A Cluttered Home Equals A Cluttered Life
- You make to-do lists that don’t get done. You try everything you can think of from time blocking to meditation, but your life still feels chaotic.
- You start new workout routines and commit to clean eating, yet after two weeks you find your self sliding back into old habits.
- You try to get into cleaning routines, but they don’t stick. You feel overwhelmed by your home and don’t know how or where to start in regaining control.
- Why can’t you just get motivated and get it all done?
- Because when your life is cluttered it’s hard to find the motivation to declutter your home, and, yet, when your home is cluttered it’s hard to organize your life.
What’s the solution? Declutter your home and your life at the same time.
What I’ve Learned about the Importance of Decluttering Your Home
Through nearly 20 years of work in psychology as a therapist and life coach I have dedicated myself to empowering women to live their most authentic and joyful lives. Over time, I have seen the overwhelm women face day to day and knew there had to be something we were all missing. That’s when I developed Soulful Space, a life coaching system focused on integrating your mind, body, soul, and space to create that life you deserve.
Yes, I said “space.”
Mind, body, and soul are a great start, but I discovered the missing ingredient was the space we live and work in. Let’s face it, women tend to be the ones in most households doing the lion’s share of the housework. So, when our castles are in cluttered chaos it’s no wonder our minds are, too.
According to a Cornell University study from 2016, stress triggered by clutter may also trigger coping and avoidance strategies, like eating junk food, oversleeping or binge-watching Netflix. I teach women the difference between what is selfish and what is self-care. I, like so many others, was raised with messages that teach women to value the care of others over our own and now it is time for a change.
My Story: Declutter My House, Declutter My Life
I never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do or haven’t already done myself. That includes integrating self-care and home-care. Let me tell you a little about myself to help explain.
I could give you the long version of my life story that starts with “I was born in 1974 to two alt-culture parents living on a small farm in eastern Michigan…” but that would get pretty long.
So, I’ll fast forward to the summer of 2017 when I woke up one morning and couldn’t stop crying. Seriously, it was frightening. The tears wouldn’t stop. What was happening to me!?
Within two hours I had restarted my own personal therapy. Within eight months I had begun yoga teacher training.
What happened that morning? I’ll never really know, other than the build-up of my own overwhelm and lack of self-care regardless of how together I looked to everyone else on the outside.
Therapy got me settled back in, yoga opened me up.
I had been practicing yoga for a decade at that point, but this was the first time I had been exposed to the philosophy of yoga; and it changed my life. I finally had that how-to guide for life that we’re all looking for and I ran with it.
I worked on myself, my boundaries and my self-care, getting one step closer to who I wanted to be with each new challenge.
Then, in February 2019 I found myself sitting at dinner with my husband (who is patiently supportive of all my decluttering and yoga shenanigans) and glared around at our kitchen with disgust.
“What is wrong with you?” asked my sweet redhead.
“I hate all this fucking shit!” I spat out.
Wise man that he is, he did not comment further.
A study out of Princeton University’s Neuroscience Institute found people were more productive, less irritable and less distracted in a clutter-free space.
Over the next three months I would touch about 90% of our belongings and decluttered about 35% of them out of the house.
With each decluttered and file-folded clothes drawer I felt lighter.
With each torn apart, decluttered and systematized closet I felt greater control.
Over those months I did a ton of research, too.
According to The National Association of Productivity and Organizing (NAPO), 80% of the things people keep when they “declutter” are never used.
I read about feng shui, and cleaning routines. I watched YouTube videos on decluttering, tidying, life and cleaning hacks, and mixed it up with cat videos.
At the end of those three months I stepped back from my new morning routine of dishes and tidying, and smiled. I now loved my kitchen. That was when it hit me:
Caring for your home is self-care.
What I Want for You
- I want you to know you are perfect just as you are.
- I want you to know you can have the life you want.
- I want you to know you can have the home you want.
- I want you to know you’re going to have to work for it.
In my own life, didn’t go from life-long slob to decluttering expert in one day. I didn’t go from lying to myself about how “fine” I am to really being fine in one day. I worked at it and so will you.
Like alcoholics, drug addicts and over-eaters, clutter addicts use their addiction to avoid reality, to keep other people and a world in which they’ve lost trust at a distance.
I want to empower you and teach you the value of decluttering your mind, body, and soul while supporting you in developing effective systems in your home, to take the chaos out of everyday life.
Through this integrative method, I address all areas to dissolve my clients’ barriers, find their truth, and create the home and life they have always wanted. If we only focused on one area, like nutrition, you might wonder why you’re still depressed. If we only focused on decluttering your home, you might wonder why you still don’t feel a sense of purpose in life.
An international retailer’s survey found that 31% of its customers were more satisfied after clearing out their closets than they were after sex. (New York Times)
You Can Do This!
Yes, you can do this. I’ll do it with you. You are not alone. You don’t have to prove how strong you are by refusing to ask for help.
By giving yourself the gift of taking care of your mental health, physical health, spiritual health, and home health all together, you will make your life so much easier!
According to research by the National Soap and Detergent Association, getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework.
Step-by-step you can identify your goals, what gets in the way of those goals, and you can identify your solutions. You will feel more in control of your life, and therefore less anxious. You will feel more pride in yourself, and therefore less depressed.
What Do You Do Next to Declutter Your Home
Now it’s time to take action.
Start by writing down your goals for yourself. All of them.
Four categories of Goals:
- Mind (thoughts, opinions, learning, etc.)
- Body (physical health, whatever that means to you)
- Soul (the things that feed your soul)
- Space (your home, office, environment, etc).
Pick one goal and decide what has to happen first.
Do that. Once you’ve done that decide what comes next. Do that. Repeat.
Getting overwhelmed? That’s okay. It’s normal, actually. That’s also where I come in.
With my knowledge of decluttering and organization, health and wellness, yoga and yogic philosophy I help overwhelmed women just like you declutter their lives and homes to create the joyful lives they deserve.
So, I ask, are you ready for your joyful life?
Kate Evans is the owner of Soulful Space, a virtual life coaching and decluttering company. Kate helps overwhelmed women declutter their lives and homes. She has worked in the field of psychology since 2004, is an RYT-200 certified yoga teacher, and a writer currently working on a book bringing self-help and decluttering together for lasting change. To learn more about Kate, the work she does, and to read her weekly blog for your mind, body, soul, and space, go to www.soulfulspacecoaching.com. Kate can also be found on Instagram and Facebook @soulfulspace.coaching.