5 Ways to Declutter and Reduce Stress

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Think about your home, car, office and other spaces around you daily. Do they each portray organized and light or cluttered and full?

Now think about your day to day emotions. More often than not, do you feel anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed? Do you often run late because you can’t find something? Do you get frustrated with piles of paperwork, dishes and clothes? Do you struggle to meet deadlines and due dates?

The average American spends about 55 minutes per day looking for lost or misplaced items, which ends up totaling about one year of their lives! The demand for storage doubled from 1994 to 2004, increasing the need for self-storage facilities in the United States.

Basically, we have too much stuff and we waste too much time looking for things...

Imagine a morning when you can easily find the shirt you want to wear and you aren’t rushing to eat breakfast. What type of difference would that have on the rest of your day? You may even avoid sitting in traffic or have time for a 10-minute walk.

Not only are you wasting valuable time and energy when there is clutter and chaos around you, but you are releasing stress hormones that wreak havoc on your overall health.

It may be time to find a way to declutter and get organizational systems in place in order to save you effort every day.

Choose at least one of these areas every week to focus on, even if it’s only 10 minutes per day. Use a timer to keep you on task and motivated.

Clean out your closet.

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Years ago people didn’t have so many outfits to choose from. They had their basic and neutral clothing that they wore for whatever chore or work they had to get done that day. Then the fashion industry started to teach people to be creative and add color and style to their daily outfits. We now have clothes for work, special occasions, working out, going to sleep, different seasons, etc.

We have too many clothes and often still feel like we have nothing to wear when we are rushing in the morning. Add the variety of shoes, hats and accessories to the mix and our closets may be a bit more cluttered than we would like them to be.

Do you have items that are ripped or stained but they provide memories so you keep them anyway? Do you have a pile of socks that no longer match? Are you still trying to fit into those jeans, but it’s been a few (or 15) years? Did you know you only wear about 20 percent of your wardrobe 80 percent of the time?

Whatever the case, it may be time to declutter so you can add in items that are better quality and will serve your life more appropriately.

Spend a few minutes each day this week separating items into piles for recycling, donating, consignment and to keep. You may find a recycle clothing bin at a local school to help them raise money. You can add ripped and stained clothing that you would otherwise throwaway since you can’t donate them.

You may struggle, but as Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant and author states, “discard everything that does not spark joy.”

This gives you an opportunity to find your current style and purchase clothing that inspires and uplifts you. Be more strict in your upcoming shopping endeavors and make sure each piece will fit your new style and how you want to feel every day.

Organize your documents.

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We have computers, e-mail and the Cloud to help us organize documents and photos but we still somehow end up with piles of paperwork, cluttered inboxes and overfilled online storage that we can’t seem to keep up with! We hold onto certain documents for years because we never know when we might need it.

Statistics show that 80 percent of what we keep, we never reference again. When we do need to find something, we aren’t typically organized enough and we waste time searching everywhere. 23 percent of adults incur fees because they pay bills late when they can’t find them.

Begin by decluttering physical paperwork. Have a system when your mail arrives instead of it piling up on your kitchen table. File, scan, shred and recycle documents. Setup paperless statements and automatic payments on bills you tend to misplace and pay late. Call the number on the junk magazines to cancel subscriptions you no longer want.

Then jump on your computer and create labels and folders in your e-mail account(s) to store important documents. Spend a few minutes each day deleting old files that are taking up space. Unsubscribe from bulk e-mails you never end up reading. You may be surprised how much better you feel when these areas you use daily are more systematized and create less stress.

Use your kitchen properly.

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Do you spend a lot of time in your kitchen but tend to feel overwhelmed when you are trying to cook or clean? Do you struggle to close drawers because they are too full? Is your spice cabinet overloaded with expired containers? Do you have pots and pans that are scratched up and glasses that are chipped? Does all of this have you feeling overwhelmed and not wanting to even cook in your kitchen?

We tend to keep needing more and more space because we want the next new kitchen gadget. Then our countertops are cluttered and there’s no space to cut up vegetables for dinner. Choose one cabinet a day to spend five minutes clearing out. Donate or throw away old pots and pans, silverware and glasses. Clean out the cabinets of old snacks and spices that have expired and gone stale. Schedule a time to host a yard sale or post on a local virtual yard sale on social media if you have gadgets and items that are worth selling but you no longer use. Use any cash you earn to purchase something to help your kitchen stay organized such as a cutlery tray or spice rack.

Keep less beauty products.

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Are you someone who has just about every bath and beauty product possible? The average woman uses about 12 products on her hair and skin every day. However, she may own expired makeup, hair and skincare products that just sit there gathering dust. Do you use all of the products you own? Do you constantly purchase new products without getting rid of any? If so, it may be time to do some decluttering so you can at least find your favorite body scrub when needed. Who knows, you may even have more time to take a relaxing bath, do a facial or get to bed earlier when your bathroom is more organized! Have boxes for trash, recycle and keep. Anything that is expired or you no longer use has to go in one of the first boxes. If there is a product you use daily, you can keep it. Then try to keep your products organized in your cabinets and closet. Keep makeup altogether and set aside a basket for nail polish and other items you use less frequently. Set up cute jars for cotton balls and hair elastics. Once you organize your bathroom, you will feel less frustrated and anxious when getting ready in the morning. You may even realize you don’t need so many expensive and toxic products to keep your skin looking refreshed and natural.

Use your car to drive.

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Are you someone who is constantly using your car and have clothes, snacks, cups and shoes stacking up? Does it look like you live in there? If so, it is probably annoying when a friend wants to hop in the front seat and you have to fill your trunk with your personal belongings! Create a trash bag to have in your car that regularly gets emptied, which will also help with any funky odors. Whenever you eat lunch or drink coffee, put your trash into the bag. Once you do this more often, there will be less of a habit to throw your wrappers on the floor. Make time to clean out your car in the next week. Go through any clothes and other items that have found their way to your vehicle. Once you can see the seats and floor, vacuum it out. You may be surprised how a clean car can reduce your anxiety while you drive around every day!

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Become aware of how much your clutter is creating anxiety in your everyday life. If you consistently feel overwhelmed in these physical spaces, spending five minutes a day to get organized may drastically change your mood. Find a friend who is more organized than you in this area and ask them to help. Some people love to organize and may be excited to give you tips to stay on track and save you precious time every day.

You will feel a weight lifted off your shoulders when you feel more spaciousness around you and stop wasting so much time and energy. You will feel more empowered rather than anxious and frustrated when things are more tidy and efficient.

“The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.” Marie Kondo