Last year, when my family stayed in a hotel one weekend, I distinctly remember the feeling I had when I opened the door to the room. It was a feeling of calm and peace. The room was perfectly clean, the bed was made and there was no clutter. That memory is significant for me because it was then I realized I feel quite the opposite when I walk into my own home. Often I feel overwhelmed because there are toys strewn across the floor and dishes piled in the sink.
That experience made me wonder about how our mental health is affected by the environment of our homes. A research study was published recently that found a significant correlation between clutter and depression in women. I knew the perfect person to ask about how mental health and clutter are intertwined: my friend Colleen McDonnell. Colleen is a licensed social worker, but she left behind her social worker job to start her own professional organizing business, Set Me Free, based out of Harrisburg, PA.
“The word ‘clutter’ literally means being stuck together,” McDonnell says. She explains further, “when we have clutter we are preventing flow in our lives. We are not allowing new things to come into our life, like relationships or hobbies.”
McDonnell says she often gets calls from clients who are going through life transitions or are experiencing a mental health issue, like depression or ADHD. She feels uniquely qualified to work with these clients given her background as a social worker.
You may think that a personal organizing service is for someone who wants his house to look like a showroom or the cover of a magazine. McDonnell, however, depicts something very different. Having your house organized is “about making a space for the activities that are important to you.” She had a client whose family never sat down at the dinner table to eat a meal together because it was always covered with stuff. Once the home was organized enough that the family could eat meals together, it transformed their family relationships in a positive way.
“Clutter is a lot of unmade decisions,” McDonnell notes. She often sees that when life gets stressful, especially with things that are out of people’s control, like health issues or work, they don’t have the energy to deal with their house. This creates a snowball effect of negative emotions, like feeling overwhelmed or adding to the amount of stress they are experiencing.
In the opposite way, when people take control of their home by getting organized, it often causes them to take control of other situations in their life. McDonnell had a client who was experiencing depression. She used to sew as a hobby, but there was no room in her house for her to work on her sewing projects. Once they created a space for her to do that, she began sewing again. “I saw a change in her emotionally. She was happier and felt proud of the things she was making,” McDonnell says.
What is often difficult about clearing the clutter in our homes is that “we attach meaning to our things,” McDonnell notes. She often asks her clients what type of memory or feeling is attached to the object when they are debating whether or not to get rid of it. Often, her clients are able to identify right away if there is a negative feeling or memory associated with it. McDonnell points out, “If an item doesn’t bring you joy, then why are you keeping it?”
McDonnell’s tips to clear clutter:
1. Envision your home and ask yourself: Does it encourage your favorite activities? Does it reflect your values and the things that you love? Can you easily access the things that you love? If your home isn’t currently allowing you to do these things, think about how you can change it.
2. Break down organization projects into manageable chunks. Do one area or shelf at a time. If you have a large area you are trying to work on, cover the part you aren’t working on with a large sheet so you don’t get overwhelmed or distracted.
3. Set a timer to stay on task. First, try setting it for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off assess if you are still doing what you started out doing. If you got sidetracked, set the timer again for a shorter amount of time.
4. Ask a friend to hold you accountable. Make a date to have them come over and help you organize.
5. When you go shopping, be a conscious consumer. Ask yourself: is the item something you need, do you absolutely love it and will you use it more than once?
6. Organize your stuff first and then, if you need to, buy storage containers or new furniture to work with what you have left.
7. If you feel like you need professional help, find someone to teach you how, not just to do it for you.