Cultivate a gratitude practice to make letting go easier.
One way to practice gratitude is to make an intentional list of things you have in your home that make you feel thankful. Write down everything that resides under your roof that you are grateful to have in your life – family and pets included.
We don't make time. Time is precious, and the last thing most of us want to spend it on is cleaning or decluttering. That's why our stuff accumulates so quickly — we often don't take the time to consider the things we own and the value (or lack thereof) they bring to our lives.
The endowment effect – We overvalue things we own simply because we have ownership. We place a higher value on an item we own than on an identical item we don't own (Kahneman et al., 1991). (I'm keeping this outfit because it's mine, even though I don't really need or use it.)
The more decluttering you do, the more confident you start to feel about making decisions and the less likely you are to feel any regret in the future', says professional organizer Laura Price of The Home Organisation. The takeaway? Don't let those decluttering fears hold you back.
With hoarding disorder, items are usually saved because: You believe these items are unique or that you'll need them at some point in the future. You feel emotionally connected to items that remind you of happier times or represent beloved people or pets. You feel safe and comforted when surrounded by things.
Often, constantly feeling the need to declutter can be linked to feeling stressed or anxious. If you are experiencing lots of stress from something in your life (work, school, family, etc) you can feel urges to clean. These urges stem from not being able to relieve the stress but needing to do something to feel better.
Clutter Can Be Normal for an ADHD Brain. If you have ADHD and notice that you seem to be having a hard time organizing things and decluttering, you're not alone. Apparently, some adults with ADHD really struggle with decluttering.
Object attachment can often be traced back to childhood
As we age, we tend to have more money than when we were younger, so attachment tendencies we've always had become more obvious with our newfound ability to buy stuff to comfort ourselves.
Clutter can make us feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Research from the United States in 2009, for instance, found the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were higher in mothers whose home environment was cluttered.
Excessive clutter and disorganization are often symptoms of a bigger health problem. People who have suffered an emotional trauma or a brain injury often find housecleaning an insurmountable task.
A messy space could indicate creativity or someone who is too busy but a messy space could also indicate further issues like anxiety or ADHD. Clutter and mess can consciously or unconsciously affect you mentally,' warns Jamie Hord, CEO, and founder of Horderly Professional Organizing.
A Cluttered Home Can Be a Result of a Major Life Event
Our overall health, energy level, and emotional stability all play an integral part in how much we can manage on a daily basis. If any of these three are compromised, our ability to be productive and efficient is significantly reduced.
“Cluttering is another behavior typical in folks with ADHD. Leaving items out as visual cues is a common way of compensating for an unreliable memory or inadequate time-management system, but to the untrained eye it can resemble hoarding,” she says.
People become more materialistic when they feel insecure:
Second, and somewhat less obvious — people are more materialistic when they feel insecure or threatened, whether because of rejection, economic fears or thoughts of their own death.
This minimalist rule is all about timing. When using the 90/90 rule to get rid of stuff, you'll simply want to ask yourself two straightforward questions. Have you used this item in the last 90 days? Will you use this item in the next 90 days?
There's a saying that goes, “If it won't matter in five years, don't spend more than five minutes worrying about it.” If you're someone who gets stuck on what to declutter and what to keep, remind yourself of this rule to keep things in perspective.
The basic premise of the six-month rule is that you should dispose of any item that you haven't used for over six months or ask yourself whether you will use the item in the next six months. This is particularly important to consider when decluttering the kitchen space, as items often go unused there.
In most cases, this clutter is directly linked to traumatic events. Clutter could stem from the fear of letting go. This would be especially the case if a person grew up during or shortly after a time of war when people did not have much and had to use everything they had until it fell apart.