DE-CLUTTER AND FEEL GREAT! - by Simon Smith

It’s spring once more, the time when we take stock of our situation and surroundings. It's easy to let your life fill with clutter without noticing - but clutter isn’t limited to your possessions. It can fill other aspects of your life- physical, spiritual, emotional and your professional environment.

Clutter has a subtle but toxic effect on you. It might be a cluttered house, constantly needing tidying. A personal life overfilled with commitments. Your bank account groaning under the strain of financial commitments. These things and more affect the harmony and peace that you need to operate effectively in your personal and professional life.

Hold yourself accountable

Is it possible to declutter? Yes, but it requires commitment from YOU. If you hold yourself accountable and make it such that it is a goal rather than merely a wish to be free of clutter, then you can take the first step towards a simpler less stressful existence.

The best way to start is with something tangible, such as your physical environment. Get a sheet of paper and, starting at your back door, write a list of everything that irritates you as you walk through your house. It might be a picture in need of straightening, a pile of ironing, a room to be decorated. Whatever it is, from small to large, write it down.

At the end of this exercise you will have a long list of things you probably didn’t even realise irritated you. Exposing these irritations means you can start to do something about them. Set yourself goals for dealing with them. As you complete each task, cross it off your list, with each complete task the satisfaction generated will give you power to start on the next.

Be honest...

Now being honest, go through your house looking critically at the things which fill up your house from top to bottom, including your wardrobe be harsh with yourself and ask if you really need this item in your life. What can you get rid of? What can you look at right now that serves no purpose in your life? That’s not to say that only practical useful items should be kept- something might be aesthetic that adds beauty or fond memories to your life but if it doesn’t even do that, get rid of it.

If you’re not sure, perhaps have a quarantine area where something can go for a month or two. If you haven’t missed it by then, out it goes!

Once you have become comfortable with letting go of physical things. It is time to move on to the other areas of your life. All of us could answer yes if asked whether we have emotional clutter. As you go through life and interact with people and situations you often store unresolved issues. These lingering issues can cloud and mar your future happiness. Acknowledging these issues and consciously leaving them in the past can pave the way for a better quality future.  

Shedding the emotional baggage

Perhaps you have relationships with some people that you know aren’t not healthy for you. In those cases it's time you communicated your desires and needs with the other person honestly so you can both move on to resolve the issues. By not being honest with the people in your life you are short changing them and not giving them the opportunity to address what might be going on in their life. It might be the case that the relationship cannot survive in its current form and needs to change for you to be happy. Remember, you are the most important person in your life and you must protect yourself from the negative influence of others.

Deal with money demons

Clutter contributes to confusion and chaos and this can readily be seen in our finances! Money is an issue for most of us. If you are living beyond your means or are not in control of your finances and are juggling debt and credit card payments this can be extremely stressful. The more credit cards you use and have outstanding balances on, the harder it is to keep track of all your finances.

Take time to review how much you are spending and on what…what is the ratio of luxuries to essentials?

Investigate consolidating your debt into one low interest loan and then make a firm pact with yourself not to bash the plastic again! Have a look at where you can save money. For example your weekly shop. Why don’t you do it online- it will save you time and will save money in avoiding all the impulse buys to which you might succumb.

Be prepared that changing your spending habits can be a slow hard process because of the emotional hit or high of instant gratification it gives us! Try to maintain a forward focus. Keep firmly in mind what you are aiming for, i.e. a debt free life and the money to treat yourself to a holiday, rather than focusing on the fact that you are depriving yourself of short term instant rewards.

Relax and take stock

Finally, take some time to sit back, relax and take stock of your life, look at where you are now compared to where you would like to be. Being honest with yourself, do you find that you fill more of your precious time doing tasks and activities that don’t particularly increase your happiness and little time doing the things that do? Declutter your life from those things that do nothing to enrich your life and fill those empty hours with everything you love to do!

Try also to simplify your habits and daily routines. Make life easy on yourself by having the services you have to visit regularly close by. How far do you have to travel to see your dentist or chiropractor? Where is your hairdresser? Try to have them close to either your home or office to save wasted time on journeys. Make sure also that their hours suit you rather than the other way around.

Remember- nothing changes if nothing changes. If you are feeling cluttered, make a conscious choice to take action immediately to make a change.