clutter

Daily task for happiness

Many think it will take a profound effort or event to find happiness. Studies have shown what makes people happy has less to do with what they are doing, and more to do with whether their attention is fully present in the moment.

By changing our thoughts, actions and values (our intentional activities and choices that we make), that is where we can find ways to increase our happiness.

Disorganization and clutter have a cumulative effect on our brains, a direct impact on your focus and can trigger stress, anxiety or even anger.

Getting rid of excess stuff can benefit your mental health by making you feel calmer and more in control. One might even say ‘happier’!

Clutter comes in many forms including mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual. Today we are talking about physical clutter – the piles of paperwork in the office, the overflowing closets, the junk drawer in the kitchen. Physical clutter includes digital clutter like thousands and thousands of emails or unnamed files and lack of file system on your computer (hint: can you actually see your desktop screen?)

Reducing clutter could literally help you raise your own happiness setpoint. The process of cleaning can give you a sense of control because it’s something you can do without thought. It’s automatic. For some it could also trigger more anxiety or even pain during intense, all-in-one decluttering sessions.

Welcome to slow clutter control. Rather than setting aside hours and hours, days upon days leading to to full weekend clean outs of tackling declutter projects, you do one thing every day and still feel those benefits of control.

Imagine one year from now – 365 items relocated to their place (which might be in the trash or donated to a family in need.) Ask yourself, how many sets of sheets, random towels, bar glasses or twist ties do you really need?

To get you started, use the simple list below for tasks that takes minutes, even seconds, out of your day. # 1 is my favorite right now, tell me what yours is on the Happy Eats Healthy community Facebook page.

Unsubscribe from one email (junk, shopping, etc.) every day.
Open any closet or drawer- remove one item
Scan or take a photo snapshot of receipts, throw away the original
Step into the kitchen and remove one thing from the counter

Make an intention that you will do one thing every day that declutters your life. Small efforts count!

Want to feel better? Throw something out.

I threw out this 1 thing and it made me feel better.

Do you ever feel like you’re just not keeping up? Like your house or apartment is a mess and overloaded? Like you are falling behind on emails, on phones, on bills ….. ever feel like it’s just too much?

I was feeling the same way. Just couldn’t seem to get it together. Everything felt like work- from putting away the dishes to making plans with friends.

Today I found myself wandering around the house, not really looking for anything but dissatisfied with everything I found. Every cupboard and closet I opened felt full. Trinkets, article clippings and receipts occupied drawers and counter space. Sure, somethings have important meaning- like those flamingo coasters that …. hmm, who gave those to me again??

That made me realize I was just overwhelmed with ‘stuff‘. Clutter was just taking up room and sucking up my energy.

An idea hit me to throw something out. Anything. Just something that was taking up room. I instinctively walked up to the guest bathroom and opened the drawer where I keep all those things that either:
a. are little samples of soaps, potions and lotion that I might try some day.
~or~
b. things from various hotels (because some day a guest might want a hotel sewing kit!)
~or~
c. didn’t fit in the drawers in the master bathroom.

Sound familiar? In this crazy time capsule I found, among other things, 10 empty boxes of trial contacts, 2 head tinglers (did I really even need 1???) and a bottle of nylon cleaner from the 1990’s. Seriously?

…one thing called to me…

The moment I opened the drawer one thing called to me- it was a no-name chapstick that was given to me as a marketing piece. I’ll NEVER use this. But I put it in that drawer, again, in case someone comes to the house and needs chapstick even though I make my own and have a handful of those available too. I’ve had it over a year so far and no takers yet. This little tube just caught my eye as it lay there in the middle of the mess.

I picked it up and threw it away.

Yup, and it felt good. It actually felt great! And it made me want to do more. A flurry of things I could throw away swirled in my head. But I didn’t really have time right then to Marie Kondo the place, so an idea was born.

What if I threw away one thing every day for ONE YEAR?

Seemed pretty simple. The little negative-Nelly voice chimed in about how it won’t really make a difference. But solid reasoning won out- sure, maybe not so much in the beginning, but imagine 365 items from now. I got a little nervous wondering if there would be anything left!? <Insert ridiculous chuckle here.>

Throw away 1-a-day.

So that’s what I’m doing. Starting today- Friday, September 13, 2019. Comment below if you want to join in or better yet, follow along on our Happy Eats Healthy Facebook page!
Doesn’t matter if you didn’t start on the same day. Let’s clean up our clutter and regain our energy together.