According to Wikipedia, researchers trace the origin of spring cleaning to the Iranian Nowruz, the Persian new year, which falls on the first day of spring. It is traditional to clean the house thoroughly either right before or during the first week of Great Lent, which is referred to as Clean Week.
For most of us, Spring cleaning refers to the practice of thoroughly cleaning your house in the springtime! We clean those windows, so we can see all of the beautiful flowers and trees blooming just outside. (Unless of course, you live in a concrete jungle and in most cases, the building takes care of those things.) For everyone else, we are cleaning up the house and the yard.
But this post is about something more than a DEEP clean. This post is about going a tad deeper than dusting and cleaning baseboards and windows! This post is not just about eliminating dirt. It is about the benefits of eliminating clutter! (ALL YEAR!) Eliminating clutter is not only cleaning your house, it’s clearing your mind as well.
A cluttered space can overwhelm you! Did you know that clutter can actually cause fatigue? If can affect your ability to focus, which can result in a total waste of valuable time! And who has any of that to waste?
I’ve been in the process of moving things. After downsizing from a much larger home, most of it went into boxes in another basement. It’s been there for more than four years! If it’s been in the basement in boxes for FOUR WHOLE years, do I really even need it? If I’ve lived without it for all these years, why hang on to it?
Of course, some of the items I absolutely love and just haven’t had the space to utilize. Many of my things are art, sculpture, dishes and things that I do indeed intend to use again one day. (When I have a home to entertain in again and we get beyond Covid!) When it comes to art, sometimes you just have things you love that cannot be replaced or duplicated.
Sadly, that is not the case for many of the things we hold on to. A whole lot of it, just needs to go! While it’s in the basement and not really in sight, knowing it is there does affect you. It might be hidden, but it’s still clutter, and takes up a space in my thoughts!
While I tend to be a bit of a neat freak and keep my living space clutter-free, I recognized that when I’m in places that are cluttered, it totally affects my energy level and mood. I feel physically anxious when in cluttered spaces, whether mine or someone else’s.
It made me want to research how the clutter might be negatively impacting others; possibly in ways that they do not realize.
Research has shown that people who live in cluttered homes are often more depressed than those that live in an organized home. But that clutter can have some seriously negative effects on their health.
People who live in a cluttered home have actually been shown to have higher levels of cortisol. Cortisol which is the stress hormone, can wreak havoc on your entire body, but especially your heart. Stress kills. One of the best ways to de-stress is to relax, but it’s difficult to feel relaxed in a cluttered home! Keeping a clean, organized space can actually lower the cortisol floating around in your body damaging your organs. Reducing stress can extend your life.
Clearing clutter not only lowers your stress level, it can help you to sleep better! And sleep is very important for our health and has some serious anti-aging benefits. More sleep means you have more energy and as a result, are more productive.
Cleaning and organizing can help reduce anxiety, which is quite the epidemic these days. I definitely recognized that clutter causes me to be anxious. For a while, I thought my ass was crazy. I asked myself, “Why do I feel this way about some stuff?” As I researched, I discovered that it’s just not me who reacts this way to a mess!
It turns out that some people use clutter as a way to deal with emotional issues. Clearing the clutter may actually help them to deal with their personal problems. Clearing clutter can actually be a part of the healing process.
It’s like the opposite of someone suffering from OCD. ( obsessive-compulsive disorder.) I came to the realization that I had a friend that was suffering from OCD. She spoke of her personal trauma and history of abuse, so I realized that her OCD was a result of the trauma. She obsessively cleaned. Her apartment looked as if it was a model home. While visiting, I watched her clean things that to me, appeared spotless and I finally realized what was happening.
I lived with someone that had a bit of OCD. The extreme need for symmetry. I recall coming home one day and having all of my cookbooks, (hundreds) which I arranged by topic and ingredient, rearranged by height! The fact that the books of different heights were in his eyes, scattered about, was torture for him. After he rearranged my books, I was the one torturing him. From that day on, “It was MY KITCHEN!” Show up only to eat and wash dishes! I won’t go too far into the way he would vacuum and get mad when you walked on it and messed up the vacuum lines. Don’t get me started! After many years living with that, I realized I had picked up some of his habits of the extreme need for order. When things feel out of order, (anywhere but in my purse apparently! Scary in there!) I feel anxious. Creating order, relieves it immediately.
To the extreme opposite, people who take comfort in living with clutter, can also be dealing with some sort of trauma. Many need to get therapy and never seek help. Ironically, one thing that might help, is to start clearing some of the clutter.
But here are some of the negative impacts of living with clutter and positive effects of clearing it!
DIFFICULTY MAKING DECISIONS
It is difficult to make a decision surrounded by the distraction of clutter. You may not even realize it is a distraction, but it is! Living in a clean and clutter-free environment, will help clear your mind. It will help you to focus. You might think you have AD????, but it is possible, you might just need to clear the clutter!
EASIER TO CLEAN YOUR HOME
When there is less crap to move around, it’s easier to clean the surfaces of your home. You can spend all of that extra time doing more of something you love.
SAVE TIME & MONEY
It’s easier to keep track of what you have when your home is clutter-free! You won’t waste time looking for things in a heap of crap and you won’t buy things you already own and forgot, because it’s buried in a shit-ton of crap!
FEAR OF ENTERTAINING AND SOCIALIZING
You might be too embarrassed to entertain. Hosting guests might be too stressful, so you might socialize less. (pre & post Covid!)
CREATIVITY INCREASES
When you are free of physical clutter, which also frees you of mental clutter, you allow creative energy to flow. You unblock yourself and make space for new ideas! You can think better. Clutter interrupts the flow of energy and ideas.
LESS STRESS
Your home should be your sanctuary. It should be a place you can relax and unwind. Most have a difficult time relaxing in a mess. A cluttered environment bombards you with distractions. Your mind and eyes never get a break from “stuff!” Getting rid of excess “stuff,” often makes us feel as though a weight has been lifted. We don’t even realize all of our “stuff” is weighing us down until it’s gone!
Here are a few easy ways to start to declutter!
PICK ONE AREA OR SURFACE. Start with one table, counter, dresser or table.
DONATE. Pack up just one bag of stuff you no longer need, wear, use and take it to Goodwill! Hell, they will come pick up your stuff! (Which might be better, so you are not tempted to replace it with more stuff.
PICK A CABINET OR START WITH THE FRIDGE. Pull that trash can right up next to the cabinet or fridge door. Toss out that furry mustard or half those cans that expired last year. Chances are you have more than one of a lot of food items simply because you couldn’t find what you had. BECAUSE YOU HAVE TOO MUCH!
PICK A CLOSET. If you have six sizes of clothes in your closet for every weight you’ve ever been, pick a weight and back into it. If you are a ten and have size six clothes from 2006 because you planned to get back into them, I have some news for you. It’s out of style! Keep the classics and lose the rest. Bag it up and get it out of the house. Pop the bag in your trunk and drop it off. There are distribution sites everywhere for donated clothes. Just don’t leave them in your trunk so that becomes a new area of clutter!
So, let’s get to Spring cleaning now! And then Spring clean all year long!
Great post! I had this same exact conversation with my daughter last night. I knew there might be some sort of ‘science’ behind my need to have my space neat and orderly. When I was in college and grad school, I couldn’t study until my space was clean and neat. When I realized that my compulsiveness might be due to some level of procrastination, I’d reward myself with ‘cleaning and organizing’ study breaks. How do you get the feeling of accomplishment from two dreaded tasks? It still works for me in retirement to this very day!
Thanks for reading and sharing. We all have our S*#T! But I believe everyone can benefit from a little order. It’s amazing how freeing it feels to throw things out! Our crap can literally suffocate us if we let it! And, in more ways than we realize.
Great post! Will be putting out a curb alert on town facebook page to come take what you want from the table – just don’t take the table! I must apologize if any of my stuff has caused you undue stress……… !!!
Your stuff always includes wine and chocolate. Nothing else really matters.