Living with Clutter

Living with clutter can cause stress and impede your sense of well-being

Tidiness can be learned

Figure out what level of neatness works for you

Don’t strive for unrealistic goals

Design a system in which you can find what you need and which supports you and your organizational goals

Ask yourself what is standing in your way & making you indecisive

Figure out the reason why you want to be organized

Decrease the amount of stuff you have and edit what you have

Decide what to keep and what to let go of by asking yourself:

Does this add value to my life?

Is this item worth the space it takes up?

My mantra: If it takes 30 seconds or less, just do it.

Organizing tips:

Don’t buy more bins or baskets until you have edited your space

Don’t buy more bins & baskets just to store more stuff

Put things away immediately

Invest in organizing items to fit your needs

Go thru your stuff frequently

When you organizing things a little at a time, the task becomes less daunting

Causes of Clutter

Clutter can be caused by various life situations and the relationship one has to the clutter. May people hold onto their possessions because they think they will need them someday, but someday never comes around.

Sometimes life transitions can cause clutter:

-Post pardum depression

-The death of a loved one

-A divorce

-Loss of a child

Any life changing situation can cause clutter. Try to take baby steps to clear the clutter.

Getting Ready to Downsize

Depending on the size of your home and the amount of possessions you own, getting ready to downsize can be a daunting process. It is overwhelming to think about going through your inventory of paper and possessions that you own and have held onto for years.

-Set up a timeline and a completion date

-Make a list of the areas you want to tackle first

-Do your research finding places to donate items or sell items

-Gather your tools - boxes, bags, markers, labels, shredder

-Visualize what you want the end result to look like

-Visualize where you want to relocate your residence and be practical about what you keep

How to Start to Declutter

Find the easiest place in your home or office to start. Look first at things that do not have sentimental value. Choose to discard of items that you have in multiples. Then let go of items you no longer use or haven’t used in years. They are taking up valuable real estate in your home or office.

Once you have gone through items you have in quantities of two or more, then move onto things that you have created an emotional attachment to. This will be more difficult to do alone. You may want to ask a friend to help or employ the services of a professional organizer. Working together with someone, especially a professional, can help ease the anxiety that goes along with the decluttering process.