It’s no secret that every new year, people come up with at least one way they want to improve their lives. Sometimes that is seeking ways to lose weight. Others may even consider their mental health as something they need to work on. This year, don’t neglect your mental health. Start with decluttering your home and see the impact mental health and clutter have on one another.
Decluttering and organizing your home improves your mental health. On your hard days, it’s nice to at least have an organized home that takes away some of the stress on your mind. When you choose to focus on your mental health, it’s not just about finding ways to incorporate self-care. While that is part of it, many people often overlook the impact clutter and disorganization can have.
If you are ready to take care of yourself mentally this year, start with the clutter in your home. Get your home organized so that you can promote clearer thinking and a cleaner environment. Your mental health and the clutter in your home have a direct relationship.
Psychological Effects of Clutter
Chaos in the home causes chaos in the mind. This then leads to increased stress levels, overwhelm, and anxiety. Studies have found that people with more clutter are generally less satisfied in their life. Another study proved that women who see their homes as cluttered and disorganized have higher levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone associated with chronic stress.
Having less clutter means less stress. When you can’t find something because of the mess of things around you, this shoots up your stress levels immediately. When you see visual clutter, you become overstimulated while thinking about all the ways you need to tidy up. You start to create a mental checklist that becomes yet another thing to do on your already busy day.
5 Ways to Help Declutter Your Home and Mind
The following five ways are ideas to help you declutter your home so that you can declutter your mind. The relationship between your mental health and clutter is important to acknowledge.
Start Small
Give yourself the best chance of success when you are decluttering by starting small. In your home, look for quick areas you can comb through to declutter. Think of jacket closets, mail on the countertops, and shoes and blankets that can be picked up quickly. Once you have established those smaller areas, you can work your way up to areas like organizing your pantry or going through your garage.
The key to starting small is that it gives you a quick feeling of being productive. When you accomplish something, you are more likely to continue to find more opportunities to declutter versus spending hours on one area and then being too tired to continue. Give yourself grace and start small.
Keep a Routine
Make it a habit to declutter your space often. Your mental health and clutter will be tended to regularly if you are consistent with your process. Make it a weekly or a daily schedule. Whichever makes you feel productive and encouraged to keep going.
If you spent the time organizing your pantry, then check in on it once a week to ensure things are staying in their place. If you went through your kids’ toys, then check on it every other week to see what toys have made their way into the house. Your routine will be essential to keep a tidy space.
Donate Items
Everyone collects clutter over the years. Items that were bought on a whim or gifted to you are now collecting dust. If they do not have a role to play in your home, consider releasing them through donation to give them a new life.
You don’t need to hang onto things just because someone gave them to you. Your goal is to have a healthier mental space. Use that as encouragement to release multiple items from your home.
Stick to Your List
When you go shopping for necessities, stick to your list. This includes grocery and clothing shopping. Stores have a sneaky way of enticing you with products you don’t need at a price that sounds like a steal. Stick to your list of things you already planned to buy and nothing more.
Not only will this save you money, but it will prevent more clutter from entering your home. Your mental health will thank you now and in the future for not bringing in more things that will end up collecting dust.
Hire a Professional Organizer
The best way to take care of your mental health and clutter in your home is to hire a professional organizer like me. I offer services that help individuals and families get their homes back in order so that they can function in harmony.
As a professional organizer, it is my goal to help you declutter and organize your home while also creating systems that work for you. No more having to figure it out by yourself. Let’s start with a free consultation to make a plan to meet your new year’s resolution of improved mental health and clutter leaving your home.
Mental Health and Clutter Could Determine Your Life
The relationship between mental health and clutter could determine the outcome of your life. If your home is cluttered, your mental health suffers from it. If your home is organized, your mental health will improve because of it. You have to be willing to take small steps towards a healthier mind if you want to meet your mental health goal this year.
While it may sound daunting to declutter and organize your home, remember the benefits it will have on your mind. The work that you do now to clean up your environment will only pay you back in a positive way down the road. This work is worth doing.