Having a cluttered home makes it very difficult to find what you are looking for. Living in clutter can also cause stress and other health problems. It is not uncommon for individuals to purchase furniture to help them get organized. For example, a bedroom vanity can help someone who wants to organize his or her bedroom, and it can enhance the décor of the bedroom as well.

Purchasing furniture to keep your rooms organized is a good idea; however, individuals who have excessive items in their homes tend to clutter up the shelves and top surfaces of their furniture as well as the floor space around it. This diminishes the look of the furniture, ruins the décor of the room, and causes the home to look unkempt and be unsanitary.

Many individuals have a strong desire to collect things. When buying collectibles, people do not think about the day they will have to part with these items. In fact, most people have difficulties parting with material items, particularly those with sentimental value. The inability to get rid of things that are no longer being used is the primary reason for clutter in many homes around the world.

When people fail to throw away items that are no longer in use, they tend to store them in areas of the home where there is extra space. Extra bedrooms, basements, attics, and closets are just some of the areas where people store clutter. Once these spaces fill up, individuals generally begin storing items in visible areas, including living rooms, dens, porches, and backyards. Some individuals may even purchase extra furniture for the sole purpose of stuffing them with things.

When individuals continuously purchase new items and never get rid of old items, clutter starts to build, and it builds quickly. Excessive clutter in the home often causes anxiety, and ongoing stress. Disorganization is a major cause of stress, according to many experts. The time and effort that it takes to look for items that are not easily findable can cause your heart rate to increase and making you feel flustered. According to a study performed at Yale, individuals who hoard items (or live in cluttered environments )have much higher risks of depression and can develop attention deficit disorder during adulthood.

Pests and bugs tend to gravitate towards clutter as well. Mice, rats, cockroaches, silverfish, spiders, and ants hide in cluttered areas to escape from predators. They often build nests and reproduce in these cluttered areas. Individuals exposed to their excrement can develop allergies, rashes, and unknown illnesses. The excrement created by small pests is often microscopic, making it impossible to see. Many individuals who knowingly live with these pests set traps and spray insecticides, which can lead to respiratory issues. The best way to deal with this problem is to clear the cluttered area completely to get rid of the bugs and pests.

Staying organized and periodically getting rid of excess items is the best way to keep a home free of clutter. Keeping a clutter-free home is a surefire way to ensure that your home is a beautiful and healthy environment to live in.

Miguel is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture, home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

It’s easy for a bedroom to become disorganized. As one of the most lived-in rooms in the house, it is a natural magnet for all types of paper, books, toys, and knick-knacks. Since your bedroom is where you sleep, it’s important you keep it as neat as possible to encourage relaxation at night.

Arrange the Clothing in Your Closet
Your closet was not designed to be a refuge for every article of clothing you have ever owned. Go through your closet and remove anything you haven’t worn in the last year. With the exception of some types of formal wear, if you haven’t worn it in the last 12 months you probably won’t wear it in the next 12 months. Donate the clothes to a charity, and make room in your closet so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily.

Reorganize Your Drawers
It’s so much easier to shove an article of clothing in the back of a drawer than decide whether or not to keep it. If your drawers are so packed that you can’t find what you need when you need it, then it is time to weed out clothing you don’t wear. This goes double for items you don’t wear because they are stained, don’t fit, or don’t look good on you.

Take Advantage of the Space Under Your Bed
Evict the boogieman and put a few large plastic storage bins under your bed. Choose wheeled bins for easy access. Storage bins are ideal for items you use infrequently, like uncomfortable shoes.

Use Baskets
Baskets are a good way to make your bedroom look neat quickly. A laundry basket is a must, and so much better than a pile of clothing on the floor. Put a wastebasket next to your nightstand so you can easily throw out tissues and other bits of garbage.

Hang Art
Don’t clutter every surface with framed photos. Instead, hang your photos in small groups around the room and free up your tabletop space.

Put Things in the Right Room
If your bedroom has become home to wayward items that belong in the playroom or garage, then put them where they belong.

Get a Covered Desk
If your desk is in your bedroom, it’s easy to get sidetracked by work at bedtime. To prevent this, invest in a desk with a solid cover to prevent you from being distracted by work at the wrong time.

Use a Shoe Tree
Organize shoes on a hanging shoe tree in your closet. This frees up floor space and makes it easy to find shoes when you need them.

Put Personal Care Items on a Vanity
Vanities are a convenient way to keep your personal care items organized. A bath vanity can go in the master bathroom or in your bedroom.

Clear Your Nightstand
Keep your nightstand free of anything you will not use immediately before bed or upon arising. For most people, that means having only one book, a clock, a bottle of water, and a box of tissues.

Miguel Salcido is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture and home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

Wondering how to get your home decluttered once and for all this year? I was asked this same question recently by Amanda Wyant, a writer with Blissfully Domestic.

Click on this link to learn four professional organizing tips to help you declutter and get control of your home and your life in this article.

Recently I had a golden opportunity to collaborate with a group of talented professionals during a seminar geared for women facing divorce. As you probably know, clutter has a few best friends and one of it’s closest allies is divorce. So it makes great sense to post this article to you, my readers. Many of my clients are up against this challenge as I write this post.

Remember, no matter what type of trauma you face in life, you are never truly alone! There are professionals like myself and Laura that are here to serve and help you rebuild your life after you experience big setbacks.

“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” Aneurin Bevan

Kathi Burns coaches women how to stay organized even during a divorce

Could there be a time in a woman’s life that she is more likely to be paralyzed by chaos than during a divorce? Perhaps, but if you are in the midst of a divorce you are likely nodding your head in a way that says: “wow! I have never been this overwhelmed and disorganized, NEVER!!”

And then your “I can’t” thoughts start to take hold of your head and the nod of agreement quickly turns into a sideways twist, twist, twist, as you say to yourself “. . . No way! I’ve got things to do!! I don’t have time to organize my life. I’m just trying to survive it!! And you stop imagining the bliss of returning to a clean home and resume your anxious search for that document you know you put somewhere, while the clock exclaims: “you’re late! Again! Hurry!!”

Well you are not alone, but just because misery loves company, doesn’t mean you’re going to feel better hanging out with it!

As a divorce Coach I have the opportunity to be an “Agent of Change.” But I also know that before I can hope to help you create lasting change you have to believe that an expenditure of money or time, or even some of both will bring you so much value that you feel compelled to take action.

Okay, I know you’re busy, running late, can’t recall the last time you had a restorative sleep so I’ll just get to the point. Clutter, hoarding, and disorganization will bury your best intentions alive! A person who stashes and hoards and refuses to let go of the stuff is operating on with one or more of these assumptions:
1. I need this stuff because it says something about me. (translation: I need to obtain your approval to feel worthy)
2. I live in a world of lack, and if I don’t hang on to this stuff it will never come again. (Translation: I need it for my security, I am not capable of providing)
3. It’s my stuff and I’m doing it my way. (Translation: I m not interested in what might be best for me I’m only interested in staying in control so back off!!)

When you make space in your life, you make space for real change, new beginnings, peace, growth, and harmony. Try this “pro pro” test as a way of beginning. Ask yourself: “what are the pros of keeping this in my life? And “what are the pro’s of removing this from my life?”

If you find yourself clinging to the stuff, ask yourself a few more questions: is my fear of letting go coming from a lack or need for: approval, security or control? And could I let that go? Would I let that go? And then finally: “when?”

Don’t expect you will be able to do this alone, take off your cape, sit down, take a breath and call an agent of change. You are not alone any more.

Laura McGee
www.LeaveStrong.com
www.Facebook.com/LeaveStrong

Laura McGee is a divorce Coach who supports women at every stage of their divorce process.

1. Do what you love. Follow your passion.
2. Put a dent in the universe. Have a big, bold clear concise vision.
3. Say no to 1000 things. Reduce the clutter. Make it simple. (You know I love this one!)
4. Simplicity in everything. He wore the same outfit/uniform everyday, jeans and black turtle neck. (As  stylist, I am not so sure about this one)
5. Kickstart your brain by doing something new.
6. Create insanely good experiences. Sell dreams not products. Innovate.
7. Master the message.

Good artists copy. Great artists steal. Feel free to steal this and forward it to your friends!