De-cluttering your Home

De-cluttering your Home

Clutter around your home is detrimental to your well-being. Here is what you can do about it.

Does this situation seem familiar? You can't find something you require urgently. As you overturn the house looking for the coveted object of your desire, you end up unearthing stuff that you thought had gone 'missing' earlier. You fervently resolve to be more organised in the future, but forget all about it…until the next time you lose something.

What clutter can do

Having clutter around you affects our life adversely. Here are some of the effects:

Restricted Space

All the things you fill your house with, eat into the available space you have at your disposal. They reduce the amount of room you can use to live and function in comfortably. The more you store, the more restricted your own movements in your home will become.

Wasted time

Unwanted clutter usually results in things not being easily accessible when you need them. This usually means that you have to start hunting through your house for them. Not finding what you need when you need it, translates into time lost.

Health hazard

Clutter around the house can pose a major threat to your safety. Accidents are more frequent in a disorganised household. The unavailability of important things that you need urgently, such as medicines, phone numbers or contacts, household tools, etc. can even affect your health. Over time, the effort of coping with clutter can have an adverse psychological effect.

Strained Relationships

People who stay in homes that are in a perpetual state of chaos tend to experience higher levels of stress. There may also be the tendency to blame each other for things that go wrong and this can sour relationships.

What you can do about clutter

With a little planning and effort on your part, you can put your life in order again. These are some simple techniques to help you do so.

Accept the situation

This means not only being realistic about the proportion of your clutter, but also accepting responsibility for it. Doing so will help you get a grip on the situation. This will then allow you to plan a strategy to overcome the problem.

Schedule your time

This includes planning and managing your time well. The actual time you spend clearing up is not as important as how you utilise your time. Make a list of all the things you require and arrange for these to be at hand, before you actually start any cleaning activity.

Divide your tasks

Attacking a pile of clutter without a plan will not only be a waste of time, it may actually worsen the state of affairs. Plan the tasks in the ascending order of difficulty and time they require to tackle. By the time you come to the more difficult ones, you will be increasingly motivated by seeing what you have already done.

Concentrate on your share

While living with others, it is easy to square the blame on others as an excuse to avoid doing your bit. Resist the temptation to do this. Instead, focus strongly on keeping your 'side' clear and organised.

Discard what you do not need

Discard things you are not likely to need in the near future. To be able to do this, you may need to take a tough decision. It could be the clothes you have outgrown, or the exercise cycle that you bought but never used. However, the only criterion for deciding whether to retain it or not should be likelihood of you using it in the near future.

Be generous

There are often things with sentimental value attached to them that you may not be ready to consign to the waste bin. If so, try to find someone among your relatives or friends who could use them. This way, you are not only getting rid of unwanted clutter but also helping someone else.

Maintain it

Once you have actually gone through the process of tidying up any space, whether a table, bed, room or whatever, take care to maintain it that way. Remind yourself of the trouble you took to get there every time you catch yourself gathering new clutter.

Do you generally tend to keep unwanted things around when you don't need them? Do you think clutter around the house is harmful? What do you think is the best way to tidy up your home? To share your experiences, suggestions and opinions, click here.

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