Why Should I Declutter My House?

Start by Answering the Real Question

When you clean out a closet, a cupboard, or a dresser, the real question is, ‘how did that make you feel when finished?‘

If the answer is that a weight was lifted or a sense of accomplishment, there’s a reason for that: One of the basic principles of Feng Shui is that decluttering and organizing helps to remove negative stagnant energy from both your home and your person.

Unnecessary ‘stuff’ and ‘things’ can block your life’s natural flow of energy.

Feeling a weight being lifted is reason enough to start a decluttering project.

However, if you need more convincing, here are three additional reasons why you should invest in your decluttering plan:

1. STRESS! TOO MUCH CLUTTER CAN EQUAL TOO MUCH STRESS, SO CUT THE CLUTTER TO CUT THE STRESS

Do you have undone organizational projects in your home? Every day, do you think about them? Does it annoy you that you haven’t started your cleaning projects yet?

If you’ve answered yes to all three of these basic questions, then whether you know it or not, your clutter is stressing you out in some way or another.

The solution is simple: start a cleaning project. It doesn’t matter if you finish the task in ‘X’ hours; what matters is that you begin. Don’t put unnecessary deadlines on yourself, but remember that the finished result gives you that feeling of bliss and ultimately relieves some stress.

Tackle your project at a reasonable pace. For example, if you feel the project can be finished in a few hours, get it done. If you think the project will take a week, take that week, but get it done.

2. CLUTTER AFFECTS YOUR ABILITY TO FOCUS; IT IS A NAGGING DISTRACTION

A study published in the January 2011 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute resolved that “a serene environment helps you focus and process information more effectively.” Conversely, a cluttered room creates blocks to processing information and, in turn, affects your focus. You can read more about it here.

3. YOUR CLUTTER PROCRASTINATION CAN LEAD TO PROCRASTINATION IN OTHER AREAS OF YOUR LIFE

One bad habit can lead to another bad habit.

Think about this for a second: You have a stack of unopened mail needing to be processed, and it’s been on your mind to get it done, but you’ve been procrastinating.

You also have the front hall closet that needs to be organized and sorted. The list of things you need to do starts to get longer.

Next, your bedroom closet gets increasingly disorganized; then it’s the kitchen cupboards. It’s not that all of this is happening at once; it’s that, as we ignore one task, we tend to ignore other tasks, and that cycle continues. The messy weight grows, and we begin to feel overwhelmed.

So what’s the solution? The solution is to get started on one thing and then watch how fast this cycle begins to unwind itself. It’s that simple, get started:

• Work on your uncluttering tasks and stay in that moment – don’t push yourself to do everything at once.
• Compartmentalize – Clean the closet and only the closet, then, when done, move on.
• Don’t think about the long list of things you still have to do. Forget about them until and focus on the one task you’re working on completing.
• Jump right in – Look at that closet, and start to empty it, forcing yourself to make choices.
• Make decisions about items quickly – Give yourself 10 seconds to decide to keep, trash, or donate – If it takes you longer than 10 seconds to make that choice, do you need it? I suspect the answer is no.

"Hey There! Thanks for stopping by today. I'm Barbara Cipak, Owner of Funkthishouse; a place where you can safely rebel against neutral decor. My nutty passion is finding funky, and interesting products for the home or office. I'm a home decor rebel who blames her decades in the real estate industry for my love of color! Since leaving neutral behind, I've built Funkthishouse.com, a place where souls once trapped in neutral-decor-world roam free and funk'n love it. Visit FAQs for more about Funkthishouse and the whole funky story.

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