What is a Cluttered Home? - Chaos to Calm Challenge

 

What is a Cluttered Home?

Most of us know a cluttered home on sight. It’s difficult to find a place to sit. Every surface seems to hold a stack of papers, magazines, or newspapers. Trying to find something is like searching for a needle in a haystack.   It’s like an episode of hoarders.

Daily dramas like “Where are my keys?” routine keep the home in chaos. Time is wasted and money flies out the door as you keep buying things you already have – it’s just in that SAFE PLACE – You know the one I mean, it’s so safe, even you can’t find it. We just get so used to the chaos and drama; it feels as if there is no way out.

 

 

The Signs

Here’s a quick checklist designed to help you recognise the common warning signs of a cluttered environment. How many of these statements reflect how you feel about your home?

·       The clothes in my wardrobe are usually too wrinkled to wear.

·       No matter which way my weight goes, I’ve got a wardrobe in my closet to fit my body!

·       I’m could open a beauty shop with all the products (Too bad most of the lotions and potions have expired)

·       There’s so much junk mail piled up, I haven’t seen my kitchen counter or dining room table in years! That’s okay—we love take-out.

·       I wonder what it would be like to put the car in the garage.

·       I don’t wash the dishes until all the clean ones in the sink. Why waste the time and energy washing a few dishes at a time?

·       I don’t understand why it’s important to make my bed. Won’t it just get messy again tonight?

·       My kids’ toys are everywhere! I can’t seem to get the kids to pick up after themselves.

 What is Clutter?

Have you ever stopped to think where clutter comes from? Every time you say, “I have no idea where this goes—I’ll just toss it here,” you add to the chaos in your home. Clutter is basically the physical result of unmade decisions”

Grab yourself a notebook and make a note of all the little everyday dramas that make you feel exhausted, overwhelmed and frustrated, wishing that you could have a more organised home.

Keep this list handy; we’re going to refer to it often. A notebook or journal is the ideal way to record your notes and thoughts. I’ll have a few more assignments for you scattered throughout this course. In fact, I am going to refer to this journal as your Declutter Notebook.

How Do You Eat an Elephant?

I’m sure you’ve heard this punch line before: how do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. Guess what? That’s exactly how you are going to get organised.   

When we consider any task in its entirety it becomes overwhelming. You may already be feeling tired already, thinking, “I can’t get organized, I’ve got so much stuff, I think my house is too far gone.”

Or are you the type who makes a mad dash around the house, picking things up and stuffing them randomly into drawers and closets?

By breaking down your tasks you can avoid becoming overwhelmed.  Learn to embrace the feeling that you are in control.  All you have to do is break project into small parts. We will go through every room in the home, and I’ll give you all the step-by-step instruction your heart desires. You just need to believe in yourself – You got this!

Break the System

Believe it or not, all the chaos and drama in your life is part of an unconscious system that you continually stick to. You may say that you hate the “Where are my keys?” drama, but you don’t change the behaviour, do you?  Why is that? I am not having a go at you, I did exactly the same for years and years. – It’s like, on some weird level, all the little dramas of your life have become the norm. It’s part of the system you have in place.  What we need to do is break that system and replace it with one that you consciously choose.

Does this sound familiar?

You’ve just had a phone call and a friend is coming over to see you today! You scoop things up in your arms and started stuffing them into a drawer, a cupboard – a plastic bag. Maybe you even took the opportunity to dust and vacuum, sit down exhausted and think that you had gotten organised.

Guess what?  You’re not. You only tidied up. Getting organised means you have put a system in place.   In an organised home, every drawer and closet works to support the lives of those in the home.

Let’s Play Pretend

Take a look around your house and pretend you’ve never been here before. What does looking around tell you about the person or family that lives here?

·       Are they tidy?

·       Is every room in chaos?

·       Or do you notice specific problem areas?

·       Is the clutter is limited to closets and drawers?

·       Or perhaps they have the most beautifully decorated kitchen you have ever seen but there is not a single inch of free counter space.

 

Pretending this isn’t your stuff will help you distance your emotions and engage your brain in the organising process.

Write it down:

It’s one thing to make mental notes but it’s a whole other ballgame when you write your findings down on paper. Therefore, please list all the rooms in your home on a sheet of paper, preferably in your Declutter notebook you have chosen for this journey. Next to each room, list every project you think needs to be tended to in each area. Be as brief as possible I will give you an example:

• Living room – Declutter coffee table, empty bin, brush and mop floor
• Kitchen – Take out the recycling, take laundry upstairs

Remember when I said anything is overwhelming in its entirety? When you see your list on paper, it will be easier to begin your organising. Fear-based ideas like  - I am never going to get organised! or There’s so much to do here; I don’t know there to start! -  will only feed that overwhelmed feeling. Now you can look at a concrete list of projects and put them in order of importance.   I have a brilliant article 15 ways to start decluttering when you feel overwhelmed which helps you tackle the overwhelmed feelings.

 

May the odds be ever in Your Favour (yes that was a quote from The Hunger Games 😊)

Some of us have never been taught the skill of getting organised. It’s not a lesson you learned in school (well, not when I was at school anyway) But you can learn using the step-by-step instruction that I have provided here and be on your way to an organised life in no time.  At every stage, I give you tools to calm your fears.

If you are looking at your newly prioritised list and feel overwhelmed instead of in control, here’s what to do: Put your list aside. Think up some things you could do every single day that would result in an improved environment. These need to be simple, repeatable actions. Make a note of them down in your journal. These are some of my daily tasks:

·       Make the bed every morning when I get up.

·       Never leave dirty dishes in the sink.

·       Wipe the kitchen worktops after doing the dishes

·       Clean oven top after doing the dishes

·       Put clean laundry away immediately.

·       Take the recycling out every day

·       Brush the floors of high traffic areas daily

Psychologists say it takes 21 consecutive days of repeating an action before it becomes a habit.   So, pick one, two, or three (no more, to start) things you would like to turn into habits. Begin today. Put a mark in your day planner or on your calendar in red ink every time you perform this action.

In three short weeks, you will have done more than establish new habits; you will have shifted the energy in your home.  Your self-esteem will grow as you begin to accomplish small things. All those that live with you will be affected.   These subtle shifts invite everyone to get involved. Encourage others to learn how to get organised through your good example, don’t be the nagging Mum or Wife.

This has definitely changed my household.  Even my daughter (she’s 13) takes up her pens and paper at the end of the evening (without me having to ask – she used to leave them on the coffee table – with the rest of the clutter.

The things to take away from this post?

Getting organized is a teachable skill that anyone can master.

• The old saying “There is a place for everything and everything belongs in its place” is at the heart of an organised home. 
• Creating new, simple habits shifts the environment and sets you on the road to getting and staying organised.  
• Anything is overwhelming in its entirety; we gain control over any project when we break it down into simple steps.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to decluttering.  Let me know in the comments below if any of the warning signs resonate with you.