get active
Great decision until the clutter happens. There is so much equipment you can buy to help you get active. Shoes, clothing, bikes, paddling, weights, bands, mats, balls bats/rackets, and swimming gear. The list goes on. it piles up everywhere. Inside the home, the garage the vehicle. What’s the solution?
Establish good habits/routines
Things can get dropped all over the place. Decide on a place to hang wet items to dry or damp items to air out. Have a place for larger gear to be stored, a basket, container, bin or hang them on the wall. Have shelves for hats, helmets, shoes, and sunscreen to be placed. Use hooks for clothes, hats, and backpacks. Make it easy to put things away and label where things go so everyone knows. Donate items that you no longer use, have become too small or have older models when you upgrade your gear.
I’ll make my home perfect
Everyone looks at pictures in magazines, on Pinterest or on Facebook. Those are only a moment in the life of that person. You really need a video to see what normal will look like. Sometimes it feels like you will never get the clutter reduced, let alone under control. You give up and don’t try because it will never be perfect. The stuff continues to build up, more stuff comes into the home and nothing leaves the home. What’s the solution?
Be practical
Set aside perfection and keep the clutter controlled as much as you can with the time, energy and budget you have. Set realistic goals. Take 15 minutes a day and tidy up one area. The next day work in another area. Even better have everyone, all together, take 15 minutes and tidy up one area each. Keep a donation box in a closet or mudroom and place items you don’t need in the box. Donate it and get another box. Have a goal to fill one box a week. Start with the area or project that bothers you the most. It will feel good to take care of it and not think about it anymore.
I’m going to start decorating for the holidays
There are so many holidays you can decorate for. Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Easter, Passover, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Earth Day, Canada Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Festival of Lights. Buying or making decorations produces piles of objects big and small, expensive and inexpensive to store. It takes time to put them up and sometimes they don’t get taken down and put away, they get dumped somewhere never to be in good enough shape to be used again. Next year comes and you see the new types of decorations on the market and your supply goes bigger. What’s the solution?
Pick and choose
You have limited time, space and energy to do decorating. Pick and choose when you will decorate a lot and when you will not decorate or put out only a tablecloth. Go through your decorations yearly before buying more. Donate items you don’t need anymore, only purchase a few new things if you need them. Look at how much space you have to store your decorations. Keep your decoration in waterproof bins and store them all together so you can find them each year. As your desire changes for decorating make it simpler and simpler each year so you continue to enjoy doing the decorating, looking at the decorations and cleaning up.
Making changes in your lifestyle can create clutter or it might reduce clutter. Make smart decisions for your lifestyle and manage the changes it causes in your time, energy, space and mindset so you can control the clutter and enjoy the new opportunities you have chosen.
Comment on some other life decisions that create clutter in your home
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Harold Taylor is a time management specialist. This article appeared in his June 2015 Taylor Time newsletter and is still true today. Contact him to get on his mailing list and receive other great information on organizing time and space. Harold Taylor Time Consultants Inc | info@taylorintime.com
Slow decision-making wastes time, as do spur-of-the-moment decisions, which usually result in costly and time-consuming mistakes. But the worst thing you can do is to procrastinate on decision-making. Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, once conducted a survey of successful people and found all of them were decisive. Don’t be afraid of being wrong. We learn from our mistakes; but if we do nothing, we neither accomplish anything nor learn anything.
Delay until you have enough information, but don’t wait until you have all the information. If you have all the information, the course of action becomes a foregone conclusion: no real decision is necessary. Have the courage to make decisions with only 70% to 80% of the facts. When you have mulled over the facts and considered, the alternatives, sleep on it. Decisions are usually better after a good night’s sleep.
Spend time in proportion to the importance of the decision. For instance, don’t waste a lot of time discussing the menu for the staff Christmas party. The decision to close down an operation or expand the product line warrants a greater expenditure of that costly commodity called time. Make minor decisions quickly. If the consequence of the decision is not important, it is not worth much of your valuable time.
If the decision is yours alone to make, and you seem to get bogged down in the process and get frustrated by your lack of progress, it’s frequently faster, in the long run, to leave the problem for a short period of time. Work on some unrelated jobs for a few hours or even a few days and then tackle the problem anew. The change in pace will revitalize your thinking. But delay it only once or you will be tempted to procrastinate.
Always make short-term decisions with long-term objectives in mind. Don’t make a band-aid decision that solves the immediate problem, but results in time-consuming problems further down the road.
And above all, don’t waste time on past decisions. Instead of saying “I if only I had done such and such,” say instead, “Next time I will ..”
If you need help making decisions about what to keep and what to let go book a 30 minute chat with me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 5 minutes
Is your attachment to your things stopping you from getting organized? It can be hard to let go of things from the past, past careers, past relationships and past experiences. These items can be holding you back from becoming the person you want to be. Have things in your life that will help you to move forward. Not everything that has come into your life should stay with you forever. If it has outlived its usefulness to you, let it go. When I started Mind over Clutter I would see a client talk with them about their goals and start getting them organized. I soon learned that disorganization is never about things but about the mind and how we think and feel about our things. S.T.U.F.F helps you to explore the psychology of why you have things.
S – Simply too much
Perhaps you can’t get organized because you keep too much stuff. It is not possible to keep it all organized in the space that you have. You need to understand that you have too much and you need to have less. Accepting that realization can be very difficult.
T – Take time
Step 2 in the process is to take time to understand why you have so much stuff. Take time away from all the activities, commitments and distractions to think. Perhaps you are avoiding or procrastinating thinking about your situation. Schedule an appointment with yourself no matter how busy you are. It is important.
U – Underlying reasons
Step 3 is to discover your underlying reasons for buying, collecting and keeping excess stuff. Is it;
- Fear of making the wrong decisions about what to keep and what to let go of
- Fear of hurting someone’s feelings who gave you the items, Remember the items are now yours and you get to decide what to do with them. They no longer belong to the giver.
- Retail therapy – Are you buying things to make yourself feel better? Do you feel worse for spending the money unnecessarily? If you are looking for love, acceptance or happiness, items are inanimate objects without feelings. What can they give you?
- Do you want control over your situation and don’t want to be told what to do so you keep everything? That attitude leaves you alone with a lot of work to do by yourself. Giving up some control means you can get help with the task of letting go of your stuff.
These may be some of the reasons why you have a lot of things. It is important to understand your reasons so you can start to make changes in your buying, collecting and keeping habits.
F – Feel About Having Stuff
In step 4 ask yourself how you feel about having stuff? Does it make you feel:
- Safe
- Prepared for Anything
- Successful
- Exhausted
- Overwhelmed
- Out of Control
Journalling may be a good way to figure out your feelings. Gregor explains it like this. You can use any notebook you like, any size you want, Or you can create a document on your computer (or laptop, or tablet) where you can start writing. Journaling means adding a narrative, telling yourself a story. It can be based on that thought that has been nagging you all day, a gut feeling, those undefinable emotions as of late. Start by writing down those thoughts that preoccupy you the most and you will see the story unfolding from there. Journaling can also help you acknowledge important life lessons, mental breakthroughs and growth. Ideally you should do it every day, even if it is to write down a mundane sentence, just so you create the habit of releasing your thoughts and emotions on a blank piece of paper, instead of bottling up whatever upsets you. Record how you feel when you enter the room or do you avoid the room. When you look at what is in the room do some items make you feel happy while others make you feel sad and still others have no effect on you. When you are sitting in the room what do you feel, cramped, open, excited, overwhelmed? Move things around and continue to journal about your experience.
F- Feel About Having Less Stuff
Lastly, step 5 ask yourself how you feel about having less stuff?
- Unsure
- Afraid you won’t have what you need
- Guilty (people gave you the stuff, you inherited stuff)
- Excited
- Hopeful
- Free
Continue journaling as you remove items from the room. Over the course of time do your feelings change? Are you able to adapt to less and overcome the negative feeling of fear and let go of things? Are you able to be motivated by the positive feelings of enjoyment to continue to let go of stuff?
Instead of holding onto things:
Have only things in your home that you know are useful and see as beautiful. Perhaps you like the Marie Kondo philosophy, “Does it spark joy in your life? If yes keep it. If not thank it and pass it along”
Think about what new:
- doors will open,
- experiences will be available or
- perspectives will be realized by letting go and moving forward to becoming the person you want to be.
If you need help with letting go, book a complimentary 30 minute chat with me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually over Zoom She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
One of the biggest roadblocks in getting organized can be decision-making. It can be hard to decide where to store things, what to keep and what to let go of, what type of storage you need, where to donate items. where to start. You might not have thought of getting organized in this way. Is making a decision difficult for you?
Is it fear that makes decision making difficult
In an article by Hellen Bittigieg, she talks about: Steps to eliminate your fears and conquer the clutter
- As you sort through your items notice the thoughts that come up and begin to acknowledge them, say okay now you’ve got my attention.
- Notice where you feel the fear in your body, stomach, chest headache?
- Analyze the fear and try to understand where it’s coming from then thank it and move on
- Replace fear with trust
- What if I need it someday replace it with all my needs are abundantly supplied
- I’ll keep it just in case – replace it with what are the odds I’ll ever need to replace it?
- I can’t give that away it was a gift – replace it with my real friends always love and support me
- I can’t decide so I’ll just keep it – replace it with I’ll make a decision and trust that everything will be okay
- What if it’s worth something someday – replace it with it will never be more valuable than joy, health, friendships etc
Do you need practice making decisions?
You make decisions all the time. What are you going to eat for breakfast, what are you going to wear today, when are you going to exercise? These are easy decisions because you make them all the time. They are not life-impacting decisions whether you choose cereal or eggs, shirt or sweater, exercise at 6 am or after work. The important thing is to see yourself as a decision-maker. It is a skill you have and do well. Appy that skill to deciding what to do with your possessions so you can get organized.
What if I make the wrong decision?
You can put too much pressure on yourself to be 100% certain about your decisions. There are very few decisions where you have a crystal ball and can see exactly what decision is perfect for the future. Make the decision that is right for you now. Keep the possessions that help you to become the person you want to be. Let go of the possessions that hold you back. Some things are meant to be in your life for a while and then move on to help someone else.
I don’t want to be responsible
It might be easy for you to make decisions that no one notices. When it comes time to make changes people will notice the decisions you are making. You might decide to have less stuff in your home, to spend money on experiences, not things, use your time to build relationships, not shop. Set goals about the changes you want to make in your life. When you are being intentional about change, it is easy to take responsibility and explain your decisions to others because you are the one making the choices to make your life better.
See yourself as a brave, wise decision-maker who intentionally chooses the best choice at the time to make your life better.
If you need help growing into this person join my 9-week coaching program From Clutter to Freedom
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, in person and virtually. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situation. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you to manage your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
When I started Mind over Clutter in 2006 I thought I would talk with my new client, discuss their goals for the job and start organizing with them.
We would:
- Sort the items in the room into groups of items with the same function.
- Part with items that were no longer needed, used or loved
- Assign a home for (storage) for items that were being kept
- Buy containers to help store things efficiently and
- Evaluate how the system works
I was wrong. I soon learned that disorganization is never about how much stuff is in the space, it is about how the client relates to their stuff and feels about having stuff or having less stuff. Developing a mindset to be able to let go of items that no longer serve you and have items that help you to become the person you want to be is an important step in the organizing process.
Take some time to examine your mindset about your stuff. A lot of the time we do tasks without thinking about them. Setting up these habits makes it easier to get things done without spending a lot of mental energy thinking about the many repetitive tasks that need to be done each day, week, month and year.
Gregor defines mindfulness as, ” the act of being present, cultivating awareness by taking stock of our surroundings, emotions, state of mind, words, actions. It is all about being engaged with oneself fully.” Try this exercise. Take 5 minutes a day for yourself. Shut out all the disturbances of the day, the actions of others and words, spoken or written, Take 5 minutes to enjoy your surroundings, discover your emotions about the things in your environment and your state of mind living with your possessions. Once you have discovered your relationship with your stuff, it will make it easier to make decisions about what to keep and what to let go of.
If you need help getting started book a complimentary virtual organizing chat with me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually through Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger this month is Bryan Styles. Bryan is a life coach and a freelance writer with a focus on improving the quality of peoples’ lives. He puts all of his efforts and energy into educating people about how to overcome hardships and live a happier life.
We all live different lives, surrounded by different people, and interacting with different things. Everything in our environment leaves a mark in the long run. While we can choose who we spend time with, not many people pay attention to the space they live in. It often becomes something we all just get used to, be it due to a lack of finances, or simply a lack of options. The importance of our living environment is immense, and even a few small changes can make a difference in our lives. With that in mind, I would like to give an answer to one question – can organizing your space impact your mental health?
How confined spaces affect our mental health?
I have had a lot of experience living in a cramped-up apartment. Just my girlfriend and me in a single room that was at the same time the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and a small bathroom. At first, everything was fine. I always thought about how there are people who don’t have a roof over their heads or live in much worse conditions. I went with it.
However, after some time, I noticed that I was becoming more and more nervous. The apartment had to be cleaned and organized every day, which always took a lot of time, even though it was such a small space. If you skipped one day, things would start to pile up and soon we would be in a mess that caused even more tension. Living in that apartment felt more like work.
As soon as you start decluttering your space, you will feel how the tension and stress leave your body, piece by piece.
Nevertheless, once we cleaned it up and organized our stuff, I felt like I was a free man. There was this rush of energy and good feelings of having some free space around you.
It is a fact that our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. However, the road from clutter to freedom is a difficult one, and it does require a bit of planning and effort.
A few tips on how to get rid of clutter
While I don’t want to turn this article into a “How to clean your apartment” guide, there are a few problems that must be addressed:
- how to deal with a lack of space
- what to do with all the stuff you need, but don’t have enough room for
- how to not go crazy while decluttering your apartment
I want to give you a couple of productive tips and best practices I used a lot.
A small apartment will always be a small apartment
Living in a small apartment is not something you can fix by decluttering. Sure, you will get more space, but the apartment will still be small. It is important to understand this because you will have to make radical changes in order to avoid decluttering your place every few weeks.
The most crucial step in this process is to do extensive research on organizing small apartments or homes. Read articles, follow interior design blogs and vlogs, browse photos online, read interior design and staging magazines, and look for tips about handling the lack of space in your home.
The more research you do, you will start noticing a specific pattern. Living in a small apartment means getting rid of bulky items, and organizing your space in a minimalistic style.
That’s all fine, but I cannot throw my wardrobe to make more space!
Well, yes and no. When I talk about getting rid of bulky items, I understand that some things like closets, the bed, and the table have to stay inside. However, there is one thing you must realize.
You are storing everything in your apartment. Clothes for summer and winter, all of your electronic equipment, everything. While that is normal for a large home, it is virtually impossible to keep a small place organized while keeping everything.
My suggestion is to rent extra storage for bulky items outside of your home. You won’t pay much, but the space you will get will make a huge difference.
People are often overburdened with everything that happens in their lives. Having an organized living space will help remedy that issue.
Keep only the essential furniture and electronics, and move everything else to the unit. When it comes to clothes, you just need to have clean clothes for seven days. Move everything else to a storage unit, and you can pay a visit every week if you want to get new clothes.
Furthermore, if you have a rug, get rid of it. Sell it, donate it, throw it away, just move it out of the house. Cleaning the floor is much easier when there is nothing on it.
It is a bit of an odd strategy, but it works really well if you organize it properly. After some time, you will start enjoying the extra space, and you will start to notice the positive impact it has on both your physical and mental health.
Do everything with a positive attitude
Making these radical changes will be a difficult decision for some people. We all have a tendency to like patterns in our lives, and making changes often disturbs us.
Nevertheless, there are ways to turn this decluttering process into a fun activity.
Having a positive attitude is the most important part of living our lives.
First of all, you must start with a positive attitude. Keep in mind that, once you are done, you will feel a lot better. Second, listen to some music while you work. Music is important for our bodies and our minds. Third, get some help. Ask a friend, a member of the family, or your significant other to help you.
Finally, if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself, you can always hire a professional to help you get organized.
Can organizing your space impact your mental health – YES!
Once you get rid of all the clutter in your apartment, you will feel an instant change. You will have more energy and motivation for anything you want to do. Remember, things are what you make of them. It is all about a positive attitude. And once you have enough space for yourself, you will feel as if you can do anything you set your mind to!Our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. Share on X
Virtual organizing allows me to support your organizing projects by providing planning, coaching and mentoring while both remaining safely at home. https://mindoverclutter.ca/virtual-organizing-services/
Book a 30-minute complimentary virtual organizing assessment.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 3 minutes
If you enjoy informatics you will enjoy this blog. Cut the clutter a little each day. Some tasks feel overwhelming. Begin by dividing them into bite-size pieces. Start with the piece that is easiest to tackle, build your confidence and continue on your daily diet making small changes that you can sustain.
My guest blogger is Tom Happ President of Closet Works based out of Elmhurst, IL which for the past 32 years served the Chicagoland area with customized Closet and Storage Solutions. With a team of over 100 staff, each Solution is Designed, Fabricated and Installed to optimize the storage for every room within the home.
Graphic created by Closet Works.
Contact Closet Works or Julie Stobbe for help with planning your organization diet.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
With spring arriving people are beginning to think about cleaning and freshening up their homes. I enjoy organizing but cleaning? My guest blogger, Magda Rae, Editor-in-Chief of Vintage Cash Cow, loves cleaning and is here to help us get a fresh start.
Due to the self-isolation protocols necessitated by the COVID-19 coronavirus, millions of people are spending more time at home than they are used to. Some have enjoyed the freedom and an opportunity to relax, while others are quickly becoming restless and are looking to stay productive.
If you are searching for a way to escape the frustration of quarantine and keep busy amid the pandemic, cleaning your home could provide the perfect solution. A good spring clean will give you a great feeling of accomplishment, while also helping your family to stay safe at a time when hygiene has become crucial! Cleaning even has plenty of proven benefits for your general health, which is important when you need to keep your immune system healthy. Here is how to get stuck in and perform the home deep-clean of a lifetime.
The Health Benefits of Cleaning
Photo by Samantha Gades, Unsplash
Interestingly, spring cleaning also has several science-backed benefits for your mental and physical well being. According to a Scottish health survey, the practice can reduce stress and anxiety by up to 20%, as long as you spend at least 20 minutes cleaning. Clutter can also add to your stress and lower work productivity, but science says that a clean and neat desk can actually make you more productive in the long run.
Dust and pet dander can aggravate allergies and hay fever, but cleaning can help to reduce symptoms of asthma and chest tightness. A study from the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin has also revealed that cleaning your home can improve your mood and even alleviate some of the symptoms of depression. Clearly, now is an excellent time to get out the scrubbing brush and the vacuum cleaner.Cleaning your home can improve your mood and even alleviate some of the symptoms of depression. Share on X
Taking Advantage of the Extra Time
Photo by Volha Flaxeco, Unsplash
The current pandemic has presented the perfect conditions for a proper deep cleaning of your home. Many of us are now in unique positions where we have far fewer daily obligations to worry about than usual. This means that you can really get stuck in, move furniture around, and spread out as you clean. Now is the perfect time to get stuck into those jobs that you have been putting off for years!
You can begin by sweeping your walkways, patio, exterior windows, light fittings and patio furniture. From there, you can move on to washing the interior windows of your home, cleaning out cupboards and pantries, and deep-cleaning appliances and sinks. These are all easy tasks that you could rope your children into to keep them busy as well.
Making a List
Photo by Andy Fitzsimon, Unsplash
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of cleaning, why not make a list for yourself? Write down a wishlist of all the things you would like to clean and tidy up, starting with those tasks that are a top priority for you. Many experts find that cleaning bit by bit is more effective than doing the whole house at once. Take your time, and begin with the rooms or areas of your home that need the most attention.
You could also devise a calendar for cleaning to help keep your routine organized. For example, Mondays could be bathroom cleaning days, Wednesdays could be dedicated to vacuuming, and Saturdays could be laundry days. This is a fantastic way to incentivize children to chip in with the cleaning too. If they do all of the weekly chores on the calendar you set out for them, you could offer them a treat or extend their leisure time as a reward. There is no better time to teach your children about the value of teamwork and cleanliness, so we recommend making the most of it.
Take Inspiration from Marie Kondo
Photo by Nathan Fertig, Unsplash
Is your home feeling unnecessarily cluttered? Perhaps it’s time to assess whether or not your possessions are functional, useful, or bring you joy. Marie Kondo’s famous technique includes picking up an item and deciding whether or not having it in your life brings you happiness. If not, put it aside to sell, donate to charity, or pass it on to someone who will appreciate it. You may well find that if you sell your unwanted vintage jewelry, appliances, books and other items that you no longer use, you’ll pocket a sizable sum of money.
Again, you can also get your kids involved in this process. Many people think that children would want to hold onto everything they own, but Marie Kondo says that this simply isn’t the case a lot of the time. Remember, things don’t have to be in poor condition for you to pass them along to a new home. Charity stores are always grateful for goods in near-new condition!
Keep Cleaning Fun
Cleaning can be a fantastic escape, especially during lockdown. However, for some, this can be an arduous task – so make it fun! Put on your favorite music, rope in your family, and dance or sing as you work. Remember not to work yourself too hard, and to take regular breaks as you see fit.
You can also take before and after photographs of your efforts to incentivize yourself and show off on social media. Some people have even taken to making TikToks of their cleaning work to show the world just how powerful a deep clean can be!
A Good Way to Get Through Tough Times
No matter what your approach may be, the trick to enjoying cleaning and using it as an escape is to make it an enjoyable and rewarding activity that you can look back on with pride.
Need help with your cleaning and organizing project? Book a 30-minute complimentary virtual organizing assessment. https://mindoverclutter.as.me/virtualorganizingassessment
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
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