Clutter Crush: Day 3

Are you breathing easier now that your car and your closet are both ship-shape?

Today I wanted to switch tracks a little bit and talk about what things add to the "clutter" that contributes to anxiety and stress. Simplify Your Life Week isn't just about cleaning your house or your car, it's about simplifying everything, including the non-tangible things that are adding to your everyday stress.

As someone who has struggled with anxiety and stress management for YEARS, I have figured out the hard way that there are tons of things that can add stress and cause over-stimulation without you really noticing. I'm still learning how to cut down on visual stress!

Sneaky Stressor #1:

Your phone demands your attention 24/7. While there many not be much we can do to change how dependent we are on our phones (so many of us need them for work), there are a few tricks you can use to limit how much energy your phone drains from you on a daily basis.

My husband has an app on his phone that displays ads on his lock screen, and in return, he earns a few pennies a day. When he gets to a certain amount, he can cash out that money for gift cards. I had to stop using this app because it was casing me immense visual stress.

Uninstall any apps you aren't using regularly. And for the apps that aren't super important, edit the settings so that you don't get as many push notifications. If you're on Facebook a few times a day, you don't really need a notification for everything that happens while you're gone! So save yourself a little stress and turn off your push notifications.

Going hand in hand with this is taking a few minutes of your day to unsubscribe to emails you don't want. Ignoring them or deleting them won't solve anything; but if you take a few minutes to hit that "unsubscribe" button or even tweak your settings to only get that promotional email from Starbucks once a week, I guarantee that you won't miss all those email notifications!

Finally, dedicate a specific time to "empty out" your phone. It can be once a month, once every six months, once a year, whatever, but cleaning out your phone can seriously boost your mood! Delete any texts you don't need. Transfer the pictures you want to keep onto your laptop and then wipe your camera clean so you can free up space for more creative selfies. Again, uninstall apps that you aren't using regularly. Do you have a "sticky note" app or a notebook app? Go through those notes and discard the ones you don't need anymore. Clean out your contacts and voicemail box too!

Sneaky Stressor #2:

Clean beds=clean sleep.

Most people do not clean their bedding as often as they should. Especially if you have dogs or cats, you should be washing your bedding at LEAST every 2 weeks. I wash mine every week, because dogs are DIRTY. There is absolutely nothing like falling asleep snuggled in fresh, clean bedding that smells like lavender or the ocean!

While some people argue that leaving your bed unmade helps sunlight kill the germs, I believe that you should make your bed every morning. (And if you wash your sheets once a week, you really don't have to worry about germs!) It gives me peace of mind to know that when I'm ready to sleep at the end of the day, my bed is waiting for me, with plumped pillows and cool sheets. (It also helps keep that dog or cat fur out of your bed!)

Sneaky Stressor #3:

Too much of a good thing is still too much. This goes for home decor as well.

As someone who is transitioning into life outside of college, I made the decision to ditch the posters and find some decor that felt a little more "grown up." What I hadn't realized was that the posters, to my brain, were similar to billboards: large, colorful, attention-grabbing, and most of mine were movie posters, which means they were also advertising. I had way too much on the walls, so my eyes were always tired from bouncing around and my brain was exhausted from constantly processing the bright posters all around me.

I'm going to guess that most of you aren't still rocking the poster life, but maybe you have a huge wall of family photos or an overflowing bookcase or shelf knick-knacks that your cat likes to knock onto the floor. The key to letting your brain relax while you're at home is to cut down on all the things your eyes have to look at. I'm definitely not telling you to throw out all your family photos, but maybe instead of an entire wall full of picture frames, you have a neat row that runs down your hallway. Break up the huge wall of photos and opt for smaller clusters of 4-6 frames around your space.

If you collect figurines, and your cat uses them more than you do, maybe it's time to rethink your use of tiny decor. If you aren't ready to let go, consider rotating them as the season change and storing the rest away. Otherwise, it's time for a yard sale.

I recently discovered that there are entire Instagram accounts dedicated to bookshelf organization. After watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, I re-evaluated how I collect books; rather than buying all the books I want to read and then piling them up in my "to be read" pile, I write the titles down and borrow them from my local library whenever possible. Then, if I like the book, I'll go buy it! While my book collection is still on the smaller side, my shelf is filled with books that I love. When I look at it, it makes me happy; but before, my shelf full of books I had yet to read was like a massive To-Do list. It was causing much more stress than I realized. Currently, I have my shelf organized by color (are you seeing a theme here yet?), but there are dozens of ways you can organize your shelves!

Sneaky Stressor #4:

It's all fun and games until you trip on toys.

Whether you have pets or kids, toys all over the floor is a problem for many reasons. (And if you don't have either, then clean up whatever IS all over your floor.) Besides being a tripping hazard, the bright colors contribute to eye fatigue and the general stress of seeing a cluttered floor. I haven't had any success in teaching my dogs how to "clean up" their toys, but I hear you can teach this trick to your children. Have a designated spot for the toys to be. I'm not saying it must be a fancy bin with their name stitched on the side, but it could be; or it could be an old bin you've lost the lid to, an older basket that can get knocked around on the floor, or even an ottoman with storage inside. Spend a few minutes before bed tidying up the floor and you'll feel so much better in the morning.

My dogs' toys are in a low bin, so they can reach the toys by themselves. I wash the ones that are still intact every month or two. My dogs only really play a couple times a day, and usually they only pull out a couple of toys at a time. It's a real treat when Marco or I play with them and throw every single toy across the house or dump the whole bin on top of them like they won the toy lottery, but generally it's a very easy and quick clean up that saves me a bunch of headaches.

These aren't massive changes and they certainly won't make your anxiety and stress magically disappear, but I personally noticed a difference after discovering these tricks. We live in a world of constant stimulation, and our eyes and brains tire much more easily than we think, so be kind to yourself and see if these tricks can help your brain relax at home.

Question of the Day: What is a favorite toy of your dog's/child's?