Perhaps the most obvious way clutter can harm your home and life is the buildup of stress that is associated with a large amount of mess around your home or office. In some cases, a little bit of disorganization can be positive and keep everybody on their toes working towards the same goal. However, when clutter becomes a major problem, the issues that arise can touch every aspect of life from mental and physical health to the possibility of maintaining a long-term relationship.
Why is Clutter Bad for your Overall Health?
The most obvious answer when you think about your overall health and clutter is the anxiety and stress that come with living or working in a messy area. When a room, office, or home is clean and tidy, the mind of the individual spending most of their time there is usually ordered and moving forward towards their goals.
In contrast, the opposite is true when we look at the space being occupied by a person who is surrounded by mess and clutter. You may think that a little clutter is not doing too much harm, but mess and disorganization can lead to both mental and physical health problems.
The buildup of stress that is usually associated with clutter is followed by a cluttered mind that will often lead to the wrong decisions being made when trying to live a healthy lifestyle. One of the ways clutter can negatively affect our lives is by leading to bad choices in our diet with sugary and fatty foods chosen as a coping mechanism for the stress we feel when surrounded by mess and clutter.
Health issues associated with clutter are not always solely linked to the mental health of the individual. Instead, many people find they are affected by respiratory illness when they are surrounded by clutter because more dust builds up in an office or home. Until your home or office can become clutter-free, you will be faced with the usual problems of fire and trip hazards in your home and office that can lead to significant health problems in the future.
What does clutter say about a person?
This is one of the most difficult to address issues associated with lots of clutter in a home or office. How a person is seen when they are surrounded by clutter can have an effect on every aspect of life from work to home. In an office space, you should consider the image your cluttered, messy office is portraying you as an employee and professional. Is the look you want for your employer and potential clients one of a person who does not care about their office or workspace? Is this the kind of person you would trust with your important work tasks, or is this the kind of person you would simply pass over for a contract or a promotion?
Clutter can also play a role in your happiness as an individual who wants to live a long and happy life in your personal space. In some cases, the risk of divorce is increased when a couple and their family live in a messy, dusty home. When clutter gets in the way of everyday life, we often do not identify the problems we are facing that can cause us to ignore the major problems facing us and the changes we need to make.
Another consideration for those who are looking for love is how you are portrayed to a person you hope to spend your life with. If a home is cluttered, some studies have shown up to 50 percent of homeowners will not invite friends or a potential partner into their property because of the unhappiness they feel about the way it appears to others.
Clutter is a problem in the lives of a lot of people, but it can say more about a person than any other part of their life. Humans do like to live their lives with some form of routine, with many aspects of that routine not providing the basis for a happy, fulfilled life. Clutter is one part of a routine that many people cannot escape because the stress and anxiety associated with a messy living or workspace also lead to procrastination. These problems are seen with many people who live in a cluttered environment and do not seem to be able to escape working in jobs that do not satisfy them or lead to loneliness because of a lack of close friendships. Bad organizational habits can be tough to break, but when we do so we can embark on a new period of life that can be more productive and less stressful.
What Causes a Person to Clutter?
There are many reasons why we can be prone to living a life surrounded by clutter, including a sense of being overwhelmed by the mess we have already made. Among the many reasons why clutter can be a problem is the birth of a new baby or a death in a family that throws the life being led out of order. Major life events that are seen as unfavorable can lead to depression and other mental health problems that can be difficult to escape once the clutter and mess have begun to buildup.
Where do I start to declutter?
There are many ways we can begin to declutter an area, including the use of a starting point that can lead us to remove a large amount of anxiety from our lives. This starting point could be a TV area where wires often hang and cause stress unless a cord management system is used to make the area clutter-free.
One of the most popular tips given by experts in removing clutter is to set aside certain areas for papers and other common objects that can cause clutter. The feeling of being overwhelmed when trying to declutter a space is a common one and can be removed by setting aside a specific amount of time over a day or weekend and looking to achieve a few easy to complete goals.
Decluttering can be daunting and challenging to achieve, but the majority of us can complete this with the help of others. Taking the first step to declutter a home is often the most difficult and can result in a reduction in stress and anxiety, leading to a more productive, happier life.
