Is your mind overloaded? Declutter your home!

Last time I was talking about decluttering my house and some of the stress that I was feeling around that process today. I want to talk a little more about decluttering and to let you know that I'm seven days into it.

Now it's not finished, but I would say it's probably three quarters of the way finished. And I want to talk to you about why it's so important to declutter our space.

The reason is because it affects our minds and how we think and how we feel. A friend of mine said to me today, 'Having a lot of clutter around feels like a lot of noise, a lot of jarring noise, and that each thing that gets handled and put away kind of tones it down, turns it down!'

So here are some tips on the process of decluttering.

First, if you're planning on doing the whole house at once, just know that the likelihood for overwhelm is high. I suggest that you have a plan. You need to think through the process, about basically 'when I moved this over here, then I move that over here and I need space for this over here.'. Just how are you going to move things around until you have everything out or where it's supposed to be? That's number one.

Number two, if you start small, you'll make a lot of progress. So what do I mean by small?

Most of the clutter that we have is not necessarily in front of our eyes, although I must say, sometimes when you have enough clutter in your house and you live with it long enough, you don't see it anymore.

I'm talking about drawers and closets and garages and file cabinets and storage spaces and boxes that have been packed for years. I can tell you that I have schlepped boxes of stuff from one end of the country to the other and have never opened those boxes.

I'm talking 10, 15, 20 years I've been moving boxes without ever looking in them or deciding if it was even worth moving them!

Sometimes what we spend our money on is effected by the amount of clutter we have.

Here's an example. As I was going around doing my thing, I decided I needed some storage, some storage bins to put things in that I was going to use on a regular basis, but needed to be contained. I was about to head off to the store to buy storage bins. When I looked around and realized I have several of them and several of them were full of things that I don't use! Things that I don't need and that I could get rid of!

So clutter really does affect how we spend our money, because sometimes we go out and buy more stuff because we can't find the stuff have.

As you're thinking about decluttering, there are many books out there on it and they're great guides. There's a lot of wisdom in them. And if that works for you great. The one thing that I subscribed to, which is not new, I'm sure you've heard it a million times, but the idea that in a home, there's a place for everything, and everything in its place.

When I get something and bring it into my house, I love it. It's sweet. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. I need it, but I have no place to put it. So by clearing everything out of the stuff I don't want, and I don't need any more or really never did need. I now have space to put the things I really love. So, and then the deal there is now you have to really always, always declutter. So you're on a regular schedule because look like everybody else, I buy things. They come into my house, they come into my house, they come into my house. So there has to be a process of letting go, letting go, letting go. So that there's space.

So how does this affect our minds?

When you come in to your home and you put an important piece of mail down on the table, or you put your car keys down and then you can't find them. Now you're off on a search. Where is it? Where is it? I've got to find this, this bill. I've got to get my keys. I have to go. I'm going to be late.

If you always put your keys in the same place, you never have to look for them again. And there's a great sense of calm and peace in your mind because you're not using up valuable memory to find your car keys. You're using it to remember important things!

When you go through this process, I highly recommend that you take before and after pictures. Because after it's all done, and you look at that before picture, it's like, how did I ever live like this before? I can't even believe how much stuff there is in that house! And the after picture will show you the peace and the calm and the quiet that you feel when you're in a space that has room that allows energy to flow.

It can be quite amazing. It's one of those New Year's Resolutions that we all put on our list. So think about that. And if you want to start small, start with a drawer, start with a junk drawer in the kitchen. Good place to start!

If you want to know more about me, you can click the link below and go to my website. Thank you so much for listening.

Thank you and have a peaceful Thanksgiving!

Dr. Elaine

https://www.drelainestewart.com/

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.