Clear out the Clutter—NOW!
Clutter in your Home = Clutter in your Head by Sandy Jenney
Clutter - we have all seen it, and chances are we all have it. Too much “stuff” for the space we have. What do you do with it? What do I keep, what do I give away? Where does it all go? Indecision on what and how and where to put everything is the source for the majority of people who have a problem with clutter.
How would you feel walking into this office to work? Relaxed, calm…ready to take on the world? I don’t think so. If you are anything like myself or most of the people I know (and no, they are not all professional organizers by the way) you would feel instant tension, stress and frustration.
Take this office for instance. The man who runs this home office began his business building homes and it took off so fast that the conversion from old bedroom to office never fully happened. He felt frustration everyday walking into this office to work. He couldn’t have clients come discuss house plans in his office because he was too embarrassed. There were bookshelves with baby books, wrapping paper from Christmas, out of season clothes in the office. (I could go on) This man happens to be very organized and neat but because of the situation and the fact that there are not 72 hours in one day…it over took him.
Clearing out the clutter, the extra “stuff” and “fluff” that you don’t need and use, can clear out our heads. It can give you a calm and peace. Too much stuff in our visual field can put too many thoughts in our head of other things. Say for instance you have to go into the spare room to water the plant. You walk in and see a huge mess of things; instead of walking directly over to water the plant you think, “Oh, there is the shelf sitting on the floor that I have to fix and I almost forgot that I have to move that box of books up to Tommy’s room. But wait I can not forget to get those pictures over to Grandma Millies! Now what did you go into that room for to begin with? Oh yes…to water the plant that is crowded on the desk and is almost dead.“
Our lives are so complex in this world. Mail, e-mail, bills, taxes, work, family, lessons, sports, more bills, poor economy, cooking, cleaning, more bills, etc…
We already have so many things floating around in our heads and we are trying to keep them straight that we need a place that can be “de-cluttered”, feel peaceful and be relaxed. If it isn’t our homes, where will it be?
I know it can seem completely over whelming trying to think about how to get rid of it, how do I begin? There are people who are actually trained to help you. I know that money is a major factor right now, and if you do not have the budget to hire a Professional Organizer (they actually go through things with you and help you make those decision and work out a plan as to how a system can work) you can still find many resources that are free to help you.
The internet is one major free bookstore!! There are articles and web sites and blogs to read mammoth amounts of information on and gleam ideas from. If you go to your local library there are books that you can read to help you on organizing. There are TV shows (although not realistic in the time frame it appears to transform a room or home in)you can still pick up tips from them.
Don’t try to do it all on your own. Make this a family project and work together to discover that living in a home with “less” can actually give you a lot “more” than you imagined.
Here are the links to Sandy’s blog and website. Enjoy!
http://organizewithsandy.blogspot.com
http://www.organizewithsandy.com
