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The Stress of clutter.
Yeah, I know you probably think I’m a little bit crazy, because I believe that organization and lack of clutter lead to less stress and anxiety in your life, but it’s true. The more organized things are, when everything has its place, when you get rid of the things you don’t need and you have margin in your home, your heart is content and you can breathe deeply and calmly.
This may sound delusional to you, or slightly dramatic, but how many times have you become irritable, or anxious because you are stressed about the mess, the mess that never goes away or closets or maybe rooms where you put everything that you don’t know what to do with. For me I know it took a long time to realize that mess, clutter, and disorganization created irritability and undue stress and anxiety in life. I know all anxiety can’t be eliminated nor can all messes be eliminated, but they can be managed, they can be reduced and therefore your anxiety can be managed and reduced.
My husband’s nightstand. Clutter makes it hard to find things you are looking for.
Organizing doesn’t have to be expensive.
I used to laugh every time I watched Friends because I could totally relate to Monica’s obsession with organization, remember when she made all those file folders for Chandler to help in find a job and then he only got to the first one and he decided that he wanted to do advertising. She didn’t care because she was just excited to use her label maker. JI’m a little bit like that, I love to organize because not only does clutter bring me stress, but organization brings calmness to my mind. Sometimes I’ve avoided organizing because it can be pretty pricey, and it seems you could spend $100’s at Etsy on cute labels, or fancy storage from The Container Store (I will say nothing beats their Elfa shelving), but my friend turned me on to a really inexpensive way to organize that’s made my life so much easier. The Home Depot carries Sterilite clear containers that are wait for it………, $.99!!! Yeah, you read that right $.99!!!!!! ( for $30.00 I organized, my desk, nightstands, bathrooms, laundry room and a couple of closets). I went nuts with these containers and they are everywhere.
The after. Books, watches, work-out items, and sunglasses. Who knew?
Organize what you have before you spend on what you think you need.
Not only do they reduce some of your clutter, but they organize what you decide to keep. I of course found out that we have multiples of pretty much everything. Apparently, I’ve been stealing black pens from my church for about a decade.
Anyways, you’ll be amazed at what you find, what you didn’t know you had and what you didn’t know you needed. I cleaned out nightstands, desks, craft tables, my husband’s office (that’s still a work in progress), my bathroom and the kid’s bathroom. You wouldn’t believe how much those things came in handy.
The pantry is one of my favorite places to organize, because I can see the results immediately since we use it multiple times a day. Put cupcake liners in mason jars. (Valentines and Christmas)
Organizing takes time.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your house be organized in a day. Take things one day at a time, one draw at a time. Get your kids to help you sort through drawers, their bookcases. Sometimes just going through one drawer might be enough for the day, while other days you can attack an entire nightstand, or dresser. I know my kids LOVE cleaning the pantry, throwing away old food, labeling items, and organizing their snacks. As the saying goes, when mama’s happy, everybody’s happy.
What’s your favorite way to organize in your home?
Sara
But be sure that everything is done properly and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40
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