Ah, a topic near and not-too-dear to my heart. Clutter. I don’t just have it in my home office, I got it everywhere! Well, actually, I will admit in all fairness that my home is much less cluttered than ever before in my life. This is mostly due to the fact that we finally have a home large enough for our 5 person family. Keeping clutter out of the way in a tiny home with so many people is a disaster waiting to happen - but it happens to all of us from time to time.
I found a great blog today called “It’s not about your stuff!Get productive, the lazy way! Jessica Duquette, lifestyle and productivity consultant, has the recipe to make your life flow more smoothly…”. Very interesting stuff over there. I especially like how she ties in the psychology of clutter into her organizing approach. Here is a super-informative post on “How does clutter affect your daily life?”. She quote some great insights from Ariane Benefit’s NeatLiving Blog, specifically, the ten ways excessive clutter leaches the life force from our lives.
Some highlights Ariane’s articlef in the post:
- Excessive clutter often cause feelings of shame, guilt, anger and embarrassment that holds you back.
- Clutter drains your energy - and you don’t realize it till it’s gone. Every item in your home has an energy to it.
- The stress caused by clutter is enormous. Every time you can’t find something, or an argument flares up with a loved one, or you can’t relax because you worry about all the things you need to do, but can’t till you get the clutter cleared, your stress levels increase.
- Simply having too much stuff eats up your time like crazy. Every thing you own requires some amount of care and organization.
- Holding on to clutter often grounds you in the past at the cost of your present life and your future.
- Clutter distracts you from being able to think about your goals, projects, hobbies and get things done.
I know Ariane and Jessica are right on the money with their insights. I know that I feel a sense of peace and calm when things are organized, which massively frees up my energy for the things that mean the most to me :: my family, my self, and my business.
Thanks for the great blogs Jessica and Ariane!
Thanks, Wendy, for your link to my blog! I am a mom, too, and I know what a struggle it is to keep it all together! Sometimes, you just want your own mom to come and take care of YOU!
I love answering questions from moms and business owners, people who have clutter in their life, so anyone who wants to, please stop on by!
warmly,
Jessica Duquette
Hi Wendy, thanks for linking to my blog and for publishing excerpts from my article on how clutter affects you! You raise a great point that no matter how big your home is, clutter can still creep up on you.
The issue usually isn’t about the amount of space in your home, it’s more about our busy lifestyles and developing a mindset that enables us to let go of stuff we no longer need or use. It’s not easy at first, but it gets easier the more you practice. And, as you stated, the rewards are well worth it! Recently after giving my office a good clutter clearing, I got 7 new clients the next week!
Wishing you much success!
Ariane Benefit