Yes, Clutter Stress Is A Thing
BY BETHANY HEITMAN
In October of 2020, I was nearly 8 months pregnant when my husband and I packed up our small Brooklyn apartment and moved to a suburb 30-minutes outside of the city. I was excited about our big, beautiful new house but also sad to leave the city that I had lived in for 20 years. Plus, the fatigue caused by being in my third trimester was intense. So, my only goal as I unpacked was to put things away as quickly as possible so I could get off my feet and get used to our new home.
Generally, this approach was fine—except for in the kitchen. Even as I unpacked, I knew where I was placing things wasn’t ideal. But, I reasoned that as I got to know our home better, I could always reorganize. Oh, how silly I was. Fast forward a few months and I was a first-time mom, trying to wrangle a newborn and a busy work schedule. What started as a slightly disorganized kitchen turned into a total disaster. Bottles were shoved next to coffee cups in a too-crowded cupboard, our dog’s dry food sat out on the counter because there was nowhere else for it and our food pantry was overflowing.
Photo by Jason Leung
For nearly a year and a half, everytime I went into my kitchen to prepare a meal or empty the dishwasher, I felt my blood pressure spike.
I’m typically a neat and organized person. My husband jokes that he can always tell when I’m stressed because I start cleaning—a clean space automatically lowers my anxiety. Unfortunately, the busyness of my new life meant I could not devote an entire weekend to reorganizing my space. Finally, in a fit of pure desperation, I called a professional organizer.
Within a week, my kitchen had been transformed into a work of art. My cabinets were reorganized in ways that made more sense. For example, our coffee mugs now sat in the cupboard closest to our coffee maker and the condiments we used frequently were on lower shelves in the pantry, while my nearly never used baking ingredients were relegated to the higher up spaces.
My organized kitchen certainly made my life easier, but it did more than that. The clutter I saw every day somehow had made its way into my head. When I’d have to search through random drawers to locate a bib for my daughter, it reminded me just how out of control my life felt as a new mom and I’d find myself breaking down into tears as I scrambled her eggs.
As it turns out, there’s science to back up the way I felt.
Studies have found that clutter can affect anxiety levels, our sleep and our ability to focus. In a study from 2011, neuroscientists found that clearing clutter from home and work environments resulted in a better ability to focus and process info. It also led to an increase in productivity.
Sold on the benefits? Here are a few tips that can help you declutter different areas of your life:
Consider the in/out rule. If you buy a new pair of shoes, you’ve got to get rid of a pair you no longer wear or need. This can help you avoid accumulating too much stuff.
Every item should have a home. This may seem obvious, but it’s really at the core of all organization. Everything you own should have a place—and no, in a heap on your living room table doesn’t count.
Use labels wherever you can. In my kitchen, everything is now labeled. So, open a cabinet and you’ll find a shelf that says sauces and another one that says pasta and grains. When you label things, it helps remind you where they go.
Overwhelmed by the prospect of organizing? Try the Pomodoro Method. It’s a time management technique developed by a man named Francesco Cirillo. Basically, you set a timer and do a task for 25 minutes before giving yourself a short break and then setting the timer for another 25 minutes. The idea is that by breaking things up into short intervals, you’re less likely to procrastinate. This technique can be used for just about any task you have to do—whether it be organizing your home or getting work done.
Bethany Heitman, Contributer
P.S. Remember that no matter what you're going through right now, you don't have to do it alone! There are others like you in our community, where we interact on a daily basis, fight our demons, share our victories, and watch over each other as friends and accountability partners.
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