LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE IN A CHAOS-FREE HOME

When you think about living your life to the fullest it conjures up different images for different people. For some it may be traveling to exotic locations. For others it may be eating the best foods, in the best restaurants. Maybe it’s spending time with friends or family. Perhaps it’s having quiet time to yourself to read the books you’ve always meant to get around to.

What living your best life does not include is the image of a cluttered and chaotic home.

Unfortunately, that’s something many people are facing in the one place that is meant to be safe, secure, and comfortable.

Being able to be surrounded by the most beautiful items, in the house of your dreams sounds wonderful. Feeling overwhelmed by those items as they gather in corners, closets, basements, garages, and storage spaces, takes away your joy and sounds like a nightmare.

You don’t have to feel trapped and overwhelmed by your home, though. Conscientious decluttering and creating new systems to keep your home free of the weight of clutter, can set you free to live that best life you crave.

PRIORITIZING YOURSELF

Having a house that is free of clutter, that is well organized, and allows you to breathe easily when you’re home, is actually a form of self-care.

Disorganization, items or projects you keep meaning to get to, and all of the other chaos, drains your energy. When you give yourself permission to take care of yourself by caring for your home, you give energy back to yourself.

To do this you have to decide and believe you are a priority.

This is something that is tough for the average woman, because we are conditioned to take care of everyone else before ourselves. This leaves us exhausted, impatient, and resentful.

We tend to think of self-care as a massage and a mani-pedi. These can certainly be a part of a self-care routine. However, it doesn’t stop there. Clients question me on why I would say taking care of their home is self-care. Isn’t it something you’re just supposed to do? Doesn’t it really feel more like a burden than self-care?

When you change your mindset to care for your home for your own relief and enjoyment, not out of obligation, you give yourself permission to be a priority.

Self-care is anything that makes you feel good. Prioritizing your needs gives you the energy to take care of all the things you have on your to-do list, while still having some energy left over to enjoy yourself.

You need to put yourself at the top of the list now and then. When you do, you’ll take actions that make you feel better, and believe me, a decluttered home feels good. It can feel like freedom. You’ll feel lighter as every item that no longer serves a purpose leaves the house.

HOW TO KEEP CLUTTER UNDER CONTROL

There are a lot of reasons clutter slowly grows and takes over space in your home. Some reasons are due to a lack of systems and rules around new purchases, and some reasons are due to emotional attachment to material goods even when they no longer serve a purpose.

Systems of Organization

Whether you’ve just moved into a home or you’ve recently decluttered an established home, there need to be organizational systems that are sustainable, and a few rules to keep the growth of clutter under control.

Systems of organization are best when they take your personality and the personalities of your family members into account. Do you need:

• Simplicity and ease in your organization?
• Labels so everyone knows where things go?
• More abundance of organization with smaller categories in each area?
• To be able to see everything by using clear containers, and glass doors?
• Or have everything hidden behind solid doors, and in solid containers?

Be honest with yourself so you can have the best system for your needs.

The One In, One Out Rule

Then come the rules about new items coming into the house. A spacious, peaceful home begins to lose its luster when new toys, gadgets, clothes, shoes, décor, furniture, and artwork begin to pile up with no place to go within those systems you created so mindfully.

My favorite rule is the One In, One Out Rule. This takes some getting used to and a certain amount of self-control. However, if maintaining your beautiful home is important enough to you, you will find a way to do this (or any other rule you come up with).

The One In, One Out Rule is exactly what it sounds like: when you buy one thing to bring into the house, something has to go! When you live by this rule, the “clutter creep” never has to happen again.

Emotional Attachment

When clutter builds up, it’s usually due in some part to emotional attachment. We connect memories and symbolism to material objects making it hard to part with them.

If you have an object that reminds you of a wonderful experience or of a loved one who has passed, display that object. If you aren’t displaying it, then it doesn’t mean as much to you as you are trying to believe it does.

Give yourself permission to let it go. You are not bad for not valuing this object, and you are not hurting anyone by choosing to get rid of it. In fact, holding onto things that we no longer use or love can hold us back in life, keeping us stuck in a memory or a version of ourselves that no longer exists.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

A common issue my clients face is having a gorgeous curated home, that hides a secret from all who enter: Behind the closed doors lurks mayhem.

I always tell my clients, “It still exists, even if you can’t see it.” It’s easy to stuff items you don’t know exactly what to do with into closets and down in basements.

“I’ll get to it later” you say. “I might need that someday” you say. Time passes and you don’t get to it, you don’t need it, and now it’s buried under another layer of clutter that has become too overwhelming to even attempt to deal with.

Closets, especially large walk-in closets, tend to be the biggest culprits. These big, fabulous spaces are meant to be used and loved, yet they become dark frustrations that drain your energy every time you look at them or think about them.

THE CLOSET

When you look in your closet, do you feel excited and happy? Or do you feel overwhelmed and frustrated?

The closet that is chaos-free and clutter-free is the closet you want to walk into. In that closet you can find your favorite sweater, or those fabulous shoes you can’t wait to wear. In the uncluttered closet you can always find something to wear, because it only holds the things you love the most.

The cluttered closet is the one you avoid. It’s a closet you know is filled with items you want to wear, but the effort of trying to find them is far too overwhelming so you end up wearing the same five shirts over and over again. The cluttered closet is the one that leads to the “I have nothing to wear!” melt-down.

I remember the last time I said those words. It was years ago, but I remember the frustration of that moment, and the look on my husband’s face (confusion and fear). I’ve decluttered and organized my closet in a way that makes sense for my life since then. I’ve also implemented the One In, One Out Rule, so chaos can never take over again.

Imagine a beautifully tidy and organized closet your clothes, shoes, jewelry and purses in which:

• Everything is easily accessible.
• You can see everything you own so you never forget about that amazing dress, or lose your favorite shoes.
• You can get dressed and pick out your accessories in record time because everything you own is something you love.

One of my favorite stories is from a client who, after decluttering and organizing her closet, would escape from the overwhelm of her parents staying at her home by hiding in the closet with a glass of wine and a good book.

You never know what uses a space has until you give it some love!

TAKE THE TIME

It takes some time, commitment and consistency to get your home to be fully decluttered and organized. The time is worth it to do it right.

With the best systems for you in place you won’t have to do this work again, you’ll only maintain it. Every day will be that much easier because you no longer have to work around clutter or even feel frustration, shame, or hopelessness in the face of chaos.

Take control of your home and it will take care of you.