How to Decrease Stress (Part One) Decluttering Your Home Environment

Ha! Your clutter is my treasure; it fuels the huge yard sale furnace, commodities migrating across America in three Seasons. Resting only in Winter.

Clutter can overwhelm, increasing the sense of hopelessness during depressive bouts. I hate clutter, because I have to dust clutter. And I like open space, a mess makes you feel small and boxed in. It's really not an insignificant thing you write about here.

If I'm going to be depressed I don't want to be even more so about my environment. The thing is, I do make the occasional sweep of my surroundings and a week later need what is gone. Organization, like you describe could help at least that but add the element of being in control. A helpful trait during depression. Thank you.

as my 50th birthday approached, and people started asking me what i wanted, i realized i didn't want anything. what i wanted was less. i started going thru bookshelves and filling bags with books that i would either never read or never read again. i did the same with cds. i posted a lot of them on amazon to sell (and i think i've made a few bucks, too!), and gave a lot to goodwill. i went thru my closet and brought probably half of the clothes to goodwill (where i'd gotten most of them from in the first place). not only did i feel good about the recycling/donating part, i felt good about the space i was creating. i told people that if they wanted to buy a gift for me, to find someone who needed stuff more than me, and give it to them.

my home is far from clutter-free. i live with other people, so i have to respect their stuff - i'd get rid of a lot more if it were just me. not sure if this fits with that you were writing about, but this is where it led me.

WHAT!!!  Throw out all of my treasures?  Very hard for me, but maybe I can invest in more shelving.  I think it is my bad habit of attaching meaning to objects that makes pitching out so hard... my father's old (as in useless) tools... my grandfather's old outboard motor (I have no boat)... stones pick up on long ago hikes so as to remember the day (not sure which goes with which anymore) and of course, my old shoes, with holes, that I might wear some day when I am doing something after which one must discard shoes (it could happen).

This is my way of saying you are right.  The clutter does make one feel always behind and in need of improvement.  These are very good ideas.

Gosh, my entire house (including appliances, etc) has come from yard sales for the past 10, yes ten, years.  I'm out of control here folks, and it's been really been getting to me for about five months.  I'm in a depression mode and I'm physically ill also.  I didn't know where to start.  This is the first article that actually tells me what to do through the entire process and why I should do it. 

I have many beautiful items, but I can't display them properly.  To be honest, my Biblical library rivals that of a seminary student. I have prints I haven't hung yet.  So, you give me hope.

I will put items in a couple of tubs in the garage so I can display back and forth.  I'm  going to take a picture of each item, print it, and lay it on top of the tub before closing it.  That way I don't have to rifle and (ouch!) break something really great.

Thanks for letting me freak.  I'll keep you posted as to my progress.  Be cool.

Do you know where I could find cookie cutters shaped like all 50 states?  I could use those someday.......  :~0

The clutter in my house has built up to the point that it causes problems in my relationships. It is to the point now, although I have a very livable house, (with clutter) I also have no relationships. It was easier to get rid of those than this huge collection of stuff.

  I'm not one who has old newspapers and empty milk jugs, but kewl vintage items. I'm slowly going through it all with my daughter, and purging.

These items would be better off in someone else's posession. Let them dust them everyday!

I'm not saying I'm ever going to be clutter-free. I'm saying that I'm trying to find security in who I am, instead of in what I've amassed throughout the years.

HELLO,

I LOVE THIS STORY! IT HAS BEEN VERY HELPFUL,AND EDUCATIONAL.YOU KNOW,I HAVE BEEN FEELING EVEN MORE DEPRESSED THEN I AM JUST LOOKING AT ALL THE CLUTTER IN MY HOUSE,ITS NOT MUCH AT ALL,BUT I AM A CLEAN FREAK,SO EVEN LIKE A PAPER ON THE FLOOR IRRITATES THE HELL OUT OF ME.ANYWAY,I HAVE BEEN REALLY BENT OUT OF SHAPE LATELY WITH MY DEPRESSION SO I HAVENT REALLY CLEANED. BUT AFTER READING YOUR ARTICLE IT HAS INSPIRED ME TO CLEAN MY HOUSE UP AGAIN.I HAVE NOTICED THAT WITH MY DEPRESSION NOW,I CANT REALLY SELF MOTIVATE MYSELF ANYMORE,ITS LIKE I NEED A LITTLE PUSH THEN ILL GET TO MY OBLIGATIONS.SO TODAY IM GOING TO START IN A CORNER OF MY LIVING ROOM WITH 4 BOXES ; ) THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR AWSOME INCOURGEMENTS,IT CAME JUST IN TIME!! !  I FEEL BETTER ALREADY ! THANX AGAIN CUTIE...

YOUR FRIEND,

ANGEL

Good day,

One of my dear understanding friends, Carol, sent me a link to your clutter story. You have Great suggestions! She has my best interests at heart. I found a way to declutter my junk mail which piles up to a 2 foot tall Tower of Pisa and finally one of my cats will knock it over so I have the mess to clean up. I take a clothes basket of it to the bedroom and sit and watch my weekly shows and go thru it piece by piece. I have 4 piles like your suggestion of 4 boxes: Shred, Put in magazine rack for later reading, Take to work to read on lunch break, and finally Put in recycling bin. This has helped me a lot to do this. My problem is letting the pile get to 3 feet high!!! When I grab the mail from the mailbox I do take my bills out and put them in the "to be paid" box in my living room so I can pay them and mail them. I  have decided I will get some of those neat bins and do the same piles like I do after the whole "tower" comes down only start each day to sort immediately when I have the mail in my hand. I do give away all my magazines after reading them. I used to save them and save them and save them.

I have also found a neat way to clear out or organize "stuff" in other rooms in my home. GET YOUR FRIENDS TO ASSIST WITH THE PROMISE OF DINNER LATER IN THE SAME DAY AS A TREAT FOR THEIR HELP!  It has worked for me. I do ask them to not tease me as we dig thru the "stuff". Although one of my friends has told me it is fun for him because it is like an archeological dig. He never knows what he will find! I did tell him he could keep any money he finds. So far he is $20 to the good. ha ha

When my friends came over to help me one day, we went thru 10 boxes of neatly stacked magazines that I had read but did not want to part with. So we put them in my vehicle and we took them to the local library and donated them all. Wow! They were so happy to have them even though they were older ones. I did find out that the Mililary will take magazines too for sending to the troops. They don't have to be current. Just be sure to black out or cut out your name and address on the magazines.

Thanks for letting me comment on your site. It is hard being an OCD Packrat. I come from a long line of Packrats, too.

Dear MM - Yes, you do have some great suggestions. What I find to be true is that I keep carrying around within me the stress, anxiety, shame and depression that project a dismal world of clutter, filth and plain wrongness into the innocent rooms of my house. And by filling up every space and creating piles that feel out of control, I am bringing my environment into perverse harmony with my inner state. So I like the idea of working from the outside in by de-cluttering and showing the inner demon that a better example can be set for my mental and emotional household.

That said, surely you jest by associating books with clutter. Isn't a major goal of clearing out spaces, in addition to mental health, to make room for more of these beautiful things? Happy book hunting!