Why Get Organized?

As an organizing consultant, I hear time and time again, “I don’t have time to get organized.” I can’t help but ask can you really afford not to?

Today life moves at such a fast pace and families are involved in so many things doesn’t it make sense to live as efficiently as possible? Being able to quickly access the things you need when you need them not only makes life easier but much less stressful.

Being disorganized also throws your life out of balance. Feng shui experts will tell you that clutter stagnates ‘chi’ which is the energy that breathes life into our living spaces. When ‘chi’ is blocked you’re faced with an imbalance.

Coping with excess clutter can be really tough causing both physical and emotional distress. And such distress can have a negative impact on other parts of your life.

Is your home full of a multitude of things you don’t love or even use? If so, think about how much energy this excessive clutter really takes up. I’m sure you’ve heard all about good energy and bad energy. Good energy comes from an organized home. Bad energy comes from cluttered surroundings and a home and lifestyle which leave you feeling nothing but drained.

Everything you own takes up space and energy. Too much clutter creates chaos and confusion and leaves little room for positive energy to thrive.

Have you ever needed to find something quickly only to become frustrated and stressed because too much stuff stands in your way? The act of locating your car keys each morning should not take 20 minutes or more.

There’s no doubt about it, clutter affects how we feel. It can create anxiety and frustration as well as tension between loved ones. Clutter also eats up our time when we have to search for necessary items in piles of stuff. It also creates more work when we consider how much time it takes to shop for, clean and simply manage all that is ours. Plus, clutter costs – we have to insure, repair and replace things we can’t locate. How many times have you purchased something you thought you needed only to find days or weeks later you already had one?

Plus clutter has been known to rob homeowners of valuable space. How many homeowners do you know who park their cars in their driveway instead of their garage because there isn’t any room inside it?

Battling clutter is a continuous process. It means being mindful about what you bring into your home and your life and getting rid of what isn’t in your best interest.

To really get organized you first need to examine your relationship with your stuff. Conquering a cluttered existence involves more than simply dealing with piles of newspapers and crammed closets. It’s about learning better time and priority management skills and understanding the pitfalls of modern technology and how it can overload us if we don’t manage it properly. It’s also very much about taking control of your inner and outer environments.

While shopping is often a welcome diversion from dealing with other stresses in our lives, the more stuff we have and we allow into our lives, the more it occupies us and keeps us cocooned from the outside world.

Clutter can also send negative messages to others. Consider the home that is too messy to entertain guests in, or the cluttered office that tells clients you’re too busy or signals to your boss that you’re too disorganized to handle a new project.

Once you start purging your physical clutter, your mental clutter usually follows.

Try the following tips to make your life less frantic and more peaceful. By getting rid of the excess you make room for what really matters.

• Resist the urge to buy more than you need and can use on regular basis.

• Have nothing in your home that is not useful or truly important to you.

• Nostalgia breeds clutter. Keep a few tokens from the past but let the rest go. Holding onto boxes stuffed with memories keeps you in the past.

• Find joy in letting things go. Know that someone else will find what you part with useful.

• Let go of guilt. Don’t replace time not spent with loved ones with possessions or hold onto gifts you don’t like or can’t use.

• Assess your priorities. Make sure your love of things never overshadows your love of life and other people.

• Abundance is a state of mind. If you use possessions as a measure of status and self-worth consider why you feel this way. Try to release everything you don’t need. By no longer grasping and hoarding possessions, you can better open yourself to others and all that life has to offer.

Once you get organized and have pared down your life to only what has a purpose, inspires or enriches you, you’ll find your life is more joyful and productive. You CAN live a vibrant life filled with purpose and a lot less stuff.