We live in an age of clutter. If you live in the United States, you must have noticed how common self storage businesses have become. There’s even a show on TV about what people find when they buy the contents of storage units that have been abandoned. On these shows, of course, it’s often unexpected treasures. In real life, you can be sure it’s 99.9% junk.

The fact that self storage is such a profitable business nowadays is proof of how cluttered our lives have become. More and more of us simply don’t have enough room in our homes to store all of our stuff! That’s despite the fact that homes have been getting larger and larger over the years.

Why So Much Clutter?

What are the reasons for so much clutter? We could come up with a few possibilities. Even in tough economic times, lots of stuff is still very cheap. Between dollar stores, yard sales, eBay, Walmarts and other box stores, even if you’re not rich, you can probably afford a lot more stuff than you’ll ever need!

Regardless of why there’s so much stuff everywhere, it can be interesting to examine the effect is has on us. Clutter can be sneaky -it seldom comes about all at once. It usually creeps up on us, getting a little worse week after week. Then one day, we look around our bedroom. office, desk or car and ask ourselves, “Where did all this junk come from?”

There can be many sources of clutter -junk mail, magazines and newspapers we neglect to put into the recycling bin, projects we procrastinate on, unnecessary items we can’t resists buying, accumulated memorabilia from our past that we can’t bear to part with…the list goes on and on. In general, if we have more stuff coming in than we’re getting rid of, the result is clutter!

Getting Rid of Clutter

How do you go about getting rid of clutter? You can’t do it all at once. You can make a lot of progress by having a marathon “decluttering” session, or by deciding to donate all of your old clothes to charity. But it really requires a change in mindset that you stick to. Otherwise, the clutter will just start building up again.

Rather than developing a fear or hatred of clutter, why not cultivate a love of the opposite -clear spaces and simplicity? You don’t have to take it to extremes and get rid of everything you own. Just keep it in your mind that your goal is to maintain some order so you can think clearly and function in a more organized manner.

The Advantages of Reducing Clutter

What are some of the advantages of reducing (we won’t say “eliminating,” as that’s seldom possible) clutter? You may be surprised at how far reaching the benefits can be.

*** A feeling of freedom as you have more space around you

*** The ability to think more clearly

*** Getting things done more efficiently, as you don’t waste so much time looking for things buried at the bottom of a pile

*** An ability to plan your life more effectively

You may be wondering about that last one -is cleaning up your desk really going to improve your decision making abilities? It very well could be. Clutter represents the state of your mind, and it also has an impact on the information you have at your disposal.

When you have too much clutter, it’s hard to get a handle on the various aspects of your life, because there’s too much going on. Put more simply, you suffer from information overload. Incidentally, since so much of our information is digital nowadays, it’s at least as important to declutter your computer’s desktop as your physical desk!

In order to reduce clutter, you have to make some conscious choices about what is and isn’t important. In other words, the very act of decluttering forces you to start thinking more clearly and make better decisions! Then, when you’ve gained back some space around you, it’s easier to focus because you’ve gotten rid of so much static.

Think of it like this -if you have a decision to make, which is easier: to choose between A, B or C or between A, B, C, D, E, F…you get the picture. Very often, when it seems like we have too many choices, it’s because we haven’t bothered to eliminate the ones that are irrelevant -that is, clutter.

Clutter can come in many forms, There’s the physical clutter that can take the familiar form of a pile of junk mail catalogs. Then there’s the clutter in your mind, that may be unwanted or unproductive thoughts or emotions. You can even look at excess weight or toxins in your body as clutter! After all, isn’t anything you have, that gets in your way without serving a helpful purpose a type of clutter?

How to Declutter Your Life

There’s no simple formula for decluttering your life. It’s more of a lifelong process that you get better at with practice. Just as clutter can take months, years or even decades to build up, it can take time to learn new habits.

Here are a few suggestions to help you move towards a less cluttered existence:

*** Start decluttering your body by eating less junk food and more natural, organic and raw foods.

*** Spend as much time as possible in environments that help you relax – try meditation, taking walks in nature or doing something that de-stresses you.

*** Make time to pursue any creative hobbies you might have, whether it’s painting, cooking or playing an instrument.

*** Have a paper shredder handy so you can easily get rid of unnecessary paper, junk mail and the like.

*** Make sure you have an organized system for recycling, so items like newspapers, cans, bottles and so forth don’t pile up, but go in the correct place and then out of your life!

These are just some of the ways you can start to declutter many areas of your life. Everyone has a slightly different type of clutter, and different ways of dealing with it. When you start to pay attention to these issues, you can start to deal with them. Decluttering your life is more important than you might think, and it’s not hard once you get started!

For more tips, see: How to Declutter Your Body, Mind and Life