Clutter and the Real World

Ever feel ashamed of your clutter?
Ever wish it would just all disappear over night and be gone once and for all?
Feel as though people are or would judge you if they knew about your clutter?

Good.

I can confirm that you are normal and living in the real world.

For some reason, admitting that we struggle with keeping the clutter under control and feel overwhelmed and stuck as a result is not the done thing.

Well I want you to know that it is the done thing as far as I am concerned.

It is perfectly normal to have clutter that is out of control or feels like it’s in control of us.

It is absolutely fine – and important – to admit that you are struggling with dealing with it and that you feel able to ask for help from someone who understands what it’s like to have clutter that’s out of control.

There is nothing wrong with asking for help from professionals who have the answers to your questions and more importantly have the resources that will help you get back control of your home and life.

I often make the analogy of clutter and cooking.

If we don’t have the skill of being able to cook we can easily get ready meals, takeaway or go to restaurants and no one need ever know that we can’t cook.

Yet if we can’t clear, control and organise our clutter, it’s not so easy to hide the fact that we don’t have the skill of clearing clutter.

We might be able to hide it for a while, but eventually it starts to spill out and become visible.

That’s when many people stop inviting friends and family into their home because of the shame and embarrassment they feel about the ‘lack of control’ they have over their clutter (N.B. It’s not a lack of control, it’s a lack of a skill).

Yet all that we need to do is learn a different way of doing the de-cluttering that will work.

And that’s what I do with my clients – I teach them and help them at a practical level to learn a different way of clearing, sorting, organising and controlling their clutter – in their homes, on the phone or when they buy the instant downloads on the website.

I teach and show them a different way of doing the de-cluttering to how they’ve done it before now.

I cover all the challenges they may face – feeling overwhelmed, not knowing where to start, keeping going when it feels like an endless task, seeing the positives when we’ve not achieved what we hoped to achieve.

I know from my own experience how frustrating, overwhelming, time consuming and depressing it can be when you’re trying to clear, control and organise your clutter and your home.

When I had my clutter I felt stuck with my life because I felt out of control of the clutter and my home, and friends and family just didn’t understand that it’s wasn’t just a tidy up that was required. I didn’t just need to ‘get on with it’ or ‘pull myself together’.

I felt very alone and lost with it all, which is why, when I had overcome my own clutter challenges, I set up the business to make sure that other people struggling with clutter could have the help and support that I wish I had.

Knowing you’re not alone with how you feel, what you experience and how it affects you can be a real comfort.

Imagine living in a museum, hospital or clinical laboratory where everything belongs in an exact place, not to be moved without good reason, and certainly always returned to the exact same place.

What would that be like?

Generally museums and clinical laboratories have few signs of life when the visitors leave, and they require many people and lots of procedures to ensure that they stay the way they are and are not relaxing places to be for long periods of time.

But let’s be honest – few people do, or want to live like that (although most people know of someone whose home is immaculate, pristine but not a welcoming or relaxing place to be), and if you’re reading this I suspect that you are not, nor want to be living in a museum or laboratory style home!

They take a huge amount of time and energy to maintain.

The majority of us live in the real world where life is busy, time is short, it’s hard to focus on just one thing at a time and clearing the clutter in a given room or space is a permanent item on the ‘to-do list’.

It never quite reaches the high priority status equal to that of:

• going to work
• paying the bills
• doing the washing
• ironing
• household chores
• entertaining the kids
• food shopping
• looking after poorly kids or relatives
• seeing friends and family

…..the list is endless.

Most people want to feel comfortable and be able to relax in their homes, and anyone who has children, pets, hobbies, friends or jobs is going to have some clutter somewhere in their home.

Once you can accept that some clutter is normal then you can make progress.

Clutter only becomes a problem when it gets out of control and hinders or prevents you from being able to get on with living and enjoying your home and your life.

It may be time to consider clearing your clutter if it is;

• making you feel uncomfortable in your own home
• causing tension with family or friends
• is something you think about / worry about on a daily basis
• getting in the way of you having friends and family visit or come to stay
• has become a discussion topic with others

…….but most importantly is recognized by YOU – not others – as something that’s out of control.

The key to clearing and controlling your clutter is to find a level of clutter which is comfortable to live with, plus establish a way of controlling it which doesn’t require ongoing effort, time or money.

If you’re uncomfortable with your clutter then get in touch with me NOW!