It’s a well-known fact in the real estate world… that homes for sale that are full of clutter and chaos, take longer to sell and they sell for less money.
In the mind of a typical buyer, a house that has too many pieces of furniture, too many photos on the wall and especially too many little knick knacks, causes the house to appear smaller which in turn makes it less valuable in the mind of the buyer.
What you many not realize ….
Just as clutter eats up equity in a home…..Clutter in our personal lives eats up productivity in our minds. It is sometimes almost paralyzing.
It’s true….Clutter is our enemy! It is like a very sneaky and subtle thief that robs us many things such as….
- Joy and Happiness
- Peace of mind
- Family time
Clutter is something we all have in our lives. Even people who are by nature very neat and tidy have some sort of clutter. Clutter comes in many shapes and sizes …Most of us think of clutter as chaotic stacks of papers, clothes or shoes in messy piles, or too many objects crammed into garages, closets or drawers.
The definition of clutter is simply: to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner.
When you say it like that it doesn’t sound so bad, wouldn’t you agree? When described that way it doesn’t have any emotion tied to it. It’s when it gets personal …..that is when it gets more complicated.
The expanded definition of clutter is… (according to my “Clutter Busting” book)
- Things that exist in your outer life to distract you from the things you are avoiding in your inner life….or better yet…
- Clutter is any distraction that gets in the way of your remarkable life!
So really clutter can be things like:
- Unfinished projects or tasks
- Promises that you haven’t kept either to yourself or others
- It can even be too many social obligations or too many extra-curricular activities! All those things you said yes to when you really wanted to say no!
Now THAT’s personal! That Hurts!
Clutter is caused by procrastination and procrastination is a form of avoidance. The unfortunate thing about avoidance is that when you avoid something, it can grow. It can take on a life of its own. Something really small can end up being something HUGE
Ignoring and avoiding anything usually comes with consequences.
A few examples are:
- A parking ticket that is ignored will eventually turn into a warrant.
- A toothache that is ignored can possibly turn into a root canal
- Ignoring a funny noise on your car could end up costing you hundreds of dollars more than if had you taken it in for service earlier.
It is obvious that putting things off can turn into something bigger, which can take more time and money to solve…..
But what you may not realize is that the whole time you are ignoring or procrastinating on something….it is cluttering your mind and robbing you of precious time and energy that you could use on better things? It is just like having too many things open and running on your computer. You know what that’s like…. and what does it do? It slows down what you are trying to do in the present moment.
Now that we know what clutter is….anything that keeps us from a remarkable life
and …we know how it gets there….by avoiding and procrastinating.
I have good news! Gratefully there is a solution to this internal and external clutter and that is…..
To begin to value yourself enough, to take the time to first become aware of your clutter and then to take steps toward clearing it. Every time you choose to attack your clutter you are taking care of yourself and freeing up space for something beautiful to come into your life. Here is a Clutter Busting Task List to help you get started. I created it to help myself and hopefully you will find it useful as well. All you have to do is add unfinished tasks to it that you want to complete. It is also labeled with different time categories from 15-30 minute projects to all day projects. I recommend when you are feeling stuck and unproductive to take a few minutes to complete something on your list. Every time you clear even a tiny thing like making that phone call or cleaning just one drawer you are boosting your self esteem . …
You are an extraordinary and valuable human being! You are worth it! You deserve to live a joy filled, remarkable life!
Confucius once said….”a journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step”
Suzi says….”conquering a mountain of clutter begins with accomplishing one tiny task!”