Introduction & The Five Levels of Hoarding

Why A Clean Home Matters

Organization Trends

Your Spring Cleaning Guide

But What If I Have Kids?

When to Call in Backup

A clean environment plays a huge factor in our quality of life.

Keeping a clean, organized home is well worth all the physical, mental, emotional, and social benefits that come with it.

Physical Benefits

From sleep quality to infection control, cleanliness affects how well your body functions from day to day. Here are a few ways keeping an orderly environment can help you physically:

Reduced chance
of illness

Improved sleep

Reduced allergy and
asthma symptoms

Reduced chance of illness

Keeping a clean home reduces the risk of illness-causing pathogens being passed to residents of the home.

Food preparation areas should be sanitary, especially after handling raw meat.

Bathroom areas should be cleaned regularly, and animal waste should be taken care of to prevent disease.

Improved sleep

People with cluttered homes are more likely to experience insomnia.

It’s hard to know if it stems from increased stress levels, difficulty getting comfortable in a cluttered space, or from another cause, but cleaning up clutter should help you get a better night’s sleep.

Reduced allergy and asthma symptoms

Allergies and asthma attacks can be triggered by dust, pet hair and dander, and mold.

Keeping homes free of these triggers can improve allergy and asthma symptoms.

Mental Benefits

The state of your home can have profound effects on your mental state. A cluttered, disorganized space can stress and overwhelm us. Severely cluttered homes can also cause feelings of shame and anxiety. Here are a few ways keeping your home in order can help you function well mentally:

Improved focus and
productivity

Reduced stress

Sense of order

and control

Familiarity and
consistency

Improved creativity

Improved focus and productivity

A clean, uncluttered space helps our minds stay on task without distraction.

Keeping homes free of these triggers can improve allergy and asthma symptoms.

When we see more items in our line of sight, it can actually slow down our brain’s processing speed and make it more difficult to focus.

Reduced stress

When we constantly look around us and see work that needs to be done, it’s difficult to feel calm.

How can we relax when we’re surrounded by chaos? Maintaining a clean, organized space will create tranquility and peace-of-mind.

Sense of order and control

Setting your home in order can be empowering!

When you are able to make your space look and feel the way you want it to be, you feel a sense of accomplishment.

Familiarity and consistency

When your home is constantly in good condition, you can depend on it as a place to relax and feel at peace.

How can we relax when we’re surrounded by chaos? Maintaining a clean, organized space will create tranquility and peace-of-mind.

Improved creativity

Creativity needs margin and blank space to grow.

When your space is not distracting from your thought process, your brain can focus on new ideas.

Emotional Benefits

Just as tasks requiring deep thought can be difficult when our homes are chaotic, our emotions can also be hard to settle when our environment is in upheaval. Here are some emotional benefits to improving the cleanliness of your home:

A better mood

Increased
mindfulness

Better emotional

regulation

A better mood

When you’re in a clean, comfortable environment, you feel better emotionally.

Many studies show a relationship between messy homes and unhappiness.

Increased mindfulness

Not only does being in a clean, restful environment contribute to being better able to focus and be mindful, the act of cleaning itself actually offers an opportunity to practice mindfulness.

Being mindful of the task at hand can decrease feelings of anxiety and increase feelings of inspiration.

Better emotional regulation

Emotional regulation is the ability to respond to your emotions mindfully.

This skill can help you reframe negative emotions and cope with stress. When your home is less cluttered, you are better able to attend to your emotions and find peace.

Social Benefits

Your home doesn’t only affect you—it also has an effect on the people around you.

When your home is messy and disorganized, it can actually hinder your relationships.

Here are some ways cleaning and organizing can benefit you socially:

A better mood

Family can stay
with you

You don’t have to worry
about losing your home

Friends can visit

Cleaning up can create a welcoming space for you to spend time with those you care about.

When your home is messy and disorganized, it can be difficult, or even embarassing, to host others.

You may feel embarrassed about the state of your home, or your friends may not be comfortable there due to cleanliness issues, a lack of seating due to spaces being taken up by clutter, and so on.

Family can stay with you

When your home is clean and uncluttered, there is space for family to come and stay.

Even if you need to set up cots or sleeping bags to accommodate extra guests, they can still be comfortable with you. With a clean floor and stored belongings, this can become a reality.

You don’t have to worry about losing your home

In severe cases, disorganization and lack of cleanliness can lead to structural issues with your home.

Appliances may fall into disrepair and become hazardous, or the home’s structure can even be compromised by the weight of your belongings.

When your things are in order, there is no danger of needing to relocate.

However, when your things are in order, there is no danger of being forced to relocate. That stress is non-existent.

At a certain point, a health inspector could become involved.

Keeping a Clean, Uncluttered Space Improves Your Life

Everyone can improve the state of their homes—we all struggle to keep things clean and hang on to only the possessions we really need. However, when we take the necessary steps to tidy up and declutter, we can see benefits in many different areas of our lives: physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially.

Decluttering is in fashion!
In the next section, we’ll cover some strategies to help make your decluttering goals a reality.