The Magic of Tidying!

How many of you have a big pile of clothes somewhere in your house?

How many of you have your inbox with 100s or maybe 1000s of unread email?

How many of you have this unstoppable random negative thoughts inside your mind?

Some of you might be going through all those scenarios. Some of you might be going through some other similar situations. What is common in all these?

Clutter!!!

 According to Barbara Hemphill, an Irish writer, "Clutter is no more than postponed decisions."

So true, isn't it?

You postpone to fold clothes; it's clutter in your closet. 

You postpone to read email; it's clutter on your computer.

You postpone to forgive someone; it's clutter in your mind. 

 All of these will impact your day to day life negatively.

 I used to be this cranky, lazy person until last year. I would either pick up fights with my husband over silly reasons or lie on the bed watching videos on how to be productive. My health, along with my husband's, started deteriorating, and he also became lazy. In the beginning of this year, I picked up cleaning our home as part of my New Year resolution. To my surprise, this time, I ended up organizing the whole house. The best part is my life turned upside down after this. 

When you finally clear all that junk, you start seeing proven benefits. 

1.  Saves time - you know what you have, and as you know where they are, you don't have to waste time finding things.

2.  Improves Physical and Mental health – obviously, the cleaner the home, the healthier the family. However, creating an order also boosts mood and self-esteem. 

3.  Improves your relationships – Those who ever lived with another human being, be it your parents, husband, friends, or roommates, would have definitely had a fight over the mess lying around the house. No clutter, no fights :P 

4.  Become more productive and creative – Now that you have time, good mood, good health, and healthy relationships, you can focus More Clearly on Your Goals, and thus you become more productive.

 Let's see how I, from a couch potato, became an eager beaver just by decluttering.

As humans, we tend to collect things or refuse to let go of things either due to emotions attached to it or paid a lot of money. When this collection and procrastination go hand in hand, things start piling up. 

Let me guess what you are thinking. Even if you clean once, the clutter is going to make a re-entry sooner or later. 

I have a tried and tested solution for that. The method I used is the KonMari method of cleaning invented by a Japanese organizing expert Marie Kondo. 

I believe this method is more effective due to 3 reasons.

1.  It centers on discarding items

2.  It's about mindset

3.  It stresses tidying all at once rather than in small steps

 

Let me take you through the steps involved in this method,

1.  Tidy all at once – Tidying only a bit never works as the clutter comes back. Give yourself a couple of days or weekends but cover full space.

2.  Tidy by category, not location, and Follow the right order, i.e., Clothes first, then the books, next the papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos/memories.

3.  Finish letting go first – 

   a. Take out all the items in the category and make a big giant pile. For example, when you are tidying up clothes, bring out all clothes you have from the closet and make a pile on the bed. That way, you know how much extra you have.

    b. Then hold each item and ask yourself, "If it sparks Joy." Only keep the thing which makes you happy and discard or donate others.

4.  After you've finished discarding, store all items of the same type in the same place. And most importantly, have a dedicated place for every single thing.

5.  To make this method more effective, Marie Kondo suggests making each family member, including kids, make decisions for their stuff. Please do not force your decision on them. 

You can apply the above steps to anything, be it physical, digital, or mental clutter. In case of digital clutter, you have a pile of emails. Set a day aside and go through each email and keep only required emails in specific folders. Delete and unsubscribe from the emails you are no longer interested in. In case of mental clutter, write down all those negative thoughts you have in mind in a piece of paper and discard it. Start noting the thoughts which make you happy, in a journal, or in a digital diary daily. 

It's been months now that I have decluttered and organized my home, and still, it's intact. This is a first in my life, and trust me, I am a messy person. 

So, stop procrastinating, start tidying, and the see the magic happen!