Clutter Chronicles Part One: Clutter causes Stress
One of the greatest contributing factor to STRESS is CLUTTER.
Disorganization itself can cause stress in your home by presenting barriers to health, tasks, timeliness, family gatherings, and peace of mind. According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D. living in clutter impedes your identification with your home, it contributes to unhealthier eating, poorer mental health, less efficient visual processing, and less efficient thinking (2017). These are barriers to the peace and freedom your home should offer. It prevents your home from being your refuge.
This doesn't end with your home life. It translates into your professional life and your business practices. If you are a professional or business owner, clutter filled offices or working spaces are negative stimuli. This can prevent productivity which creates less efficient thinking. This decreases the ability to complete short-term memory tasks, inhibits long-range mental exercises, and diminishes your repository of knowledge (2017). Simply, your business suffers when you, colleagues, or employees battle a cluttered environment.
How to address the clutter:
1. Acknowledge the clutter is preventing you or your business from "living" efficiently.
2. Pick one space and begin.
3. Clear your space. Sort what is being kept, discarded, sold, or donated.
4. Create the space you need. The space should function as you need it to.
Do not try to organize the whole home, office or business at one time. If you do not have the time hire a professional who can coordinate and advise your reorganization. National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals has a list of professional organizers. (Click here for NAPO search)
This would be a great opportunity to give items to a person or organization of your choosing. For professionals who have tools that not utilized or inefficient for production in volume, donate those tools to up and coming professionals in your industry, or find education centers which could benefit.
Ensure you are using the right storage organizing systems for your space. Do your research.
For homes: big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Wal Mart, Container Store carry organizing products for every budget. Amazon, Wayfair, and Overstock also carry organizing products.
For business: use keywords like 'warehouse storage shelving', or 'organizing products for businesses.' Also look for storage products related to your industry.
Resources:
When looking for professional organizers: http://napo.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3767
References
Whitbourne, S. K. (n.d.). Is there any life out there? Psychology Today,1-5. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-76559-4_1
