Have you ever experienced this? You are in a space where you hear a fan running that is slightly off balance. Every minute or so, you can hear one of the blades catch and stumble. It’s not very loud and may only be slightly annoying, but you decide that it’s too much trouble to get the ladder out and fix it then, so you tell yourself that you’ll do it later. Or it could be a broken lamp that you’ll fix later, or something else in your environment? With each thing that you tolerate, the space becomes less relaxing. Then, when later comes, there are several things that are out of sync or need repair. As we are now forced to take time to fix everything, we realize how these little things have become big annoyances.
Many women have described similar experiences to me when talking about clutter in their homes and lives. First, there are just a couple of things out of place, some things they no longer need. We tolerate it because it’s not much. Then, it’s as if these things multiply, and we wonder how our space or our life got so cluttered. Experiences like this also happen when we say “yes” when we are already too busy or not passionate about something or just simply need to rest instead. In what ways do we keep accepting new items, projects, or obligations in lieu of regular self-care?
Now, let’s take a deeper look at clearing clutter. Clearing clutter is about more than creating a tidy home. To clear clutter is to free all aspects of ourselves of obstructions and obstacles. Clutter, whether it is physical, mental, or emotional, occupies valuable space in our lives and drains our energy, even and especially when we are not aware of it. Clutter creates noise and disruptions that block clarity, peace, and abundance in our lives.
By releasing this noise and disruption, we make room for simplicity, which opens space for us to focus on what really matters. Physical clutter doesn’t just crowd our spaces—it crowds our minds. Some of the impacts of a disorganized environment is that it creates stress and overwhelm, making it difficult to focus or relax. Every item left out or out of place demands attention, contributing to decision fatigue and mental strain. Mental and emotional clutter are equally draining. Endless to-do lists, unresolved problems, unprocessed feelings, and intrusive thoughts taking up space in your mind, leaving little room for creation, restoration, or being present to yourself.
Setting an Intention: To create space for self-care in our lives, let’s take a closer look at a process of clearing clutter that is gentle and sustainable and will create an environment that supports continued self-care. When you walk into your home and look around, how do you feel? Relaxed? Overwhelmed? Or something else? Now, tap into how you want to feel when you walk into your home. Using the information that comes up from these questions, create an intention statement for your relationship and experience with your home. The intention statement can include what you want your home to look like as well as how you want to feel in your home. Once you have an intention statement that captures the essence of what you want to experience in your home, take another look around to see what is present that does not support your intention.
Choose a Starting Point: The rooms where I recommend starting clearing clutter first are the main bedroom and bathroom that you use. Your bedroom represents your inner most self and is the place where you rejuvenate and relax. The energy in the bedroom should be as still as possible. Are there items in the bedroom that represent work, projects to do, even books to read? Having a book or two by your bedside to read if that relaxes you is a different energy from having a stack of books next to your bed that reminds you of all the things you did not get to yet.
When you are in bed, what is the last thing you see before you turn out the lights, and the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning? Make that something that inspires you and brings you joy – not a pile of laundry or unread books or something else that needs your attention. Let it be an image or other item that is present to support you. And, your bathroom, of course, is another place to begin as it represents care of your physical self. Set your bathroom up with a spa-like energy that encourages care of self. Items you need should be in easy reach and put away when not needed. Expired medicines, cosmetics and other old or unused items can be released.
Continuing with Clearing Clutter as Self-Care: When beginning to clear clutter, start with a small, manageable area. Choose an amount of time that you would like to spend on clearing clutter and a drawer, desk, or corner of a room.
Begin with one small, clearly defined area, such as a drawer, desk, or corner of a room. To evaluate items in question, ask yourself if it supports the intention you created for your home. Make quick decisions focusing on the intention and what is necessary, meaningful or sparks joy. The long that you hold an item or ruminate over deciding, the less likely you’ll make a clear decision. If you find some items that you are undecided about, put them aside in a separate box. When the box is full, seal the box and mark it with an expiration date for when you will re-evaluate. If you reach the expiration date without needing anything in the box, release it.
Once the areas are clear, develop daily habits like resetting spaces at the end of the day or end of use for the day. Making it a regular routine will support in keeping your spaces clear and refreshed.
Clearing Mental Clutter: All physical clutter, particularly seen in patterns of clutter, can be traced back to mental or emotional clutter. Though these types of clutter often seem intangible, they can be seen and felt in different aspects of our lives. Following are some suggested practices to uncover the source of this clutter:
- Journaling: spend some time, even a few minutes, daily to release the thoughts, worries, ideas, and feelings that are taking up space within you.
- Mindfulness: Slow down and become present with yourself. Practice breathing exercises, meditation or other activities like walking or yoga.
- Incomplete Tasks: If there are things that you have on your to do list that are still not complete, evaluate their necessity. Complete, delegate or release them. Release overcommitment.
- Adopt Forgiveness and Gratitude Practices: Recognize and release unresolved emotions. Practice gratitude for what is present in your life.
Clearing clutter is a transformative part of self-care. It is a process by which we can outline what we desire to experience every day of our lives and can intentionally create spaces that mirror our desires. Within intentional spaces, we support the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of ourselves, inviting in and caring for the things that in turn care for us. By examining and addressing physical, mental, and emotional clutter, we can create space for clarity, balance, and inner peace, a place where we care for ourselves in many ways.
