The Emotional Effects of Clutter.

Clutter drags your emotions down. Even if you’ve become accustomed to ‘tuning out’ your clutter on a conscious level, your unconscious mind still notices it and feels weighed down by it. It slows you down, it makes simple tasks seem more of a chore because it is harder to put something away. Often clutter is the result of unfinished jobs, or decisions that are still to be made. These open things don’t ever really leave us and form another task on our mental to-do list. If you have lots of clutter, you tend to have a level of background stress because you feel disorganised and out of control.

Can you place your hands on your car keys right this instant? Where is your cheque-book right now? Would you know roughly the area it is in, (i.e. it’s in the living room) but it might take you a few minutes to locate it? These low-level stressors keep our bodies in a state of alert that is not healthy in the long run.

Clutter can make you feel ashamed. If someone called unexpectedly at your house right now, would you feel comfortable letting them in. It’s not about having a pristine house where nothing is out of place. It is perfectly acceptable to have stuff-in-progress out (drinks, washing that is drying, presents that need wrapping etc) but if you would feel ashamed at anyone seeing your house right now, then you have work to do!

Right now my desk is mess. I have several projects I want to work on, but as I sit at my desk I feel a slump – ugggh! To make progress on my new business I need to have an easy to use system where I can be sure to keep on track of my expenses, have a clear space to work and a proper filing system for notes, ideas and contacts. This is my next area to work on as it is the one that is holding me back the most.

Conversely when you declutter your house you create spaces that are a pleasure and joy to be in. You feel uplifted as you enter a room and are able to appreciate the things you carefully placed there. You feel inspired to use that space productively and respect it by leaving it clean and tidy. You are able to relax more because the low-level anxiety about undone things is reduced.

I’m looking forward to the time I can feel inspired and relaxed about the whole of my home, not just the main rooms.

Making tough decisions about clutter

I had copies of bank statements going back to 2005 (and I know I have back to 2000 in the loft).

I was holding onto them because I knew I had recived bank charges in the past for going over my over draft limit.  One year (just after we got married) was particularly bad.  Recently there has been a lot of press about claiming back ‘unfair’ charges.  The banks charge about £40 each time, but it only costs them about £3.50 to process.

If you have copies of your bank statements (going back up to 6 years) many people take the banks to court to refund the difference in the charges.  Many people have been refunded between £2000 to £4000.   All cases in the UK are currently on hold at the moment as it is being reviewed by the courts.

So I was keeping the statements so that I could claim back the money if the court decision goes ahead that you can claim it back.

However, during my decluttering I have now shredded any statement older than 1 year.

Why?

• I felt bad when I looked at the statements.  They dragged my energy down.  They made me feel sad just by being there.
• I also was aware of the charges before they were made.  I choose to manage my accounts badly.  One late charge didn’t stop me going overdrawn again and again.  It was a reflection of my mismanaged life.  Maybe the charges were excessive, but I wasn’t learning the lesson that I needed to manage my money.

Instead of thinking about what I have ‘lost’ I have decided to look at it as a lesson I needed to learn. 

Last month my husband and I put together a plan to manage our money better. 

My job is now twofold.   1) Take care of what I already have and 2) find ways to create more value and allow more money to come into my life.  I know I can create more abundance in my life by focusing on the future and creating value for those around me instead of haggling about the past.

Clutter Be Gone - 3 years of bank statements, shredded

It’s gone.  I’ve shredded the statements.  I’ve closed the door on it.

I feel better for it so it was definitely the right decison.  I feel lighter and more free already.

Clearing the clutter on my To Do List – Writing my Christmas Cards

Pretty Snowflake Christmas Card

I have to confess at having always been a bit slack at writing and posting my Christmas cards. It took me a long time to work out that people expect a card before Christmas, not actually on Christmas day. (At least my family does).  Often I wrote them, then didn’t get round to posting them until the last minute.

So I am pleased to say that I have written and put stamps on all my family Christmas cards. I’ve written most of the cards for my friends (just a couple of H’s friends still to do), and I’ve written the cards for my team at work.  The majority will be sent tomorrow which is a big tick on my To Do List.

Next on the To Do list is nearly all my Christmas shopping which I am going to go into town tomorrow evening to do.  Also we are having a Christmas desk decorating competition at work on Friday so I have things I need to make to get ready for that.   I’ve got a great idea.  Will post pictures at the weekend once it is all up and decorated.

Also I saved money by using old Christmas cards.  I had a whole shoebox full of odd cards left over from multi-packs going back years.  Even the stamps were from last year!  I haven’t spent a penny on cards this year apart from a really cute Santa one made out of pipe-cleaners for my nephew.  In fact given the amount of cards I still have left over I probably won’t need to buy any next year either!  So this declutter lark is really starting to pay off.

Still loads of clutter to be decluttered in the house but with my aim to do something each day I’m confident my life will be more sorted very soon.

Declutter Challenge Number 2.

If you haven’t written your Christmas cards already, make sure you do so by the end of the week.  If you can save money by using up old cards rather than rushing out to buy new ones – even better.

Decluttering the Worst Room in my house

Decluttering my study - Before

The study is the worst room in my house as you can see from the picture. Everything gets dumped in there and because I don’t have good underlying systems, everything gets piled on top of other things.

Taking a tip from Fly Lady, I’m not going to attempt to deal with it all today. Little and often, little and often is the way to go.

Corner Shelves Before Decluttering

Corner Shelves After Decluttering

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I have started with three shelves. They have lots of paper files on them, busines cards of contacts, bank cards, gift vouchers, certificates etc.

I threw away:

• the business cards of people I haven’t contacted in years,
• old bank cards,
• Broken incense sticks
• a 2007 Emily the Strange calendar that was still on the wall today (7th Dec 2008)
• shredded three years of bank statements (from Jan 2005 – Dec 2007).

I think it looks a lot better. There is still more work to be done though. The boxes underneath with my art stuff need sorting out still.

I haven’t decided what to do with a couple of spare copies of Windows XP and Office 2003. I had originally planned to sell them on e-bay to make some money, however I’m not sure if they are worth anything now. Also my computer is a bit dodgy so maybe I’ll need them in the future. Anyone able to help me with my dilemma?

Decluttering makes you rich!

I found John Lewis Gift Vouchers when I decluttered

Wow, what a shock.
I just found loads of gift vouchers that I’d forgotten I even had when I decluttered today.

£10 – Marks and Spencers
£85 – John Lewis
£17 – Waterstones
£15 – Argos
£20 – Next (and the use by date is in 3 days time)
£20 – Book Tokens
£?? – HMV gift card – amount unknown.

So assuming that the gift card is at least £10:
I am £162 better off than I thought I was thanks to decluttering today.

Sadly I also found £20 of vouchers that were out of date. If I’d been more organised I could have spent them.

So decluttering makes you considerably better off by helping you find money you didn’t even know you had.   How lovely to have all this abundance rain down on me today.

Declutter Challenge No. 1 – Get rich quick

What gift vouchers are hiding in your clutter? 
How much money do you have stuffed in your house that you have forgotten about? 
How much richer has decluttering made you this week?
Can you beat £162 of gift vouchers?

Declutter Hotspot 1. My first Quick Win

I decided to start today with a quick win. Something that I could achieve in a short amount of time and feel good about it.

Fly Lady says the first thing to do is to shine your sink. Well funnily enough, that’s one area of the house that isn’t generally a problem – so I was winning before I even started.

The next thing she says is to get dressed, all the way to your shoes. Mmmm, I don’t like this so much. I normally spend Sundays in my slob clothes because I haven’t seen the point of getting dressed in good clothes just to clean. But I thought I would give it a try. I showered, dressed and straightened my hair too. Once I was dressed, H commented ‘you look nice’. Fantastic – another win already and I’ve hardly started. Things are going well.

My bedroom Cabinet before decluttering today

I decided to tackle a clutter hotspot in my bedroom.

A clutter hotspot is any place that if you put a piece of paper on it it attracts other clutter instantly.

Flat surfaces are notorious clutter magnets so watch out for them.

 

My bedroom cabinet is was a junk heap.

My aim is to declutter all surfaces in the house. Then start getting stuck into a deep clean in all those drawers and cuboards.

My bedroom Cabinet before decluttering today

After decluttering it looks so much better.

My aim is to declutter all the surfaces in the house, then get stuck in and start sorting through all those cupboards and out of site places.

If you’ve been inspired to declutter your home please send me your stories and share your pictures.

I need to declutter my life

I am a clutter bug.

No, scrap that.

I am a former clutter bug! As of today the messiness stops here. Decluttering and organisation only from here on in.

So why am I doing this? Why now after all this time?

Well believe it or not I do try and declutter regularly, but I never really had a system. I would have a big blitz and within a week it would look messy again.
I’ve been working on clearing up my diet lately eating more raw and fresh food, and also taking a tiny amount of ormus supplements which is said to raise your conscious awareness. I believe that this is making more disatisfied with the mess in my house. It drags me down, stresses me out and makes me disorganised.

My husband is neat and tidy. In fact if it wasn’t for him the house would be a lot, lot worse that it is now. When we met I hoped he would have a good influence on me. However all that seems to have happened is that he reluctantly tolerates more clutter piles around the house. Dang!

So how am I going to do this?

I’m taking my inspiration from Karen Kingston’s book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui and also from Fly Lady. I’ve decided not to sign up to the Fly Lady site, because apparently you get about 15 emails a day. I already have 4000 unread emails in my inbox and about 2000 read emails so I really don’t need any more to wade through. (my inbox is on my to do list – promise ). However I will be following many of the principles on the fly lady site.

What do I want to gain?

• Peace of mind
• Clean and tidy house
• To lose weight, because I will be more organised about preparing food. Also I believe clutter in the house is symbolic of clutter in the body. I hope that clearing one affects the other
• To have more energy
• To have more free time as quick and simple maintenance is easier than regular big blitzes
• To feel amazing!

I’m going to be posting lots of pictures of my progress. If anyone wants to comment or send in their pictures of decluttering you would be very welcome. So anyone want to declutter with me?