Even our storage supplier friends from Down Under, Kennards Self Storage New Zealand, have clients who face the same problems we face here on the West Coast when dealing with clutter.
How Clutter Affects Us
Clutter affects us in various different ways, other than not being aesthetically pleasing:
- Increased anxiety
- Impaired ability to focus
- Reduced levels of productivity
- Higher levels of Cortisol (stress hormone)
- Impaired ability to commit items to memory
- Reduced ability to process information
A study published in the journal of neuroscience has found that messy or cluttered homes induce a range of undesirable outcomes, even if the clutter is not your own.
“Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system.”
To paraphrase: when your environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts your ability to focus. It also limits your brain’s ability to process information by distracting you.
Read their full article here.
Kennards Self Storage recommends that:
- Pack away season clothes
- Out of sight doesn’t equal out of mind
- Make use of vertical space
- Store the furniture you aren’t using
- Store items you don’t use every few weeks
The study in the Journal of Neuroscience concluded that physical clutter makes you feel stressed, mentally fatigued and anxious. The research suggests that if you clear up your home and work environment, you will be less irritable, more productive, distracted less often, and able to process information better as a result.
Knowing where and how to get started might be your first hurdle. A professional organizer might be the kickstart you need!
