A cluttered home can cause depression. Depression can lead to a cluttered home. It is a vicious cycle which needs to be stopped.

Based on recent studies, the stress levels of many homeowners rise because of the mess in their household. This is especially true for women; however, men don’t get the same effect. Unfortunately, many homeowners find it much easier to let their home get cluttered than keeping it organized and clean. For that reason, a lot of individuals don’t even bother cleaning their mess and maintaining their home; however, if you want to avoid sinking into the chain of clutter and depression, you need to start cleaning up.

How Does Clutter Affect Your Life?

A cluttered home can easily make you feel depressed from merely looking at the amount of stuff you have. If you are unable to control the mess before it gets out of hand, you will eventually lose social connections. You will be too ashamed and embarrassed to have people visit you. It can also lead to relationship problems with your spouse or with your children. The overwhelming frustration you feel every time you think about cleaning your house might keep you in this vicious cycle.

Clutter can affect your mental health as well as your physical health. It can wreak havoc in your life and keep you off-kilter. The following are a few of the consequences of living in a cluttered home.

You Feel Tired Most Of The Time: A dirty and messy home is a visual and psychic drain. All the stuff scattered around your home will make you feel tired. This is due to the fact that you are subconsciously reminded of all the work that still needs to be done in your home.

You Feel Hopeless: When your house looks like a tornado just went through it, you will feel hopeless. This sense of hopelessness will eventually lead to depression. You need to understand that having too much stuff and junk can be overwhelming; thus, you won’t be able to handle it all.

You Feel Out Of Control: When clutter gets out of hand, it will take control of your life. You may think that the mess will eventually go away, but if you do not start getting rid of them, by donating, throwing, or storing them away, you will have a house full of junk in no time.

How To Start Decluttering Your Life

Although it may seem like an overwhelming endeavor, it is still possible to get out of the brutal cycle between clutter and depression. It is possible to get rid of your mountainous piles of mess and bring order back into your life.

Start With A Small Goal: Setting a small goal will help you stay on track without overwhelming you with the amount of things that still needs to get done. As a tip, you can start decluttering on a smaller area or room in your house. Set a goal for what you want to achieve at the end of the day.

Clean One Stack At A Time: Instead of focusing your energy into cleaning the entire room, you might want to focus on a single stack of clutter. Go through every item in that stack and make a decision- whether to throw it away, donate it, or put it in storage. Keep in mind that you must continue to work on that pile of mess before you start working on another one.

Decide What You Want To Do: If you have items which are really precious to you and have sentimental value, you can put them into storage. There are storage facilities that offer high quality and secured storage units where you can keep precious items. By keeping the items in another location, you can free up some space in your home without throwing away what is most important to you. Keep in mind that you must only put the items in storage if they are relevant and important. If the items are useless, broken, or haven’t been used for many years, they must be thrown out or donated.

Ask For Help: You cannot possibly deal with all the clutter in your house alone; thus, you need to ask for help. Your family, relatives, and friends can all pitch in and help you declutter your household. You can even ask a professional organizer to help keep you on track. In addition, it is also advisable to seek professional help to address the root cause of your depression to avoid falling back to the vicious cycle.

Keep in mind that clutter doesn’t have to take control of your life. You and your family deserve to live in a clean, sanitary, and stress-free home environment. Keeping your home free from clutter will significantly improve your emotional, mental and physical health.

Citations:

• Image courtesy of marin/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author:  Kris Hopkins. She is a registered nurse who aims to raise awareness regarding the connection between clutter and depression. She recommends the use of self storage from US Storage Centers to help keep clutter at home to a minimum.