Clutter and Mental Health: The Psychological Impact of a Disorganized Space

In today’s episode I explore the unseen effects of clutter on our minds and overall well-being. We’ve all been there – a cluttered desk, an overflowing wardrobe, or a kitchen counter laden with gadgets. It might seem like just an eyesore, but it runs much deeper than that.

Tune in to discover how to transform your physical environment to enhance your mental well-being and foster joy in your everyday life!

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Transcript

Hayley Forster [00:00:00]:

Hello and welcome back to the Simple Joy Show. I’m Hayley Forster, your guide on the journey to choosing calm over chaos. Today, we’re diving into a topic that is really close to my heart and what is the main driver for why I do what I do, and that is the psychological impact of a disorganized space. We’re going to explore how clutter affects our stress levels, our moods, and our general overall mental. When we talk about clutter, we often focus on the physical inconvenience it causes.

Hayley Forster [00:01:12]:

But actually, clutter goes beyond just being a visual nuisance that you can see out the corner of your eye, and it significantly can affect our mental health. There was a study published a few years ago by the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and that actually found that people who described their home as cluttered or perhaps needing work doing, they had higher levels of cortisol, which is the main stress hormone. And essentially, when our surroundings are chaotic, there’s clutter everywhere, it sends a signal to our brain that our work’s never done, and that then results in us feeling overwhelmed and constant pressure that we need to be doing doing to get on top of it. Clutter can also negatively impact our mood and our self esteem as well. And if you think about it, your cluttered disorganized space is going to make you feel out of control. It’s going to make you feel that you’re not doing good enough. And then that can then lead to feelings of perhaps guilt and embarrassment about not being able to keep on top of your home.

Hayley Forster [00:02:14]:

And in some extreme cases, long term exposure to a cluttered environment can even contribute to some mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety, which is basically where I ended up. Clutter can also impair our cognitive function, so that is things like losing focus and being distracted all the time, and I can definitely resonate with that. That was definitely me a few years ago. But the good news is all of this sounds quite negative, but where decluttering comes in is it can really help support you on getting those mental health benefits and reducing those negative emotions and those negative cognitive impacts that it has. A good few years ago now, decluttering was just really seen as a bit of a spring cleaning exercise that you would do a couple of times a year, but in the past decade, it’s actually really come into its own and it’s evolved into more of a way of life. And that really is because of the popularity of things that you may have seen in the media. So there’s organizing experts out there that if you’ve probably heard of Marie Kondo, the rise of minimalism in general is a lifestyle as well. If you think about the minimalists, they’ve got documentaries on Netflix.

Hayley Forster [00:03:29]:

There’s get organized on Netflix as well. Some great documentaries on Netflix, which you can imagine. I get lost. Even if you’re in the UK. On the BBC, there’s the Stacey Solomon Show, sort your life out, which is great. I really recommend that. But the benefits of decluttering, really, and I’ve said this multiple times and I will keep on saying it, it goes far beyond creating just an aesthetically pleasing place to live. By removing all of those excess items from your home, you’re really reducing the amount of stimuli that your brain’s got to process and that then obviously leads to improved focus, decreased stress levels, all of that good stuff.

Hayley Forster [00:04:16]:

Plus, it also can create a sense of control and accomplishment and that then improves our mood and self esteem. And I’m just going to talk about those in a little bit more detail today, just so you can really understand and appreciate the benefits that decluttering can give you on your mental health. So the big one, obviously, is reduction in anxiety and stress. And as I said earlier, a cluttered space, it’s like a constant reminder of things that need to be done. And obviously, if you feel like your home and the stuff inside of it, your calendar is out of control, that is going to be particularly stressful for you. But by decluttering, you’re eliminating those reminders and in turn, you’re then creating a much more peaceful environment that you can relax in. And by taking away clutter from your home, it’s even just one piece, that’s one less piece of mental clutter that you need to think about or perhaps that you need to take care of or you need to look for or keep track of.

Hayley Forster [00:05:25]:

Like all of those daily things that we just need to do to get by. And that then means that you’ve got less work, you’ve got less stress in your life related to the stuff that you own, and it’s not causing you that stress and anxiety that it normally would. And then in turn, your home is easier to manage as well. It’s easier to maintain, and you’re likely going to feel much happier at home. I mean, I’m much more relaxed in my house now than I ever have been because I know I’ve got those systems in place to keep my house in good nick when I need it. And yes, I’ve got young children, I’ve got pets. My house can be quite messy at times, but I know that in the space of 5-10 minutes, I can get it back in order again. And it’s not going to go back into the old way that I used to live.

Hayley Forster [00:06:16]:

And by living in an area, in a space when you’re surrounded by things that you value, by your favorite things that you look around and everything is something that you either use or you love or just gives you good feelings, gives you those feelings of joy, being at home becomes a place you enjoy. In the past, before I’ve decluttered, and I know a lot of my clients are like this as well, is that they would not feel relaxed at home. They would feel tense, they would feel anxious, they would be sitting, looking around and thinking about all the stuff that they needed to do and that would make them feel bad. But now you can sit in a home that is much more relaxed and much more serene, and you can actually switch off when you come home from work, and it can feel like a bit of a serene haven for you. And when you enjoy your home, when you enjoy the things that are in it, it’s easier for you to feel not only just happier in your home, but in your life in general. The next one is improved focus. So living and working in cluttered environments, so that can be either your home or your office space, depending on where you work. Living in those cluttered spaces is really distracting.

Hayley Forster [00:07:35]:

And it’s because the visual noise that’s around you is taking your attention. And that then makes it really challenging for you to focus on any of the tasks that you’ve got at hand. But by decluttering, what you’re doing is you’re essentially removing that unnecessary noise that’s around you. And that in turn, then enhances your concentration and your productivity, which is always a good thing. But there’s a study at Princeton University Neuroscience Institute that found that our brains generally prefer order. I know mine definitely does. But constant visual reminders of that clutter, that disorganization, that drains your cognitive resources that I mentioned earlier, and that in turn, reduces your ability to focus.

Hayley Forster [00:08:28]:

And every misplaced item in your home, every item that’s not where it should be or is cluttering, your corridors, your desks, anything like that, that’s going to pull your attention from what you’re trying to focus on. And at a cluttered space, at the end of the day, we all know it, it’s visually calming and it’s also less distracting. So you’re going to be able to concentrate much better at what you’re doing. Another benefit is having a sense of achievement and control. And if you listen to the first episode of this podcast, you’ll know that a sense of control is something that I’ve strived for and something that I have wanted since I was a little girl. But decluttering can give you that. It can give you a sense of achievement and control and that then boosts your self esteem and your mood. And that’s because decluttering actually involves a lot of decision making, a lot of decision making in the moment, a lot of problem solving.

Hayley Forster [00:09:27]:

And both of those things can be really empowering. And when we start to see the results of those decisions that we’ve made in our decluttering efforts, we can feel quite successful, we can feel quite proud. And just feeling a sense of pride in what you have been able to do that improves our overall mental well being and our mental health, knowing that actually I can make decisions, I can take action. And those decisions and those actions that I have taken have ended up to be really positive. Next benefit I want to touch on is having more mindfulness in your day. And the active decluttering in itself actually is a bit of a mindful practice because you’re sorting through items, you’re deciding what to keep, you’re deciding what to let go of. And you’re really bringing attention to yourself in the moment to your possessions and the emotional attachment that you’ve got to them. And that really allows us to question what truly adds value to our life and what doesn’t.

Hayley Forster [00:10:36]:

Otherwise you don’t necessarily think about that. So that sense of intentionality, you’re practicing it through the act of decluttering, but that then extends to other areas of your life. And if you’re much more intentional, you’re much more mindful, you’re much more conscious about how you’re living and how you’re consuming and you often start to feel more appreciation and more gratitude and contentment. That big word again I mentioned in the last episode. Just feeling content with the life that you have and the things that are left in your home because those are the things that you use, the things that you love and the things that you enjoy most of all. Another benefit, which is one of my favorite ones, is improved sleep. And anyone who knows me knows that I love my sleep. If I could sleep 12 hours a day, I definitely would.

Hayley Forster [00:11:33]:

But yeah, I’ve got kids, I’ve got animals. For some reason they want me to wake up every morning. But I love sleep. I always have, since I was a little baby. My mam and dad used to tell me when I was little, I was a little angel when I was a baby because I used to just sleep all the time, which was amazing. Unfortunately, neither of my children did. But hey, who take after my husband? What can I say? But then it’s why I call myself the lazy minimalist. At the end of the day, the big reason why I have a lot of systems and processes and try to keep my home and my life organized is because I’m quite lazy.

Hayley Forster [00:12:10]:

I don’t want to be spending hours during the week tidying and cleaning my home. I don’t want to be doing that. I’d rather just be sitting down and relax and being with my family and potentially having a nap. But just as a cluttered workspace, affects your focus, a cluttered sleeping area. So in your bedroom, that really impacts the quality of your sleep. There was a survey by the Sleep Foundation that found that people who make their beds every morning are actually around 20% more likely to report a better night’s sleep. So whenever I wake up in the morning, I always like to give my bed a little bit of a shake, sort it out, because if I get a good night’s sleep, I’m much happier. But basically what that is, is that if you’ve got a clean, you’ve got a clear space around you that then signals to your brain that it’s time to rest, it’s time to relax.

Hayley Forster [00:13:10]:

And that’s not just for the bedroom, as I mentioned earlier, by having a clutter free, clear home, it’s given again the signals to your brain that it’s time to relax. So you feel more relaxed in your home, but much more important in the bedroom. That’s why you’re wanting to get a more restful, a more restorative sleep, so you can wake up the next morning feeling wonderful. And for those of you who don’t know, I’ve actually got M.E so I caught COVID very early on in 2020 and since then I’ve had chronic fatigue syndrome. I’ve always been like that. But potentially why it’s more important to me now to get a good night’s sleep, even though necessarily it doesn’t make me feel that much better. It all contributes to me having a good day, because there’s some days if I don’t get a good night’s sleep that ruins me. I can’t necessarily move very much, can’t do much.

Hayley Forster [00:14:11]:

So sleep is really important for me to be able to just get by on my normal daily activities. But as I say, there is a link between clutter and poor sleep quality. So having a clutter free bedroom really reduces the potential for you having a bad night’s sleep. And that then can help you get a much better quality of sleep and you can wake up feeling fresh as a daisy. Another benefit which people wouldn’t necessarily think about is that decluttering can encourage some healthy relationships. And that’s because when you’ve got less clutter around you, you’ve got less distractions, as I mentioned earlier, that are then competing for your time, your energy, your attention. And you can be more present in the moment with the people that you love, your family and the relationships. Then if you’re more present, they’ve got the opportunity to flourish more, you can give more time to them, you can give more attention to them, and you can be much more present with them when you are with them.

Hayley Forster [00:15:26]:

Because there’s plenty of times in the past when I would be like, oh, I can’t read a book, I need to wash the dishes, or I need to do this and I need to do that. But because my home is much more clutter free, it’s much more manageable, it’s quicker to do the general day to day activities that then I’ve got much more free time, I’ve got much more space. So I can spend more time and attention on my children and have that real quality time where we just sit and we talk to each other, read, and we might watch a little short together and talk about it and an extension of that as well. It’s not necessarily just the relationships with the people that live in your home. If you’re living in a home that you feel proud of, instead of you feeling embarrassed, it’s a mess, you’re trying to hide it. And in those instances, you might be not wanting people to come over to your house because you’re like, oh God, my house is a mess, please don’t come round, I don’t want you to see it. You will try and get away from those situations. But if you’re feeling proud of your house, you’re feeling confident about your house, you feel really calm in it.

Hayley Forster [00:16:32]:

You’re going to be quite happy to welcome your extended family and your friends into your home. And that then deepens those relationships as well. Because again, you’re spending more quality time and attention with them. And last but not least, one of my favorite benefits of decluttering, in addition to the sleep, of course, is that clearing clutter just feels good, doesn’t it? I mean, for any of you out there that have done it, it feels good to get rid of stuff, it feels energizing and make those decisions just in the moment. Yes, no, maybe so let’s get it out of my life, get it out of my cupboards. And it’s getting rid of the stuff that you don’t use, the things that you don’t need, the things that you don’t love or even like. It’s about clearing the clutter, getting things done and making your home somewhere where you like being there’s nothing worse than coming home from a day at work and you then just feel stressed out by your home. You want to come home and just feel relaxed and calm and contented and that is something that the decluttering can give you.

Hayley Forster [00:17:42]:

And just remember, your physical environment does play a big role in your mental health. People might not necessarily go to that immediately. It’s not the first thought when you start thinking about your mental health. You might be thinking about perhaps things that are going on at work, relationships, it could be things that you’ve got going on in your life that you have no control over. But actually, it does play a very big part of it because those things that I’ve just mentioned, they happen. That’s life. A lot of things we can’t control. But by being in more in control of your physical environment around you, it allows you to then be able to process the things that necessarily you don’t have control of.

Hayley Forster [00:18:31]:

It allows you to understand what to do, how to manage those things, and it just becomes much more of a well oiled machine. And as this podcast episode has shown you, a clutter free space is going to lead to a clutter free mind. Yes, it’s going to look nice and it makes your home look better, but that’s not the main driver for me. It’s about leading into a clutter free mind and about improving your mental health. So if you do find yourself struggling with your mental health at the moment, really consider how your environment is playing into that and start just small, start looking at things you can declutter in your home. Thank you for joining me today on the Simple Joy show. I hope this has been of interest to you, but until next time, stay simple, stay joyful. And remember, I will say it again, a calm space will create a calm mind.