Clutter is the physical manifestation of unmade decisions fueled by procrastination. – Christina Scalise

When you look at the above picture of the paper clips, which side do you find more appealing and/or calming? Most of you will prefer the upper portion of the page. Our brain LOVES organization.

So when we surround ourselves with piles of dirty clothes, jammed up cabinets, a junk room and/or stacks of stuff, we feel chaotic. It’s not just about our physical surroundings – clutter affects us mentally, emotionally, and psychologically as well.

**For this post, I am not referring to hoarding. Hoarding is a disorder that involves persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items. Excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value, occurs.

First, let’s look at 8 different ways this physical chaos can become a part of our lives.

Type of clutter What it might mean Bargain clutter You can’t pass up a good deal even if you don’t need the item. For most people, it’s the thrill of the find rather than actual need. This research shows that 40% of shoppers “feel smart” when they find the best deals. Other’s people’s stuff This might indicate you have difficulty setting boundaries. Temporary storage is one thing, but if the stuff that is cluttering your space doesn’t even belong to you, you might want to consider setting boundaries and saying “no” more. Memorabilia People that hang on to sentimental items may have trouble letting go of the past or believe the best days of their lives are behind them. There’s nothing wrong with holding on to some stuff, but if your trophies from high school still occupy too much space on your bookshelf or you just can’t part with your 15 concert t-shirts, you might want to give this some thought. Unused items When we hang on to things we no longer have a need for, it’s typically because we are afraid of the future and our mindset is one of lack. We are afraid we might need said items again and so we hang on to them. It might help to consider IF you could ever even use these items again. (Think a box of floppy discs or an old desk-top computer with the giant modem). Guilt, grief and/or attachment can also explain why we can’t part with unused items. Unfinished projects This may be a result of procrastination, boredom, or perfectionistic tendencies. Do you have thoughts of the project not being good enough? Afraid others will be critical or judgmental of your work? Trash You got it. Many people hang on to good old fashioned trash. This might be piles of old newspapers, mail, or random junk items that are broken or useless. This may be the result of feeling overwhelmed if you’ve let it get away from you, or it could be downright laziness. For more serious issues, professional help may be required. Abundance clutter Buying in bulk can provide a sense of security. Feelings of loss, loneliness, or heartache can be covered up by purchasing unnecessary items. Some things make sense to buy in bulk (like toilet paper, for instance, that we will definitely use) but 3 gallons of Ranch dressing is probably a bit of overkill.

It’s amazing how much freer our minds are when we rid ourselves of clutter. Have you ever had the experience of having a really messy car and then you go clean it very good? I mean you scrub the carpets, get all in the grooves and throw out all the trash. Then you forget about it until you get in the car the next day and, ahhhhhh what a great feeling.

Every choice, decision and action we take has the energy of intention behind it and also has an energetic outcome. This is called “cause and effect”. It might sound so simple, but many people are blissfully unaware of how much power they possess to create deep and profound change for themselves. This includes ditching the clutter in your environment. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes for your mental health.

Check out these findings about clutter:

1.Statistics from Forbes magazine:

The average American home size has grown from 1,000 square feet to 2,500 square feet.

Personal storage generates more than $24 billion in revenue each year.

Reports indicate we consume twice as many material goods today as we did 50 years ago.

All while carrying, on average, nearly $15,950 in credit-card debt.

2. A study done at UCLA published their findings in the book, “Life at Home in The Twenty-First Century,” which is a rare look at how middle-class Americans use the space in their homes and interact with the things they accumulate over a lifetime. Here are some of the results:

A link between high cortisol (stress hormone) levels in female home owners and a high density of household objects. The more stuff, the more stress women feel. Men, on the other hand, don’t seem bothered by mess, which accounts for tensions between tidy wives and their clutter bug hubbies.

Women associate a tidy home with a happy and successful family. The more dishes that pile up in the sink, the more anxious women feel.

Even families that want to reduce clutter often are emotionally paralyzed when it comes to sorting and pitching objects. They either can’t break sentimental attachments to objects or believe their things have hidden monetary value.

Although U.S. consumers bear only 3% of the world’s children, we buy 40% of the world’s toys. And these toys live in every room, fighting for display space with kids’ trophies, artwork, and snapshots of their last soccer game.

3. This study examined the relationship between clutter and procrastination in young adults in their early 20s.

The best prediction of whether or not these people would procrastinate? You guessed it. Clutter. Believing they had too much stuff and feeling overwhelmed by it strongly interfered with their quality of life and caused them to procrastinate more often.

4. Researchers at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute published the results of a study they conducted in an issue of The Journal of Neuroscience that relates directly to uncluttered and organized living.

They looked at people’s task performance in an organized v/s unorganized environment. The results of the study showed that physical clutter in your surroundings competes for your attention, resulting in decreased performance and increased stress.

5. Ranka Burzan is a professional organizer. Here are some of her insights into clutter:

It’s estimated we lose 15-20% of our annual budget because we procrastinate and avoid making decisions about the way we live and function.

We always relate to routine and familiar circumstances even if they work against us. That is one reason that people stay in abusive relationships, low paying jobs and cluttered homes , because it’s predictable and we become experts in dealing with unpleasant situations.

The container companies make it easier for us to keep a mountain of things we don’t like or use. You just have to contain and label everything and your clutter problem is solved. The clutter problem is not resolved; it’s just shifted to a different area of your home. The container suppliers are not to blame; they are simply meeting the demands of consumers. We have to admit that we are out of control when it comes to buying, we have too much stuff that we don’t need in our homes and our lives.

6. This article in Men’s Health cites the following findings about clutter:

People who live in excessively cluttered homes are 77% more likely to be overweight.

People who sleep in cluttered rooms are more likely to have sleep problems, including difficulty falling asleep and being disturbed during the night.

Disorganized and messy environments led participants in one study to eat more snacks, eating twice as many cookies than participants in an organized kitchen environment.

7. Clinical psychologist Dr Catherine Huckle explains: ‘Our homes are often considered to be our sanctuary from the wider chaotic world. As well as providing comfort, security and shelter, homes also need to support the activities of daily living.

She goes on to note the following:

When we acquire more stuff than our space can reasonably accommodate, our homes are compromised. They can become less comfortable, it can cause disorganization or make it difficult to find things.

We can feel displaced and it can be difficult to use spaces as they were intended (for example, kitchen work surfaces).

The overall impact of this is that clutter makes life harder, meaning a further psychological demand to add to those that we already experience. The emotional outcome is a sense of feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

8. Here are some surprising ways clutter can ruin your life according to this article in the Huffington Post:

Clutter triggers respiratory issues. According to the Alliance for Healthy Homes, cluttered homes often contain more dust, which can cause or amplify breathing problems. As more things pile up, more dust is generated. This creates the ideal living environment for pests like dust mites.

Clutter upsets your kids. If you have kids, they too can feel the negative effects of a cluttered home. The National Institute of Mental Health found that kids living in a severely cluttered environment often have elevated levels of distress, experiencing less happiness and more difficulty making friends.

Clutter prevents you from getting promoted. A chaotic desk, an untidy briefcase or purse, and an undefined filing system (or no filing system at all) can all have a major impact on your job performance. A CareerBuilder study found that 28% of employers are less likely to promote someone with a messy workspace.

Clutter makes you miss work. Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health discovered compulsive hoarding was associated with an average of seven work impairment days per month — more than those reported by participants with other anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders.

So knowing all of this, what are some ways we can look at fixing this problem that is pervasive in many people’s lives?

Considering that others will be grateful for something we don’t even use can help us get rid of it. Instead of looking at it as you giving up something, view it as a charitable gift so that someone else can gain something.

1. Use the Rule of 5. As you begin to de-clutter, you will likely feel overwhelmed. Make it easier by doing the following: Every time you get up from your desk or walk through a room, throw away 5 things or put 5 things in their proper place.

2. Similar to the above, another rule is called the 2 Minute Rule. If there’s a task you can tackle in 2 minutes, go ahead and do it. You’d be shocked how much time this will save you. For example, have you ever thought, “I need to go put the clothes in the dryer” but then you went on about your business and forgot. Two days later, you go to wash more clothes and realize that, oops, you never did complete the load from earlier. Now you have sour, nasty smelling clothes that you have to rewash. You’ve lost time and money when 2 minutes would have saved the day.

3. Keep chores in small segments. It’s like the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” One bite at a time. Instead of conquering the entire kitchen, say, “Today I’m just doing the junk drawer.” You are then able to check off the box of completion and not feel overwhelmed.

4. Thinking of how grateful you (and your family and friends) will be when an item is gone can help overcome reluctance in parting with it. Does your spouse constantly harass you about cleaning up? Is the thing you don’t want to part with a complete eyesore? Does it get in the way? Instead of focusing on all the reasons you WANT to keep it, try thinking of all the reasons you’ll be glad it’s gone.

5. Start with the chaos you can SEE. If your house is in total disarray, don’t start with the drawers that are hiding the clutter. Start by making up your bed every day or getting rid of the pile of clothes in the corner of the room that have been sitting there for 3 months. SEEING your progress will keep you motivated to continue the work. Also, start with the tasks that will have more of an immediate impact. Don’t worry about tackling the kitchen junk drawer if every time you open the cabinet all of your Tupperware falls out on your head.

6. When we are using what we have (and are grateful that we have even that much), we’ll be too busy to miss what we gave up. If we complain about what we don’t have or what we “need,” we’re wasting all of the blessings that are right in front of our eyes.

7. Gratitude will keep us from impulse spending. Not only do we begin to realize we don’t need as much, but we also have a more positive state of mind. This reduces our desire to make purchases just for that shopper’s high. De-cluttering will also save us money because we won’t keep buying stuff we think we’ve run out of when actually we have three more at home.

8. The last tip comes from Martha Beck, life coach and author of Finding Your Own North Star.

Walk into any room of your home and focus on 10 random objects.

As you consider each, ask yourself (1) Do I truly need it?; (2) Do I truly adore it?; and, (3) Would I trade inner peace for this? The answers can help curb your pack-rat impulses, allowing you to clear out and move on.

Try getting rid of the clutter and see how it impacts your life!!