Have you ever considered that your environment can sometimes reflect your internal state? Sometimes clutter in your home might be caused by your emotional clutter getting in the way of cleaning and letting go. Sometimes the clutter in your home might prevent you from emptying your emotional clutter. Either way doesn't cleaning up sound like a good idea?
Now I'm not trying to talk to full-on hoarders here. Anyone who has so much as a junk drawer or an overly full purse can benefit from a little de-cluttering. Those of us who have rooms full of boxes and piles of junk (yep, that's me) have all the more reason to consider this.
Removing the clutter in your life won't only help you find things more quickly, it can promote healing for your body, mind and spirit. You can feel the difference between a cluttered space and an open space. And you can go too far - being stressed about disturbing a hair on a pristine carpet isn't really that much better than jumping over a junk pile.
How do you get started? If you think "one day I'll find the time," chances are it'll sit on the back-burner indefinitely... trust me, I know. Try devoting 10 minutes per day to de-cluttering. Make a specific time of day (like during the kids' nap, right after work, or during the commercials of your favourite show) and stick to it as much as possible. I find that if I get started, I get motivated and do more than 10 minutes per day, and I'll stick with it until at least one room is done.
Remember, de-cluttering doesn't mean only finding new ways to organize old junk. Buying new shelves and organizing systems is only really useful if you're only keeping the things that are important to you. For each item you're dealing with, ask yourself why it is important enough to keep. Is it adding something to your life or is it just adding to your physical and emotional clutter?
I'm going to start de-cluttering my house by going through the boxes in my garage on Monday. How about you?
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