Free Yourself From Clutter To Reduce Stress And Increase Efficiency

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• Tags: clutter, efficiency, life, simplicity, Stress

This is a guest post by Ashley at Wide Open Wallet.

Do you have clutter? I’m sure you do. We all have clutter to one degree or another. But clutter drains your energy. You can’t possibly have a “Super Charged Life” if you are dealing with clutter.

Clutter in your home or office makes you feel tired, inefficient, and stressed. You waste time looking for things. You pay late fees or stress friendships because you can’t find the items you borrowed. You run late because you are disorganized. You don’t use your home to it’s fullest potential because you have closets, cabinets, drawers, maybe even whole rooms that are filled with junk you will never use, or even see, again.

If you think you just need more storage you’re wrong. You need less stuff!

I know a lot of times we hang on to stuff because we think it’s going to save us money at some point. But really, clutter just costs us money in the end.

When you are living a clutter free life you can make full use of the things you already own, and that saves money.

Also, you will be more thoughtful about your purchases because you will have a clearer sense of your needs. For example, that bath toy I found in the closet. That is one less toy I need to buy later. If I hadn’t been decluttering while I was waiting I wouldn’t found it before he outgrew it.

Getting rid of your clutter is not as overwhelming as it may seem.

1. Start small.

What room in your house do you use the most? Start there.

A very important thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need to wipe out all the clutter in one sitting. I’m going to say that again. You don’t need to wipe out all the clutter in one sitting! If it’s too overwhelming then start small. Very small if necessary.

Take 5 things and put them away. The next day, take 5 more things. Or if it’s not such an emotional journey then do as much as you can in 15 or 20 minutes. Or during commercials, or while dinner is in the oven, or while you are waiting for the shower to warm up.

There are so many times in the day when we aren’t really “doing” anything. Use that time to clear some clutter. It doesn’t have to be a huge day long project. You will be surprised how much you can accomplish in small focused bursts.

I just recently organized the bathroom closet. I would do a little here and there while I was waiting for my two year old to go potty. Ok, yeah, it took a week to clean one closet. But who cares! It’s done now.

It was time that I was stuck in the bathroom doing nothing anyways, and now the closet is cleaned out. I even found a bath toy that had gotten shoved in the back. Bonus! He gets a new toy, I get a nice clean closet.

2. Make piles

When I’m decluttering I always grab two trash bags and an empty laundry basket. One bag for trash, one bag for donating, and the basket for things I’m keeping. Don’t walk all over the house to put stuff away, just put it in the basket and deal with it in a few minutes.

Go through the items quickly. Don’t mull over each and every decision. If it’s something you want to keep you know it. If you have to stop and think then you probably don’t love it. And if you haven’t used it in a year then get rid of it.

When you’re done take your donate bag to the car… right now! Get it out of the house as soon as possible.

To me, there is no sell pile. If you have an organized way to store the items you plan to sell at a garage sale or online then fine. But I’m guessing you don’t. I don’t. So unless it’s something of actual value, say $50 or more, then I give it away.

The efficiency of getting rid of the item right now is worth the few dollars I could make on ebay. I can donate a bag of clothes today. But to list something on ebay takes a few hours of picture taking, listing, checking on the auction, shipping, and dealing with buyers.

Plus I have to have this clutter hanging around for another week or two. To me it’s not worth the hassle. We are trying to simplify, not add to our to-do lists.

Don’t feel bad. Your time is valuable too!

Ashley is a 31-year old stay at home mother of two. Her blog, Wide Open Wallet, is an attempt to open the lines of communication when it comes to money. She says, “I think getting money out into the open would solve a lot of our money problems. Money doesn’t have to be a taboo topic. Let’s talk!”

Photo by veganstraightedge