declutter your life
Decluttering decreases stress and helps us feel happier, less anxious, boosts our mood, and makes us feel more confident in ourselves. Clutter can happen in our physical space or in our mental space. It sometimes feels overwhelming unless we break the work down into small steps.
Decluttering Your Physical Space
- Start by choosing a room or space where you see the clutter in daily.
- Break the clutter down into small tasks that can be tackled over a period of time, rather than one big project to be done in a day. Start small with everyday areas like the kitchen table.
- When going through your stuff ask yourself: Do I love it? Do I need it? Do I use it? Have I used it in the past couple years? If it’s no to all those questions, then let it go. Another question to ask yourself is, "What do I want to keep?" rather than "What do I want to get rid of?"
- Some of the items to declutter are duplicates, such as clothes, office items, tools, kitchen gadgets and pans, cosmetics and jewelry you haven’t used in a long time, and books that you’ve read and don’t want to read again. When you purchase one new article of clothing, recycle an existing piece of clothing.
- Place the items in four piles: Keep, Recycle, Donate and Dump and deliver them to their new location ASAP so you won’t change your mind.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/1/3/131383622/published/declutter2-istock-1416045423.jpg?1696694659)
Decluttering Your Mental Space
Constant visual clutter tires the brain, impairs working memory, and makes it harder and harder to regain focus. Clutter also releases cortisol and is correlated with stress and anxiety (which also impedes learning). It signals to our brain that our work is never done creating guilt, anxiety and the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Mental and emotional clutter blocks the flow of energy in our lives, and clearing this out is guaranteed to help improve our emotional wellbeing.
Examples include undone/unfinished tasks; people/activities that drain energy; remaining angry at people; over-scheduling activities that you feel duty-bound to do, concentrating on your fears or your to-do list, worrying about what's going on in the news, or anything else that's filling your head at night."
Constant visual clutter tires the brain, impairs working memory, and makes it harder and harder to regain focus. Clutter also releases cortisol and is correlated with stress and anxiety (which also impedes learning). It signals to our brain that our work is never done creating guilt, anxiety and the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Mental and emotional clutter blocks the flow of energy in our lives, and clearing this out is guaranteed to help improve our emotional wellbeing.
Examples include undone/unfinished tasks; people/activities that drain energy; remaining angry at people; over-scheduling activities that you feel duty-bound to do, concentrating on your fears or your to-do list, worrying about what's going on in the news, or anything else that's filling your head at night."
Here are some steps to help mental clutter:
- Stop worrying since there is nothing constructive about worrying. Focus your energy on what you'd like to happen instead.
- Follow through on promises and commitments that you’ve been putting off. It drains your energy. If you don’t want to commit, then withdraw your promise.
- Let go of anger and forgive. Anger is bad for your health, both physical and emotional, so you must let it go and forgive the other person. Forgiving them doesn't mean you have to welcome them back into your life, it just means letting go of the memory of what they've done to you and the feelings that go with it. Maybe the other person doesn’t deserve forgiveness, but you deserve to move on and leave the pain behind.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/1/3/131383622/editor/organizing-istock-1393065538.jpg?1696695421)
Here are some suggestions for organizing your space:
- When you have an item in your hand, do not put it down on a counter or table, but place it “immediately” where it is supposed to be stored.
- Use drawer dividers for socks, underwear, lingerie, and tiny items, to keep them separated and organized.
- Keep items that are used frequently in places where you can reach them without stooping or bending, and store them close to the place they will be needed.
- Hang hooks for your keys and purse at the entry to your home, so each time you walk in, you can hang them up.
- Always put your cell phone in the same place. Have a cell phone charging station set up.
- Get rid of junk drawers or allow yourself just one that you clear out once a week or more. Designate a drawer for items that are being used repeatedly.
- Make a one-in one-out rule – For every new item you bring into your home, you need to get rid of something you already own to keep balance.
- Where you notice an area where things or paperwork pile up, create baskets, shelves and folders to organize for this purpose.
- Get a calendar you can write your tasks on daily and place it where you can see it each morning.
Dispose of things you don’t need any longer like:
- Expired medications.
- Clothes you no longer wear.
- Extra paper or plastic grocery bags.
- Makeup and samples you have never worn.
- Sunscreen that's expired or more than one year old.
- Organize your coupons and throw out all that have expired.Cookbooks you rarely use. Cut out your favorite recipes only.
- Magazines you meant to read but have never taken the time for.
For more information on decluttering, read 21 Understandable Reasons for Clutter (and How to Stop It) and 20 Decluttering Rules.