Tidy up your life
Say Yes to benefits!
Why should we store? Well, it helps you and your family to find balance. Usually when you take time to clean and store, you will eventually end up enjoying this feeling of contentment of your good smelling place. Have you ever been this happy after a good cleaning session?
For some, it is complicated to visualise cleaning as good. But at home, you will be much more organized as you will know exactly where you have stores things. Your time looking for your keys is over!
Storing is also a way to save money and become consumer-actor. For example, a cleaned space reduces food waste because there will be no more food hidden in the back of your cupboard. If you buy less and good, nothing will go to waste.
You will become the Master of you mind and improve your health. In the collective imagination, when we think of clutter, we imagine dirty and dusty places. A tidy interior is so much easier to maintain. And by doing so, you’ll be able to think about something other than your daily worries and lighten your mental load.
Say No to untidiness!
To better understand the importance of storing, you have to know untidiness consequences.
Studies have shown that it has an effect on our mental health. Of course, spending hours looking for things is one of them, however for other people consequences are far worst. Searchers from Princeton University of Neuroscience have found that mess reduces our ability to focus on one task. It would be due to being distracted by everything around us[1].
It is thought to contribute to lower performance and higher stress levels. Indeed, a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) study conducted over a nine-year period showed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in women living in disordered homes[2]. Others have found a link between disorder, sleep problems and anxiety.
As previously said, tidying up gives a sense of achievement – which is very important in the treatment of mental health problems – as well as the confidence to take on other challenges.
Time to tidy up!
You do not know where to start? Follow Less Saves The Planet tips and take action.
Tidying up requires a methodical approach. It is essential to sort out which items you give away, which you recycle and which you throw away in different bags. You can take as much time as you need, but it is best to start one room at a time. To avoid spreading yourself too thin, move on to another room when the previous one is finished.
Create small challenges and build on personal victories: for example, give up clothes you no longer fit into and give them to those who need the most. In the end, sorting out our clothes also helps us to be more human. Eventually, adopt a daily routine of 10 to 15 minutes to put away items that are lying around. The routine will gradually turn into a long-term habit.
Tidying up is the ideal way to get rid of the things that are literally cluttering up our lives to free our minds. It is indeed more pleasant to have a clear view of your home.
[1] Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex, Stephanie McMains et Sabine Kastner, Neuroscience Journal, 2011.
[2] No place like home: home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol, Darby E. Saxbe et Rena Repetti, Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 2010.
