Organizing your home has an effect on productivity and stress in addition to freeing up space. If your home is messy, disorganized or cluttered it can create distractions, additional stress and limit your productivity.
Research conducted by organizations like American Psychological Association suggest that physical attributes of a cluttered environment can trigger anxiety and limit your ability to focus on important tasks.
A home with everything in its proper place will take less time searching for something and/or dealing with additional mess. This efficiency will enhance your daily routine, allowing you to spend less time searching for items and/or dealing with additional mess thereby giving you additional time to devote to your true priorities (work, family, personal growth).
Impact of Decluttering your Home on your Mental State
Decluttering allows you to have an organized environment which promotes a greater level of clarity and calmness to your environment. When your room is in order, your mind is not as overwhelmed and has more ability to concentrate.
Additionally since your mind is not as frequent, it can make good decisions and less likely development of mental fatigue when your day is busy. Developing Better Habits Through Decluttering Organizing creates a more controlled/managed space for you to live in thereby creating a more orderly environment which in turn helps you develop and maintain the habit of cleanliness and organization throughout your life.
Benefits of a Relaxing Environment
Creating a relaxing environment for your home will create more De-stresses and diminishes anxiety Saves time on a daily basis. These benefits contribute to a more balanced and productive lifestyle.
The Right Mindset
Mental Preparation Before Starting to De- clutter (the emotional component)
De-cluttering itself requires not only cleaning out your physical space; it also requires cleaning out your mental space. Many people struggle to get started because they feel some sort of attachment to their stuff or they don’t know WHERE to begin.
Therefore, by mentally preparing yourself, you will be both able to accomplish the goal of de-cluttering your environment and be more successful in achieving that objective than you would otherwise be. Remind Yourself Of Yout Purpose For De-Cluttering Before You Begin The Process What are the various reasons that you want to de-clutter? Is it to clear up more physical space? Is it to reduce your stress?
Building Confidence Through Small Actions
Your confidence will increase as you take small actions towards Accomplishing smaller things helps you feel accomplished, motivating you to keep going! Make decisions that are simple. Recognize your small accomplishments! Avoid second-guessing your decision.
Give yourself time before you start. This psychological preparation gives you a good foundation to declutter your home successfully.
As stated by productivity experts such as James Clear, it is better to focus on making small consistent actions versus larger, overwhelming ones.
Goal Setting and Planning
Tackling both your short and long term goals will create a positive feeling about your ability to get to your long term goals. Have specific target goals Have a set amount of time for each area Be aware of what you have accomplished If necessary, adjust your goals to keep up with your progress.
By making realistic plans you will stay accountable for the decluttering of your areas, this will also help create a continual behavioural change for you.
A Simple Plan to Declutter
To make the decluttering process easier on those just starting out, it is best to have a simple/clear plan. Visiting and moving between the space being decluttered is very common when having no plan, and it can be very frustrating because you lose focus.
Productivity and Organising professionals from across Australia recommend that you breakdown the decluttering process into manageable parts so it will feel like you are progressing at a reasonable pace, therefore making it achievable. Therefore creating a structured approach to the decluttering process will mean you remain consistent and avoid having unfinished tasks.
Creating a Priority List
To begin you should compile a list of your areas of decluttering with the areas priority listed. Bedroom, Kitchen, Storage Areas, etc. The reason for compiling a list to give you direction and track what has been completed and which areas still require attention.
This will also help to stop you becoming mentally overwhelmed by the amount of work you have ahead of you; when you complete smaller parts and you get some immediate wins you will be motivated to continue. You can break your decluttering down into specific days for each area – this will give you a routine and create a normal time in your weekly schedule to complete the decluttering therefore you will feel like it is now a normal part of your week instead of a huge job.
Flexible Planning Approach
Being Willing to Make Changes to Your Plan While it is important to make a plan for the future, it is equally as important to be flexible with that plan. Although the large areas may take a long time to complete, you will be able to complete these areas with considerable ease due to the experience you gained decluttering smaller areas.
Start Small for Better Results
- Declutter Low-Effort Areas First.
- Gain Confidence Through Quick Results.
Be sure to start with your first room to completion before going on to your second. Doing it this way will prevent clutter from being scattered throughout your house, and will help you keep track of how you are progressing.
Sorting and Categorizing Items
Taking Another Look Inside Each Room When you are in the process of decluttering, use the first room you have done as your template as to how the rest of the rooms will look as far as organization. When you are in the process of sorting your items inside of the first room, first take the time to categorize your items into specific types.
Maintain your focus within the area you are currently working within. The order of events is as follows: Complete the first room; Utilize clear distinction when sorting through items; Work in smaller areas within the area that you are currently decluttering; Maintain organization while you are decluttering.
The Keep, Give Away, Throw Out℠ Strategy
The Keep, Give Away, Throw Out strategy is one of the fastest and easiest way to eliminate clutter and live within the minimalism lifestyle. Organizers use this method because of its ability to create a clear path for how to group things together in order to declutter your home.
The simple triage of grouping items into three different categories makes it much easier to move forward with your decluttering process and can help make the entire process less overwhelming.
Making Quick, Easy Decisions on Each Item
- Keep only useful items
- Donate items in good condition
- Dispose of damaged items in a responsible manner
- Avoid storing items that are unnecessary
Therefore, utilizing this method will create much simpler and easier decisions to make when decluttering. Organizing the things you choose to keep will be just as important as the decluttering task you performed by eliminating unwanted items.
Organizing and Storage Solutions
If you do not properly organize the items you keep, it will be easy for them to become cluttered once again and undo any progress you may have made. Organizing your items allows you to locate them with ease which will enable you to keep your area organized for an extended time.
IKEA says that utilizing straightforward storage solutions plus clearly defined locations will provide for increased productivity in your everyday routine plus reduce the stress of your life. Assign a designated home address to all items before you start placing them into your home.
Practical Storage Methods
Using Additional Practical Storage Methods Select storage solutions that match the overall design of your home plus the type of lifestyle you lead. Containers that are clear are great because not only can you see what is in the container, but also you can see quickly without having to open the container.
Legibly writing labels works well to assist in keeping your home organized; labels will not only help you to remember where the various items in your home belong, but they can also assist others who live inside of your house.
Storage Best Practices
- Every item must have a home address
- Clearly define and label storage
- Group similar items together
- Do not overstuff your items
Letting Go of Sentimental Items
Realizing this makes it easier to set things free with no sense of remorse. Release without guilt. Begin by only holding on to a few sentimental things and giving away the rest.
This will allow you to keep some of the best memories, while still having room in your home to collect new memories. In addition, taking pictures of sentimental items before throwing them away will provide you with a great way to hold on to the memory without holding on to the actual object.
Guidelines for Sentimental Items
- If you haven’t used or appreciated a sentimental item in the last 2 years, then it may be time to say goodbye
- Truly meaningful items only
- Don’t hold on to everything
- Take pictures of the items to keep the memories
- Think about your current needs
Common Decluttering Mistakes
Mistakes made by first-time declutterers. Many people who are just starting out in the decluttering process make mistakes that slow down their progress and make the decluttering process more difficult.
A common problem for those new to decluttering is attempting to declutter everything at once. The feeling of being overwhelmed can frustrate your efforts at remaining consistent and focused on achieving your decluttering goals.
Avoiding Complexity
Another mistake made is creating too many complex and detailed systems and guidelines in connection with trying to declutter. Trying to use this kind of complexity usually creates confusion for the user.
Ignoring habitually maintaining your space after a one-time declutter will only result in you becoming unfocused and losing your motivation. Without the continual practicing of your organizational habits, you will be placing yourself back into the position of non-declared chaos and unnecessary clutter.
Simple Rules to Follow
- Use the simplest system possible for organizing your home
- Become involved with creating and maintaining regular habits
Building Daily Habits
You will want to continually strive to keep from allowing clutter to accumulate again after having decluttered and organized your space. Studies from the Leading Organizational Experts, Joshua Becker, have shown that you will achieve far more by developing small, repetitive habits daily than by making large, infrequent attempts at decluttering.
Using this method will keep your home in order and you will not feel overwhelmed. These examples of small routines and habits will save you time and stress than doing this infrequently.
Daily Maintenance Tips
- Put items back where they belong after using them
- Check your space regularly
- Avoid unnecessary purchases
Maintaining your habits will help you maintain your home in an organized manner.
Storage Options That Work
Using the right types of storage will help to keep your home organized after decluttering. Most people think that they have to spend lots of money to find storage systems and solutions, however, you can find simple and practical storage solutions for everyday use.
Many places such as IKEA sell affordable products that are designed to be functional and easy to use. When you use these types of storage solutions, you will not be focusing on how many items you can store but on how many items you actually need to store while being easy to find.
Choosing the Right Storage
Determining the Right Type of Storage Every item has a different way in which it is stored. For example, clothing may require shelving or hangers and smaller items would reside in labelled boxes.
It is essential to utilise the correct form of storage, this ensures that all of your belongings are stored correctly and reduces the chance of confusion. Do not overfill storage areas.
Keeping Storage Simple
- Avoid overfilling boxes
- Match storage to the specific type of item being stored
- Use simple methods for accessing your storage
Practical storage solutions allow for a easier long-term process of keeping an organised space and reducing stress in your daily activities.
Managing Time for Decluttering
How to Manage Your Time when you are busy For the majority of the world, finding time to declutter their life can be time-consuming and overwhelming considering today’s workload. Decluttering can also be accomplished in less than a half-hour of time when you manage your time correctly.
Laura Vanderkam and other professionals recommend completing tasks during smaller amounts of time throughout your day as opposed to waiting to find a free day with no obligations to complete these items. This allows for a more realistic process when it comes to decluttering and easier to sustain once you have completed your clutter.
Using Short Spaces of Time
- 10 to 15 minutes per day
- Focus on one small area of the house
- Stay consistent on a daily basis
You can also notice positive changes by working consistently over the long term through short time periods. This approach ensures sustainable and long-lasting organization.
