Clutter is the word used to refer to the scattered and disordered unnecessary things which can impede your movement and yet you keep them. But not all clutter are trash. Sometimes it is something sentimental from the past or aspirational to the future. At other times it could be something useful which you have no place to put it in. And occasionally it could be something you bought on sale as an opportunity but never used it really. Below are a few tips to take care of your clutter :

A Lot of Things

If closets are full and desk is covered with papers and slips , what you need is some organizing and tidying up to make it neat. This will make it look spacious to you. A little bit of chaos is ok but it has many negative aspects that can be damaging

Chaotic Mess = Stress

It is important for people in order to be effective to know exactly where the things are so they can grab glasses, keys and other things quickly and go on for the day. It is time saving and annoyance shielding. Studies showed that women with cluttered houses have higher levels of cortisol , the stress hormone , in their blood all the day through, while lower levels were noticed in those who reported well-organized houses and living spaces.

It Gets Hard

Don’t delay tidying up your place, it can get harder with time to organize. According to research, people in their 50s with a lot of clutter are more likely to delay making decisions about their messy rooms and desks. And those accumulating piles of stuff decrease satisfaction with life according to studies.

Dividing Attention

Clutter makes it that many things in front of you compete for your attention and your focus is divided. Being around a lot of scattered disorganized stuff makes it hard for the brain to concentrate. It is even harder for people suffering from ADHD. These category of people may need some coach to help them restore some order for their places.

Dust Collectors

Some people call the small ornaments “collectors of dust” and this is not without a reason. When there are a lot of stuff, cleaning becomes difficult to achieve. If you are allergic to dust or pollens, things get even worse. You have to consider decluttering then, so you can reduce the rate of allergic symptoms like sneezing, hay fever and runny nose or even serious ones like an acute attack of asthma.

Loneliness

When your house is neat, it feels living. Guests also will like it. But not a cluttered one. You may even hesitate to invite people home if it is messy. That causes embarrassment and loneliness. If you continue shutting people out you may become more lonely and sad. People with hoarding disorder are more likely to have comorbid depression and this could be a contributing factor.

Stumbles and Trips

A lot of things in your way around the house increases the risk for falls and slips. A floor full of scattered things, clothing, boxes and heaps makes it more probable for you to fall and injure yourself. Stuffed shelves with ornaments, books, and some furniture even can pose a risk of something falling on your head. Elderly people in the house are particularly at risk of falling and having fractures of hips and other bones, especially the notorious neck of femur fracture.

Working Memory

According to some researchers, some people who live in a cluttered surroundings have poorer working memory than their counterparts living in neat and organized environment. They think this is because the brain capacity for at-the-moment memory is limited and the brain is wired to be capable of keeping track of only a few items at a time. So short term memory becomes overwhelmed when there are a lot of things to attract attention.

Clutter Fires

Clutter, specially papers and any flammable things, can put the house at the risk of easily catching fire. It can happen in the usual ways. Ways that will not result in a fire were there no such clutter; like cooking oil flares up in flames or a burner catches the towel edge. Clutter will cause the fire, make it difficult for you to get out in time, and impede the movement and effectiveness of fire fighters.

Obesity

Clutter is associated in some instances with a psychological need for hoarding and storing things and people with this need tend to eat more and gain more weight. In some studies it was found out that body mass index is positively correlated with hoarding and binge eating.

Sleeplessness

Hoarding disorder is also found to be correlated with insomnia. The association is not well understood and it maybe linked to a common underlying mechanism. But sleep is necessary for insightful thinking and proper decision making. If you are in lack of sleep, you will make bad decisions, including hoarding more unnecessary stuff

What To Do?

Some portion of your clutter is useful but has no place for its own. The best way to handle them is to store them in clearly labeled plastic containers. Examples of these items include: New books still to read, Seasonal things you had on sale, Things for gift-giving in the future.

Some clutter is only trash, donate it or get rid of it. Examples include Old clothes, Expired foods, Magazines, Newspapers, Junk mail, Clothes needing repair, and Old broken eyeglasses, etcetera.

Some of your clutter has come as a good bargain. You stumbled over a good sale and bought it. But you never really needed it. Consider gifting it to some one, donating it to some one who needs it, or even selling it. Just don’t keep it as a clutter

Don’t buy things in bulk in order to feel safe, but only what you need for a specific period of time.

If the cluttered things are sentimental traces of your past, get over them again. Decide what to keep and how to store it neatly. get rid of things you will never need, take pictures of somethings you need to keep a memory of, and donate things you can dispense of.