Clutter Crush: Day 4

We've made it to day four of Simplify Your Life Week! I hope your home and mind feel lighter, and you're able to be more at ease with your surroundings.

I wanted to take another day to talk about how clutter and messes impact our minds, our anxiety and stress levels, and also depression and mood in general.

Depression sucks. It sucks to deal with and it sucks the energy out of you. If you struggle with depression, cleaning can be a huge obstacle for you. And if you don't have to put up with depression, perhaps you have other obstacles and find yourself dreading coming home because you know what is waiting for you when you walk through the door. Cleaning and de-cluttering seem impossible when you're struggling to care about anything. I'm sure you've heard this before, but the state of your personal space reflects the state of your mind. If your home is cluttered, messy, and dark, it will impact your mood and can even make your mood and/or depression worse. Here are some small steps towards helping yourself find pockets of peace at home.

5-Minute Rule

I've seen this everywhere, especially lately, and for good reason. This is a really useful and manageable way to help train yourself to clean even when you don't feel like it.

Set a timer for 5 minutes and see how much you can get done in one specific room (or if you live in a one-bedroom or studio apartment, one area of your home). More often than not, when the timer goes off I keep cleaning until I feel I'm at a good stopping point. Other times, I'm satisfied with what I got done within that 5 minute time frame. Either way, your space will still be cleaner than it was when you started. You can even increase the time to 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour, or however long you think you have the energy to clean.

This works even if you're feeling great but have a limited amount of time to dedicate to cleaning on any particular day. Only have 10 minutes? Great! See how much you can get done before you have to move on to your next important thing.

Hyper-focus Technique

Instead of letting yourself be overwhelmed by everything that needs to be cleaned, focus on one area at a time. Do you tend to leave dirty laundry strewn over your floor? Then just spend however long it takes to gather up your laundry and start a load. The rest can wait until you have another burst of energy. Or, you can pick another focus area to work on while you wait for your washing machine to finish. Just take it one step at a time; if you gather up all the dirty dishes from your bedroom and take them to the kitchen, you don't have to wash them right away! Any amount of cleaning is still cleaning.

Everything in its Place

Absolutely everything you own should have a dedicated place for it to live while you aren't using it. If not, the stuff just floats around and contributes to stress in your home. If you don't have a place for something, you should re-evaluate whether or not you really need to own that thing. If it is a necessary item, find a place for it to live; otherwise, start a donation box.

If you feel as if you don't have enough storage for your possessions, you may have too much stuff or you may be under-utilizing your home's storage potential. The first step here would be to make sure you actually do need these objects. Are they tools you don't need often but definitely don't want to get rid of? Relics of memories and people you miss? Odds and ends that don't quite fit in any one place? I'm a big fan of the "junk drawer" and as long as you know what's inside and you can close the drawer, by all means fill that baby up.

Memory Box

If you struggle with letting objects go or you have several items that hold immense value to you, a memory box could be the solution to cutting down on that clutter. Special objects that need their own space for you to visit anytime you want fit this bill. You can get a tote with a lid from Walmart or any other similar store for less than $10. This has been an amazing tool for me and my husband. We each have our own memory box to store things like yearbooks, old stuffed animals, filled journals, drawings from college notebooks, picture books my dad used to read to me, old school projects, etc. These memory boxes can be stored in your closet, under your bed, in your basement, or anywhere else that is easily accessible when you need that trip down memory lane. You could even invest in a trunk or any other piece of furniture with storage and make it a statement piece of your living space!

All Aboard the De-clutter Express

This one is a good trick for cleaning as you go about your day without really dedicating much time to cleaning. Whenever you leave one room and go into another, glance around for an object that doesn't belong and take it to the correct room. For example, if you're working in your bedroom and you're taking a bathroom break, grab a cup or two and drop them off in the kitchen. Then on your way back, check the living room to see if there's anything that belongs in your bedroom and bring it back with you! It's an easy way to make a difference without carving out much time.

Make a List

Sometimes the best place to start is with a plan. If you're looking around and you are completely overwhelmed by everything you need to do, find a piece of paper and a pen and start writing it down. Seeing it on paper makes it seem more manageable than letting it bounce around in your head. You can even draw little boxes next to each item so you can have that added boost of serotonin when you check them off! Start with what you see from where you're sitting: are there clothes on the floor? Dishes that need to get to the kitchen? Trash that needs gathered and taken outside? Write everything down and then breathe. It feels much more manageable now that you can see everything in one place. When you're ready, tackle one thing on the list. Keep going as long as you have the energy to; the list will keep track of what you still have left so your brain doesn't have to.

Your space is a reflection of what's going on inside your head and your heart. If your space (and heart) is always a mess, please consider seeking help from a trusted friend, family member, or counselor, even if it's just help doing the dishes. Always remember that you are loved!

We only have one more day left of Simplify Your Life Week, but I hope that you are able to take away at least one helpful tool to keep your life a little better once this week ends.

Question of the Day: What is an object that you could put into a memory box, and what is that object's story?