Living in a cluttered environment can affect your sense of well-being. Whether it’s your home or office that’s cluttered, it causes stress and reduces productivity and you may not even be aware of it. Although many people recognize that getting organized will greatly improve their lives, they have a difficult time getting it done. Below are some tips to help you get started.
First, you must keep your end goal in mind and celebrate each milestone to keep yourself motivated. Many folks put off getting organized because they are so overwhelmed by how big the job is, they just never get started. So, by focusing on what you want to accomplish in the end, you’ll be able to keep yourself going until the project is finished.
If you’re the sort of individual that gets energized by a goal but loses motivation if you can’t finish a project in one day, you will have to change your thinking. It may not be possible to get it all done in one day and so you may have to take it in stages over several days or week-ends.
Once you’ve decided on a goal, pick up some inexpensive cardboard file boxes at your local office supply store. You’re going to use these to sort your stuff. Label one “Keep”, one box “Garage Sale” or “Donate” and one box “Garbage”. You will then take these boxes to each room to begin sorting through everything and placing items in the labelled boxes.
There are some rules that you should follow when going through this process however. If you’re sorting clothes for example and you come across an item that you haven’t worn in more than a year or that doesn’t fit, get rid of it. If you’re sorting through magazines and you haven’t opened any of them for more than 3-6 months – get rid of them. If you’re sorting through broken toys that you keep meaning to repair but haven’t found the time, throw them out. And, if you’re sorting through old paid bills, keep a least one year’s worth but if you’re sorting income tax returns, keep those papers going back for at least 7 years.
Finally, put your “keepers” away but if you find that you haven’t got enough space, you may need to pick up some storage containers. If that doesn’t help then you’ll need to evaluate if you’ve got an emotional attachment to your stuff.
Does throwing things away cause you anxiety? Does it feel wasteful to you? If you don’t have a recycling program in your neighborhood, then you won’t be able to sell or donate your broken items so you’ll need to throw them out. If this is what is causing your anxiety, then you will need to work on your mental clutter before you’ll be able to let go of your physical clutter.
Want to find out more about how to get rid of clutter without the emotional attachments to your stuff? Then visit Getting Rid of Clutter to find out about a unique program that will help you.
categories: organizing, stress, anxiety, mental health
