Different Types of Clutter & How it Affects You

Clutter is about more than unwanted messes and large amounts of unnecessary items accumulating in your home. While this type of clutter is a problem for many people, clutter can also take on the forms of mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, and paperwork. Although some people who cope with clutter do not realise that it is having an effect on them at all, others know that it is bothersome but are not fully aware of how negative it can be to their lives.

One impact of clutter is it will impair your productivity. You will get less done; and what does get accomplished is often not at its best. Clutter hinders your productivity by distracting you from what you need to do, as well as by causing you to waste time when you cannot readily find whatever you need.

Clutter can interfere with your quality of living. You may find yourself thinking too much, worrying too much, and feeling tired, sad, or depressed. You will not be gaining the joy and sense of fulfillment from life when your living space contains an unnecessary amount of clutter. Clutter can affect your physical health, also. The active zest for living which has much to do with spending time in a neat, organised environment, may be slowed down and diminished to the point of losing your overall sense of wellbeing.

A cluttered home has a negative impact on one’s social life. You may be embarrassed to invite people to your home, and, in turn, many people will not be comfortable there. You may start to avoid social contacts, and even the people you like the most may begin to avoid you.

A clear consequence of clutter is that it provides much more work for you. It will require more cleaning, and a considerable amount of time being put into sorting through clutter in order to find the items you need. In addition to leading you to lose important items, you may also be wasting money replacing things simply because you cannot find them or are not certain whether you have them.

At its extreme, clutter can cause you to not like yourself or your home as much as you should. You will not have the full appreciation of the place where you live if it is filled with clutter, and you may even begin to think less of yourself due to your home’s condition.

All it takes is a little effort and motivation to correct the problem. When the clutter is gone from your home, you will soon see the positive effect it will have on your entire life.

© Copyright 2009 Karen Perkins All rights reserved

Karen Perkins of Clear and Clutterfree is a small business owner based in Sydney, Australia. With qualifications in Counselling, Business Management and Training, Karen provides professional decluttering and organising services.

So Why Do People Keep Clutter?

Considering how beneficial it is to every aspect of your life to be organised, neat, and free of clutter, it may seem odd that people would keep clutter at all. After all, it takes so little time and effort to deal with clutter, it would seem only logical to make it a priority.

One reason people keep clutter is because they cannot bear to part with anything. While nearly everyone likes to keep some amount of personal possessions, souvenirs, and other nice things, some go quite overboard with the practice. Instead of nicely displaying favourite items, or putting them away in a cupboard, large and small items alike accumulate around the home and turn into unnecessary clutter. Some people have developed this habit simply because it feels comforting.

Clutter can also accumulate when one does not assign priority to what should be kept and what should not. This can include stacks of paperwork in the office, tools or hobby items, and large amounts of clothing which one never wears. In these instances, clutter can accumulate when one does not dispose of items which are no longer practical or useful.

For many people, clutter accumulates due to too many things or not being organised. Rather than putting items in their proper place, there may be work or school items, toys, clothing, and numerous other objects which are not in use set aside until there is more and more clutter.

Most people who acquire and keep clutter are not lazy, or even unmotivated. For many, it has become a comfortable habit. It can be easier to leave everything where it is, to keep everything which one no longer needs, and allow all of it to build up in the home and in the office. While some people truly hate the thought of disposing of anything, or putting everything away neatly, most who keep a cluttered environment do so because it has become familiar to them. At some point in time, they have probably stopped thinking about the negative effects which can be caused by living or working in a cluttered environment on an everyday basis.

It is a good idea to begin to recognise how much healthier and more productive you will be when you decide to deal with the clutter. No matter which reason for keeping clutter describes you the best, you will surely be glad to see the benefits of not having it in your everyday life.

© Copyright 2009 Karen Perkins All rights reserved

Karen Perkins of Clear and Clutterfree is a small business owner based in Sydney, Australia. With qualifications in Counselling, Business Management and Training, Karen provides professional decluttering and organising services and is a member of Australasian Association of Professional Organisers AAPO.