If you want to feel more calm and serene in your home, it could be time for a spring declutter, says organisation expert Diana Spellman, who explains why you should start decluttering for stress relief
Words: Diana Spellman | Images: Shutterstock
Does the mess in your home cause you anxiety? It did for me and caused what I now call “mess stress”. I couldn’t relax on my time off because I was constantly thinking I should be sorting things out. It affected my ability to enjoy time with my family. Either I tidied – meaning I felt guilty about the time away from my family – or I didn’t do it and then couldn’t relax and enjoy the time with my family. Lose-lose.
Truth be told I like to be tidy; I like things off my surfaces and looking good. Having lived overseas for 12 years and moved house multiple times – at one point I packed and unpacked eight times in five years – I was pretty clutter free. I kept control of the clutter during those years away.
But moving back to the UK eight years ago and settling into life where I could buy something and know I’d have it for as long as I wanted, and more room to put things, the piles started to build.
People had naturally assumed before that I was super tidy because I was a global programme manager in my corporate contract role and pretty organised. Surely I must be organised at home too? Not so. Since returning to the UK, I’ve worked from home in various roles. In some ways, it’s been fantastic as I could do the school run in five minutes, but because my work was full on and required massive attention and focus, my day zipped by and I had not a millisecond between stopping work and picking up my children. There was no time for tidying unless I used part of my work time or what was meant to be relaxation time, and then I’d have resentment about that. And I didn’t want to be using my weekend as I wanted to spend time with my family. Something had to give – or change.
Tips to start decluttering for stress relief
Top #WFH tip
If you work from home, either have a designated working space or have a large bag in which to put your laptop, books, chargers etc. It’s then easy to pack things away and move them out of sight at the end of the day. This avoids the endless moving of piles from one place to another, or the temptation to leave everything out.
Create a home for everything
There are usually two types of things on surfaces: those linked to an activity you did, i.e. cooking, paperwork or a craft activity, and those you’ve plonked down mindlessly when you got home. You needn’t stop all activities, but the key is to know exactly where each item lives so you can tidy up super-fast. Our kitchen table used to be covered, but it now takes me two minutes to get back to tidy at the end of each day because each thing has a home so I never have to think about where it goes. Pick a few commonly used items and decide their “end homes”. For example, get a basket to house your handbag; next time you go out, take it from that basket and – the important bit – put it back there afterwards, bypassing the kitchen worktop.
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From piles to smiles!
One summer, after a particularly intense, stressful period at work, I saw a small window to do something about the piles of stuff. My kids were away at my parents, and I saw it as a chance to reset. I made a mega paper pile on the bed and worked out a system whereby things were fast tracked from the post/school bags to a set of three drawers in our spare bedroom. If they needed action, they went onto my work desk so they didn’t get forgotten. The system goes deeper than this, but you get the idea.
A few magic things happened after I did this; not only could I find what I needed (dishwasher broken down and need to find the manual? No problem!), but I felt more serene. Kitchen stools could actually be sat on, books could be accessed on shelves not covered in paper, and the nagging voice in my head telling me to tidy was less noisy.
I had also cleared headspace that allowed me to tackle other areas because not only had that first declutter made me feel a lot better, but I realised if I applied the same principles elsewhere I could find a bit more serenity along the way.
With lots of us working from home, even part of the week, it’s important to manage our mess for long-term wellbeing as that line between work and home is blurred and probably causes some of the anxiety. It’s now my mission to share what I have learned and help others find ways to reduce the drudgery of tidying.
What made me realise I was on to something with my system was that the piles didn’t come back. My approach bypasses surfaces/chairs/bookcases so I have eliminated mess! And no mess equals no anxiety, which equals more serenity.
Diana Spellman is the founder of Serenely Sorted. Find out more at serenelysorted.com and follow her at facebook.com/serenelysorted and instagram.com/serenely.sorted.
