How are you surviving the COVID-19 quarantine situation? Are you up to your eyeballs with clutter in your home? In the remote office? How about the children’s bedrooms? Living at home. Working from home. Attending virtual school five days a week. Everyone has a different perception of clutter. Some people cannot stand clutter while others seem to pay it no mind. No matter your stance, clutter may be associated with an urge to snack, affect your memory, and add friction to your relationships.

If you are putting on the pounds during the pandemic, it may be associated with the clutter in your home. In 2017 Cornell University found that students tend to snack twice as much in a crowded or messy environment.

Clutter may affect one’s memory and make it challenging to think and recall information (University of Toronto, 2016). If this sounds like you, maybe there is a reason you have been forgetful. Look around to see if you need to de-clutter your room and alleviate some of the mess. External clutter is usually a good indicator that you may be experiencing some mental mess or brain clutter.

Conflict with your spouse or family is reason enough to get a hold of the clutter before it crowds you out of a relationship and maybe even a home. If the clutter has grown to a heap of insurmountable “stuff” then it is time to de-clutter. No friendship or union is worth sacrificing when you have the power to change. De-cluttering for the good of your family and for the good of your life – it might just depend on it, too!

De-cluttering does not have to be arduous and can be a teaching moment for the entire family. Change begins with making a decision to stop living in clutter and stop avoiding it, stop ignoring it and stop looking the other way. Clutter is not worth the stress and you can overcome it and not allow it to overtake you. Attack it by spending a few minutes every day returning items back to its original place. If you have not used it in a year then donate it or throw it out. Now that's not so hard. Start de-cluttering! Ready. Set. Go.

#stress #clutter