Declutter Your Life: Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity, and Enjoy Your Clutter-Free Life (3 page)

It is sheer irony that the filing cabinet, which was designed to help organize offices, is one of the easiest places to create clutter. If you have a filing cabinet, I bet if you start going through the paperwork, you will find items from years ago. My husband and I recently went through a small filing cabinet in our home office. The bottom was filled with random items like a stapler, cassette tapes, cords and old cell phones. The top was stuffed with hanging folders and paper. I found files full of maintenance tickets on cars we no longer owned and bank records for accounts my husband had more than twelve years ago. Although the cabinet looked organized from the outside, the inside was full of clutter.

Regardless of whether you keep filing cabinets in your home or work space, there are some things you can do to reduce paper clutter.

• Always use labeled hanging file folders and ensure that you put items in the proper place. This makes it easier to find information later.
  
• Create proper categories for your files. We had files for every piece of home equipment when a single folder labeled “Home manuals and warranties” would suffice.
  
• Remember the expert requirements regarding data. Financial data can be shredded after seven to ten years, depending on your industry. Warranty information can be scrapped once the warranty date has passed.
  
• Invest in a scanner and external hard drive to minimize the amount of paper you need to keep. Although you do need to keep original birth certificates, social security information and anything with a certified seal, you can create electronic copies of a lot of other items.
  
• Clear out the filing cabinet at least once a year. Set a date each year where you sit down with any other necessary party and go through filing cabinet contents. If you have labeled and dated everything in an organized manner, it should not take long to clear out the oldest paperwork.
  

Like the filing cabinet, the computer is a secret habitat for clutter. One of my first jobs was as a legal secretary for a small law firm. The attorney I worked for and his paralegal had a detailed hierarchy of files with specific requirements on file names. Each case had a folder. Within that folder were subfolders titled things like “Correspondence,” “Deposition Transcripts,” “Deposition Summaries,” and “Trial Notes.” If I typed a letter to an opposing counsel named Smith dictated on January 2, 2012, I would save it Smith_Ltr_010212 in the correspondence folder of the appropriate case. If I typed a Motion to Dismiss dictated on August 14, 2012, I would name it MotionDismiss_081412. It might seem like an extremely detailed system, but it did not take extra time to save the document in that manner and anyone in the legal office could find the file if they needed it.

Create a similar file system for documents on your computer. If you manage others who share files, ensure they understand how to name each file and where to save them. You should also go through old files on a periodic basis and delete or archive any that are not useful.

So far, we have only covered clutter of the physical or electronic spaces. You can also have clutter in the mental, social and media areas of your life. This type of clutter can be much more difficult to deal with because it is hard to identify. It is not something you see, but something you feel. Because of this, you may not realize that you are feeling cluttered. Often, life clutter results in stress and anxiety. In some cases, it can lead to anger, depression and other serious mental health conditions. This section will deal with tips and instructions for reducing life clutter and dealing with the effects of clutter on your emotions and mental functions.

You know that feeling when you are physically exhausted but your mind races when you lay down for the night? That is a symptom of mental clutter. The inability to relax or to concentrate on a single task often occurs because you have too much going on in your mind. Most people cannot simply shove their concerns and responsibility aside, but there are some things you can do to deal with these issues and create a more functional mentality toward life.

One of the most fundamental relaxation techniques is proper breathing. When you become overwhelmed or anxious, your breathing quickens. This increases your heart rate and throws the amount of oxygen you intake out of proportion. Taking a moment to concentrate solely on your breathing in order to return it to a slow, rhythmical pattern calms the fight or flight reaction in your body and will help you consider issues more clearly.

Movement is often a way to expunge nervous energy and relax your mind. Short and vigorous walks, a couple of rounds up and down the stairs, some stretching exercises or a turn on the treadmill are all great ways to reduce stress. Add some music via headphones and an MP3 player to help redirect your mind from the clutter of problems or thoughts occupying center stage.

For a quick mental getaway from any location, practice mental imagery. Imagine a restful place using all of your senses. Think about how it looks, sounds, feels, tastes, and smells. Using a place you know well can help bring it realistically to mind and concentrating on all of the sensations will take your mind away from the current task and provide a soothing mental break.

There are many ways to obtain a relaxed or calm mindset. I personally find online or phone app games like Bubble Pop sooth my mind and calm my breathing. My husband likes to vent to a friend or family member as a way to get the mental kinks out and one lady I know finds a hot cup of tea and a few quiet moments to be the perfect remedy to a stressful afternoon.

Sometimes, mental clutter occurs because we hold all of our responsibilities close to the chest. Often, we can delegate some of our tasks to others or ask for help. It can be difficult to let go of work or obligations, but over committing is bad for you and bad for the people you are trying to help. Learn to delegate appropriate tasks and trust capable people to handle them. You can also delegate in your home and social life. Do not snap up every volunteer opportunity that comes your way and ask the kids to carry some of the weight for house work. By allowing people to help, you free yourself up to provide quality time and effort on tasks that you cannot delegate.

The constantly-connected, fast-paced world of today has made everyone a multitasker. As a business manager, I often saw applicants list multitasking as one of their strengths, probably because it was a keyword that they thought inspired confidence. While multitasking is certainly necessary in many aspects of life, there are times when you need to shut out the clamor and concentrate on the task at hand. Allowing the weight of your to-do list to interrupt work, play or other activities can diminish your productivity or enjoyment.

The natural world provides plenty of ideas on how to live a less cluttered life. You do not see wildlife bounding about at madcap paces in order to pay the bills and socialize. Instead, they go about their work with a steady pace meant to see them through the winter. Getting out into the world and enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds is also a great way to clear your mind and separate yourself from the clutter of your life. Go on a short walk in the park, take an afternoon hike or bike ride, or get away for a weekend cabin in the woods. Musician Jeremy Camp writes in his book, I Still Believe, that he often sought solace and prayer time in the woods when he was confused or depressed with life. Getting away provides perspective and allows you to see what should and should not be in your life.

An excessive social life can be the fast track to mental clutter. I am not proposing that you become a hermit or develop antisocial habits, but I do think there is something to be said for moderation in all things. Take a look at your day planner or calendar. If the days are nothing more than swirls of ink and penciled-in tasks, it is possible your week is cluttered beyond reason. If you do not have a calendar or planner, then you may have a cluttered social life without even realizing it.

One of the first steps in decluttering your social life is getting a visible look at your activities. You do not need to splurge on an expensive leather planner, but purchasing a reasonably priced pocked calendar or planner is a good idea. I find that buying a small planner in August is the best method. School planners make perfect life planners, and you can generally find a quality item during back to school season for between $3 and $10.

Planners are a personal choice, so you will need to experiment with what works best for you. I like a small book that includes at least five lines for each day of the week. I also prefer that the planner is already filled in with months and dates, because I have consistent problems in filling them in myself. A friend of mine who pastors a small church prefers to use the electronic planner in his smartphone. He must make on-the-spot commitments and found he would not always have his planner with him. After double or triple booking his time on several occasions, he started recording everything in his phone. The added benefit is that the phone provides an alarm chime for each appointment.

Find a method of calendaring that works for you. My mother uses a simple wall calendar on the fridge to record appointments and important dates. I use a more detailed planner to keep track of appointments, social events, due dates on jobs and more. The key is consistency.

Once you look at your schedule in a planner or calendar, you will see how busy you really are. If there is little room to write anything else in a given week, you may need to back off of some of your social engagements. There is a tendency in many people to never say no to things. They do not want to miss out on good times, social climbing, networking or important jobs. A good friend of mind is fond of saying, “People always say they do not have enough time. Well, everyone has the same amount. Everyone has 24 hours every day.”

The key to reducing social clutter is not gaining more time. It is prioritizing your time appropriately, and that means learning to say no. If the family has been on the go all week, say no to the Friday dinner invitation so everyone can get some needed downtime. Make it a point to spend a certain number of evenings in every week at home and schedule the other evenings carefully. You should always be gracious when declining invitations and try to avoid turning the same friends down every week. However, if a friend cannot understand that you are tired or need some nonsocial time to relax and rejuvenate, then he or she may not be a friend you want to keep close.

Another detriment to a fast-paced world is the common habit of trying to fit more in a day than 24 hours can reasonably accommodate. Busy people want to do it all. They want to perform well at work, shine in social settings, be good parents, spouses or friends and have a little me-time left at the end of the day. While all of these are noble goals, getting everything in every day may not be possible. Even if you do manage to schedule it all, the time spent on each activity may be forced, rushed or confusing. Instead, choose to do a smaller number of things but do them well. Instead of striving to spend two hours of family time every night, spend four awesome hours on Saturday. Instead of saying yes every time a friend brings up an activity, pick only those things that you will actually enjoy together and do not impinge on other obligations.

As my son grows older, my family is more likely to make plans that do not coordinate. As soon as he hit middle school, I created a white board system in the hall off our kitchen. There are sections for him to write down projects and test dates, social events and items that he needs from us. There is also a section for us to write down things we need from him. A small calendar hangs next to that board and everyone writes their appointments and social events on it. This little area in our hall ensures that no one schedules an event that is at odds with someone else and that we are all aware of what we need to do to ensure my son does well in school.

If you have several children in school, you might consider providing each a small white board or bulletin board. You can also choose a door or wall in your home and paint it with white board or chalk board paint. This converts the entire space into an easy-to-access message and planning board.

When you hear about declutter and organization, media probably never crosses your mind. The truth is many people’s lives are full of unnecessary electronic media like television, social networking and video games. I am not one of those hardcore folks that want you to toss out the big screen because television rots your brain. However, I do think many people spend far too much time in front of a screen of some sort and this can impact their entire life.

Recent statistics from StatisticBrain.com indicate that the average child in the United States spends more hours in a year watching television than they do in school. The average person watches approximately 25 hours of television or movies each week. That is a massive drain on time and we have not even included internet use. You could be spending 40 or 50 hours each week on these pursuits. That is equal to a full time job. By cutting back on electronic media activity, you free up your schedule for quality time with friends, productive work, and other activities that will help you achieve goals.

Think about how you watch television. Are there times when you sit in from the screen and watch whatever is on out of habit or inertia? You are already there, so you just tune in to the next program. There is a difference between passive television viewing like this and watching a show you really enjoy. There is a value to watching something that is entertaining and touches your heart or mind. Our family enjoys watching certain programs together because of this. Here are some things you can do to reduce your television habit to items you really enjoy and cut out all the time-eating fluff.