Madeline Crawford - Declutter Your Life: Simple Decluttering Strategies on How to Declutter and Organize your Life to

Declutter Your Life:

Simple Decluttering Strategies on How to Declutter

and Organize your Life to

Free Yourself from Worry and Enjoy Stress-Free Living

Madeline Crawford

Copyright 2019 by Madeline Crawford - All rights reserved.

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Please note the information contained within this document is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Every attempt has been made to provide accurate, up to date, and completely reliable information. No warranties of any kind are expressed or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is not engaging in the rendering of legal, financial, medical, or professional advice. The content of this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult a licensed professional before attempting any techniques outlined in this book.

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Introduction:

W e often relate clutter mainly to material things. We see clothing placed over the dresser, on top of the treadmill, and covering other available surfaces in the bedroom. Then we see magazines and books scattered across the coffee table and extra dishes stacked on the counter.

In truth, clutter can also be a social, emotional, and mental issue. The demands we face every day can lead to an increase in stress at a point in our lives.

Various aspects of our lives can become overwhelming, leading to struggles from financial mismanagement to home clutter to messy schedules that seem to be impossible to get organized. You may need to address a different type of clutter if your mind is busy with various thoughts. Or are tired because of a full weekly schedule that prevents you from sleeping adequately.

If your goal is to declutter, it's crucial to keep in mind that there are valid reasons that allow for the buildup of material things. It's in human nature to get disorganized from time to time. We are more likely to get disorganized during our busy lives, such as moving into a new house or being tied up in a big project at school or work.

The buildup will inevitably occur despite our best efforts to prevent clutter from happening, and this is entirely normal. When it comes to our degree of tolerance toward clutter, we all differ. You must always be diligent about picking up and staying organized because it's hard to declutter once your lack of order becomes notorious.

One of the main reasons for the difficulty of decluttering is that we find it hard to let go of things. The way hoarders feel when they give away objects with which they have formed an attachment is similar to the feeling of physical pain. Studies have shown that giving others our prized possessions activated the same area in our brain that recognizes pain. In other words, giving things away literally hurts. We become more attached to an object as we spend more time with it.

Being disorganized or cluttered is a normal part of life, while hoarding is a physiological disorder. In non-hoarders, the neurological reaction to giving things away is much less intense than that of hoarders. The response is still present, though, so it's worth pointing out.

Having this in the back of your mind will make it easier for you to get rid of things. You will find yourself in situations where you want to keep something because you feel attached to it. In these instances, you should assess to determine the validity of your attachment by asking yourself whether you are indeed connected to it or if you are considering the pain that comes with losing that item.

There is a theory that asserts that clutter is the symptom of indecisiveness. Struggling with indecision can be the result of growing up in a home where no item was ever discarded or having difficulties revolving around making the right choice. Regardless of its origin, your indecision may make it very difficult for you to figure out whether to keep an object or not. You instead tend to forego that decision by merely holding on to that object, thereby surpassing making a decision altogether.

When it comes to decluttering, the reason for keeping an item is more important than the object itself.

In later chapters, we will be discussing this in more detail and providing solutions.

The famous duo known as "The Minimalists" says that the reason for our clutter is more important than how we clutter. They associate clutter with a consumerist mindset which has become a feature of modern society. When decluttering, it helps to understand the basics of minimalism as well as its practice to distinguish between necessary and unnecessary items.

There is a saying by Albert Einstein that goes as follows: "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

This quote is an intriguing point that several people have taken to heart. Most people believe very creative and highly intelligent individuals work from messy desks or reside in messy houses.

There's some truth in the great Einstein's statement [1] showed that people found it easier to come up with solutions to a creative challenge when they were in a messy area than in an organized one. A lot of people jokingly use this to justify messy workplaces, but as with most things in life, theres more underneath the surface.

In a different study, [2] ). Only 47 percent of those participants that were in the disorganized room donated, while 87 percent of people that were in the cleanroom donated. The final part of the experiment involved offering each participant the choice of candy or an apple on their way out. Can you guess who chose the apple? The people from the cleanroom were more than three times as likely to opt for a healthy choice.

So, what have we learned from these studies? While disorderliness increases your creative capabilities, cleanliness encourages you to make the right decisions. Other conclusions can be drawn from different results. A study found that interested and curious individuals and people with many interests were more likely to be disorganized. In reality, these results may have more to do with the type of people involved in the study than the state of their surroundings.