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Have you ever looked around your home or workplace and felt frustrated by the clutter around you? Stacks of paper on the counter, never-ending piles of laundry, and stuff covering every surface — it can feel so overwhelming!

You’re not alone. Clutter has become a major problem in our culture, and it’s even taking a toll on our emotional and mental health. You’ve felt it before, right? The impact clutter around you can have on your mind and wellbeing?

Let’s discuss clutter’s impact on our mental health — and how organization can help!

The Impact of Clutter

It’s not just your friendly neighborhood organizer who says clutter has an impact on your mental health — research shows it, too. Studies have found that when someone perceives their home as cluttered, their cortisol levels increase. What’s cortisol? The stress hormone. 

The key word, however, is ‘perceive’. Clutter weighs on people differently. To some, a stack of paper on the kitchen counter is organized. To others, it’s a taunting pile of agitation.

Understanding how you relate to clutter is the first step in identifying its impact on your mental health.

5-Step Solution to Clutter

Once you better understand your clutter’s impact on your well-being, it’s time to decide what to do about it. This varies for everyone, but there are a few universal steps you can take.

1. Find Your Biggest Stressor

As we’re talking about mental health, pinpoint the space in your home that stresses you the most. Find the low-hanging fruit that will impact your daily life, like the entryway you go in and out of each day or the dining room table that’s always covered.

2. Start Small

Though you might find your overflowing garage or basement is your most stressful space, those are huge projects to start with. Instead, choose a smaller space that will allow you to see results right away. A few examples would be a kitchen drawer, your bedroom nightstand, or a single shelf.

3. Set a Timer

You’d be amazed by how much better you can feel after 15 minutes of decluttering. If you find you have more stamina, feel free to keep going. But remember that something is better than nothing!

4. Sort Your Items

Starting in your small space, go through the items and decide what can be kept, tossed, donated, or recycled. Even in a small space, you’ll be amazed by how much can go, and you’ll quickly begin to feel a little lighter.

5. System Set-up

Systems sound like something big and complicated, but they can be simple, too! Hanging your keys on the same hook every single day is a system. Putting your shoes in the same spot when you get home is a system. Once you’ve sorted through the items in your small space, put them back in a way that works for your habits. Think about how you use the space and decide whether items belong there. If they do, contain them in a way that can help you find them when you need them next.

Support and Resources

As with anything that feels overwhelming, it can help tremendously to have someone at your side along the way. I would love to support you through your organizing journey, but I also understand that there’s a time and place for everything. I’m here when you’re ready to declutter and organize.

Some professional organizers specialize in chronic disorganization, which is frequently related to neurodivergence. If you struggle with ADHD, hoarding, or other challenges, you may find the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) a helpful resource.

If you or a loved one needs additional mental health support or services, please visit the National Institute of Mental Health website for the resources listed.

Each of these steps could be a blog post on its own, so remember that we’re just skimming the surface now. But remember, when it comes to feeling overwhelmed, it’s best to start small because some progress is better than none.

You wouldn’t expect mental health challenges to disappear overnight or within one week of treatment, so remember that it takes time to declutter and organize your home. Take everything one step at a time, because honestly, it’s the only way to do anything.

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Ready for some hands-on support? Contact me to learn how to work together.

(Full disclosure: This blog post was part of a copywriting package I won during some professional development I did with Business Simplicity Summit . I made a few changes to suit my style, but I want to thank Molly Winters Writing for the generous prize.)

This is Part Two of Become More Organized Without Having to Get Rid of Anything. Read Part One here.

Habit #2: If something will take you less than 2 minutes, do it now. 

Ahhh…the small tasks that seem like such a burden! You know the ones I mean. Making the bed, putting away the laundry, emptying the dishwasher. Chances are you might spend more time rationalizing why you don’t need to do these small tasks than they actually take to complete! I know what you are thinking: yes, there are so many and they add up! Doing 10 two-minute tasks is a 20 minute commitment. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. In time, you will get used to “just doing it now” and it won’t seem like extra effort to become more organized. Don’t let those little things pile up to hours of tedious work. Not only will you have peace of mind, but you will have tidiness of home!

Some 2-minute (or less!) tasks that you can do NOW:

-Put clothes away when they are clean. 

The goal here is to be able to quickly and joyfully get dressed in the morning. You want your clothes tidy and ready to wear. Clean laundry that sits in a basket or on the couch gets crumpled and dusty. The same goes for clothing that is in limbo: you wore it but it doesn’t need washing. These items don’t need a special place (usually on the chair or floor!) in your room. Clothes can either be worn again or they need to be washed. So, put away clothes that can be worn again. Dirty clothes go in the hamper! If putting dirty clothes in the hamper takes more than 2 minutes, have a think about the location of the hamper and make adjustments. Dropping clothes in a basket shouldn’t take any longer than dropping them on the floor. Sometimes you have to get creative! I have clients who keep a hamper in the hallway because that is where the kids get undressed. It works. 

-Handle physical mail as it comes in.  

Flip through the mail and immediately toss/shred the junk. Open the rest of the mail and decide if it is something that you can do in 2 minutes. If so, do it now. If it truly can’t be done now, have a dedicated “to do” bin or file so you can keep track of those important documents and complete them at a later date. The key is to have a system so you can avoid duplicate bills, late fees, or having to dedicate an entire afternoon to sort through mail. 

-Unsubscribe from junk (e)mail. 

A quick Google search will provide you with some resources for unsubscribing from junk mail. Here are some links with more information:

• • • https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-stop-junk-mail
    • https://www.dmachoice.org/register.php

Generally at the top of junk emails it will say “This message is from a mailing list. Unsubscribe”. Clicking that “unsubscribe” prevents you from having to click any links in the email itself (it is not advised to click on links in junk emails) and you won’t have to enter your email address. It’s as quick and easy as clicking delete!

If there isn’t the “unsubscribe” option at the top of the email, you can also swipe to the left from the email list, click the “more” dots in grey, and choose “block sender” at the bottom of the list of options.

I highly recommend this article by the truly delightful (yes, I have met her in person!) Shira Gill for more detailed unsubscribing tips:

https://shiragill.substack.com/p/im-unsubscribing-from-almost-everything

-Take advantage of online banking.

Sign up for auto pay, go paperless, use mobile check depositing (my personal favorite), and the like to streamline your paperwork process. If I had a dollar for every uncashed check I have found sitting at the bottom of a stack of (mostly junk) mail… If you are worried about having enough funds in your account, you can set up email notifications so you will know how much your bill is before auto-paying. (Yes this will add to you email inbox but it is part of making your digital life work for you, not the other way around.)

-Put trash in the trash can. 

If you need to put a comically large number of trash cans around the house, just do it! Look around and see where it tends to accumulate in your house and put a trash can there. Maybe you need one on EACH end of the couch. Maybe you need one by the hamper in your kids room. Maybe you need one by the dining table. Clutter attracts clutter and trash too. As your house becomes tidier, you might be able to get rid of some of the cans. As a side note: I recommend cans without lids to remove another barrier of use. If you are sitting on the couch, you don’t want to get up to step on the lever to lift the lid.

-Have a basket at the bottom of the stairs.

This is a special caveat for you 2-storied home-owners. I know running up and down the stairs can be too much sometimes. Instead, place a basket at the bottom of the stairs. During the day, place any items that belong upstairs in the basket. When you are heading up anyway, take the basket with you and put the items away. 

HHF Perk: Make this a habit and become more organized without having to spend hours at a time dealing with the piles: mail piles, shoe piles, clothing piles, trash piles. If you simply take care of 2-minute tasks as they occur, you’ll notice things don’t really have a chance to pile up. 

In summary, being organized is a habit that takes practice. It is much easier to be organized if you have fewer things in your house and fewer things on your to-do list. An easy way to become more organized is to use up superfluous extras, stop the in-flow of redundant items, and complete quick tasks in real time. If you are struggling with implementing these ideas, you could probably benefit from hiring a professional organizer. A professional organizer will help you become more organized by clearing some space in your house and setting up systems to set you on the path to being a person with organized habits! 

If you haven’t already,  you can read Part One here.

Is being more organized one of your resolutions this year? Now that we are over a month in, are you reaping the rewards of a more streamlined life or have you already given up because you don’t know where to begin? Is it all just too overwhelming? Don’t give up! It might help to realize that BEING organized is a habit and therefore GETTING organized requires forming new habits. It’s not something you DO and then ARE. It’s not one-and-done. You have to PRACTICE it just like any other worthwhile change. Change is hard but YOU CAN DO IT! I want to help you on your journey by suggesting 2 big impact, little effort habits to work into your lifestyle before you tackle the hard stuff (I’m looking at you, “sentimental boxes”). 

These simple habits to be more organized don’t involve getting rid of anything, per se. They take practice but you can start small. Don’t get discouraged by thinking it’s all or nothing. As these habits become a normal part of your life, it will be easier to move to decluttering because you will already see some benefits of living with less. Where to start? I always ask my clients: what will have the biggest impact on you right now? What will lift the biggest burden from you today? What do you feel like working on at this point? Start there. WARNING: these tips aren’t ground-breaking! They are simple. They take practice. They work.

Habit #1: Use what you have (and don’t over-stock consumables or redundant items!)

This one is huge! How much space are you sacrificing in your house to keep unnecessary back stock or redundant duplicates? This obviously goes without saying, but I am not talking about (true) emergency supplies or medical items. I’m talking about surplus food, beauty products, paper goods, soaps, detergent, cleaning supplies, even art and crafts and office supplies. Not to mention non-consumables like clothing, toys, games, books, and so on.

Some questions to ask yourself before buying and strategies to reduce the inflow:

-How many of these do I already have? 

Tip: Keep a running list on your phone so you know what you need and don’t overbuy “just in case”. This is true for groceries and consumables as well as other things like clothing. 

-How many of these will I use up before my next shopping trip? 

Tip: Think about how long something will last when determining how many backups are right for you. Are you really going to use 5 jars of allspice before you can buy more?

-What is the shelf life of this item?

Tip: Think about how long an item can sit in storage before stocking up. Even it is on sale, it doesn’t make sense to buy stuff that will go bad before you use it.

-Do I have room to store this?

Tip: Buying in bulk can result in a lot of, well, bulk. If cramming your cupboards with extras makes it too difficult to get to the things you need on a regular basis or if keeping overflow product out of sight results in forgetting you have it, think about whether you can hold off on purchasing more at this time. Is your bookshelf already piled high or your closet so jammed you couldn’t possibly hang up another t-shirt? Try reading through the “to read” pile before buying more books. Again, keep a list on your phone so you remember you wanted it when you need another book to read!

-Do I already have something that serves the same purpose?

A lot of pantry items can easily be swapped or quickly made from scratch. Sugar blended on high for a few minutes quickly becomes powdered sugar. Likewise, mix in some molasses and you have brown sugar. Spice blends can be mixed real-time and save a lot of precious pantry space. A simple collection of cleaning supplies is usually enough to keep the house sparkling. While everyone’s opinion on personal style may differ, you can only wear so many items! Side note: the laundry pile is a reflection of how many clothes you’ve worn, not of how many you have. You don’t do more laundry if you have fewer clothes. 

-Do I even use the similar one I already have?

From piles of books you haven’t had time to read, to scrap books yet to be assembled, to clothing with tags still on them, people often already have much of what they re-buy without even realizing it. This is great if you are getting value from these things, but if you don’t have the time to use them, you certainly don’t have the time, or probably the space either, to use more of them. 

-Unsubscribe. 

Remove your email from marketing lists so you aren’t tempted by new items and sales. Sales, by the way, will happen again. 

-Stop scrolling. 

Or at least scroll more strategically. Instead of perusing websites or social media, focus efforts on finding creative new ways to use the things you have. Pinterest is a great resource. You can search for recipes using ingredients you have on hand, or new outfits using the clothes you already own. Follow social media accounts of people who are creative instead of those who are always pitching the newest latest and greatest. Work on changing your perspective from “I need that exact thing” to “Let’s see if I can get creative and make that with what I have”. 

-Borrow.

If you find yourself “needing” something, be creative with what you have or borrow from a friend or neighbor. I love this especially for one-off kitchen appliances or tools you only use a few times a year, but it could be anything: specialty clothing like snow or formal dress, sports gear, camping equipment, baby gear, and so on. Chances are your friend doesn’t use it often either and will be more than happy for it to get some use.

-Wait 24 hours.

Don’t impulsively click “buy now”. Wait 24 hours and see if you even remember you wanted it the next day. Remember there will be another sale down the road. 

-Find a “better” use of your time. 

I totally get it. Days are long! We live busy lives and just want to veg out at the end of the day. If your downtime leads to needing to work more overtime to cover all your impulse purchases, maybe you could pick up a book instead or call a friend for a chat. If you pop into the shops to kill an hour between school drop off and your meeting, keep that book in your car or go for a quick walk instead. Chances are you will feel better too. 

HHF Perk: Make this practice a habit and get used to using what you have (who doesn’t love finishing a product, doing a thorough pantry/fridge clean out, getting a compliment on that sweater you have owned since high school!? So satisfying!) and find your cupboards, closets, garage, drawers, cabinets, and shelves naturally becoming less of a mess. Not to mention less waste, more savings, and fresher supplies! You’ll also find you have a lot of free time on your hands to do the things you really want to do. Maybe read those books or finish those crafts. 

Don’t underestimate the bandwidth bringing new items into your home requires. You won’t have to deal with the packaging waste. You won’t have to find somewhere to keep the thing. You won’t have to spend time caring for the thing. You won’t even have worry about what to do with the thing when you don’t want it anymore. 

As a side note: returning things isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Firstly, it’s another time-suck and secondly, a large portion of returned items just get thrown away (that’s after packaging it all up again and shipping it somewhere. What a waste!).

Oftentimes closets are crammed with so much stuff, the items go unused because it is easier to buy more than use up what is already there-somewhere. Case in point: the hand soaps in this closet! There were about 20 of them floating around, hidden behind other things. I also gathered all the extra consumables from a nearby bathroom so the client would always have an idea of what items she had on hand, preventing over-stocking and over-spending on future shopping trips. I rearranged these two closets so that frequently used items are at eye level, spares and backup items are easily retrievable (even by the kids), and like items are grouped together. As always, a lot of unused, duplicate, outgrown, and worn items were either donated or tossed. The result is user-friendly and functional. 

This entryway closet was jam-packed with coats, sporting gear, reusable grocery bags, lost and found items, and so much more! As my usual plan, I removed all the items and grouped them into categories. Since this was a repeat client, I was able to re-home items I knew belonged somewhere else in the home. The client was then easily able to decide what should stay and what to donate. I took 3 giant black bags full of coats to the thrift store and another bag full of trash went into the garbage. The family can now open the doors of the closet, see everything that is in the space, and quickly grab what they need. More importantly, returning items to their home is not a daunting task. 

This mini-client had so much crammed into her walk-in closet she couldn’t even walk into it! Her dresser was similarly overflowing. I started this fun project by removing all the non-clothing items from the floor in the closet. There were toys, blankets, bedding, and more. The Client worked independently to sort through all the stuff and then I came back in to organize it. I am so happy with the result-as is the Client. The closet has plenty of room to move around in so that getting dressed and returning clothing isn’t a challenge. I folded the clothing in the dresser so that each shirt, pair of pants, or shorts, can be identified without having to dig through and pull things out. I personally don’t like having to put a bunch of clothes away each time I get dressed. This will save both time and hassle and it also creates natural limits. If more clothing is acquired, other items will have to be passed on in order to fit them, creating a self-regulating process. 

 

One of my favorite things is organizing laundry rooms. Maybe it is because my laundry is in the garage and it seems so luxurious to have an actual laundry room? Maybe it is because laundry is an inevitable chore that can be made much more bearable by having a super functional, clutter free space? Whatever the reason, organizing this laundry room was a blast! I pulled all the overflow cleaning supplies (A LOT!) out of the cabinets and placed them together on one open shelf so the Client could easily see what extras she had to keep her from unnecessarily buying more. One of my biggest tips for Clients is to avoid stockpiling supplies. Especially if you are short on storage space! How many backups do you truly need? Will you run out of a certain item before your next trip to the store from which you buy it? Do you know where your backup items are stored or do you find yourself buying more because you forgot where you stashed the extras you bought before? Think about how much space in your house is dedicated to storing extra items that you might not even need for months (or years!). Let the store be your storage! Similarly, try to keep overflow items near where they are used. In this laundry room I consolidated like items and grouped them together to make the space more cohesive. Items are now easily visible in the cabinets, cleaning supplies are easily retrievable, backups are obvious and close at hand. 

 

 

Sometimes I am asked to come in and help a Client get their home ready to be staged for real estate photos. This is a little different than my regular decluttering jobs as I focus mainly on the aesthetics of a home rather than its functionality for the Client. At the same time, often a Client is still living in the home so it still needs to work for their everyday life-especially during the sometimes chaotic process of moving! That being said, when you are facing a move, it is a great opportunity to really get in there and declutter. You are already having to go through all of your things so why not get rid of the items you don’t want to have to pack, move, unpack, and then find a home for in your new space. Boy does that really sound like a dream to me! I just love a fresh start! It can definitely be daunting, though, so please reach out to me if you find yourself ready for a move and want to declutter while you pack. 

This Arroyo Grande Client has an awesome house with an amazing view. Unfortunately, the first thing the family saw each time they walked into their house was a cluttered entryway. I did a quick declutter and mostly left everything as it was. With two busy kids, it works for them to have the sporting and dance gear all kept near the front door for a grab-and-go exit on their way to the next activity. I like to make spaces that work for each Client’s needs.  I listen to the individual schedule and lifestyle and habits of each Client and work with them to organize in a way that makes sense to them. 

This Arroyo Grande Client was typical of many: I came to help get one room in order and ended up doing almost the whole house. It is so much fun reinventing Clients’ spaces using what they already have. In this case the Client uses an extra room as both a guest room and office as well as using the closet to house a managerie of things from arts and crafts to gift wrapping and presents to keepsakes to party supplies to Girl Scouting supplies. Oh my! A very multifunctional closet that needed to be more FUNCTIONAL. I started by sorting items by category. Next, the Client decided what to keep and what to pass on. I moved all the arts and crafts out to the kids’ area (see previous blog post!) and dedicated the closet to “Mom’s stuff”. The result: dedicated spaces for keepsakes, Girl Scouting supplies, party stuff, gift wrapping, and gifts. The bonus: organizing other areas of the house discovering more party stuff that I was able to quickly put where it belongs.