Lately it seems everyone is obsessed with clutter. Marie Kondo’s Netflix show “Tidying Up” is a huge hit, her book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up is back on bestseller lists, and a New York Times article on “The Unbearable Heaviness of Clutter”  discusses the results of a study on the relationship between procrastination, clutter, and contentment. 

“Innocuous” Bad Habits Lead to Big Problems

Joseph R. Ferrari and Catherine A. Roster conducted the study and looked at three age groups, ranging from college kids to older adults. They evaluated how different types of procrastination contributed to the sample groups’ problems with clutter. 

A few quotes leapt off the screen at me as I read the study:

“Both chronic procrastination and clutter by the individual or others in their life sphere might seem just an innocuous ‘bad habit,’ until the consequences of inaction begin to disrupt a person’s quality of life and well-being.”

…

“Clutter, while often regarded as a seemingly innocuous and common problem among adults, can escalate as people accumulate more possessions, and fail to routinely review their burgeoning inventories.”

Delaying Disposing: Examining the Relationship between Procrastination and Clutter across Generations

I can vouch for these findings based on firsthand experience. There’s a consequence to every action. No matter how small its immediate effect may seem, the long-term impact can be far greater and more grave. After all, my hoarded childhood home started out as a lovely, clean space. 

The Insidious Nature of Clutter

The consequences of procrastination are insidious. If we each believed that putting a piece of junk mail on the counter would one day contribute to an overwhelming hoard of paper clutter that would squash our happiness, none of us would leave the mail there. But our brains tell us, “Hey, it’s one little envelope. Leave it on the counter until you feel like dealing with it. It’s not like you’ll leave it here forever, right? Right?!” 

The next day comes, and you still don’t feel like opening that envelope and deciding whether to recycle, shred, or file its contents. But now you have a new day’s worth of junk mail to put on top of that measly envelope on the counter. And so it begins. 

As the study mentioned, it’s the one-two punch of procrastination AND not constantly revisiting and culling items from your home that will eventually leave you with an enormous problem. 

You’re looking at that envelope a little differently now, aren’t you? 

Kick Off the New Year with Small Changes

At the start of a new year, we all seem to become particularly mindful. Mindful of how we’d like to live. Mindful of what kind of person we want to be. Mindful of how much stuff we may have accumulated in the last year. Many of us create resolutions to achieve grand changes in our lives. We then abandon those resolutions a few weeks or months later when we find that those radical shifts are too tough to accomplish quickly or don’t satisfy the real needs in our lives. 

I propose that, instead of a New Year’s resolution, you work on a general feeling or way of life you’d like to achieve this year. 

If your goal is to reduce your stress, one way to do it is by reducing your mess. 

Life Is No Object

Start to make small behavioral changes now: shred your junk mail the same day it arrives, acquire fewer items and donate more of them to charity, find a place for every object in your home, and only keep things that spark joy or are absolutely necessary. By gradually shifting your behavior, you shift the landscape of your home and also improve your well-being and sense of satisfaction.

The keys are mindfulness, willingness, and simply getting started somewhere, no matter how small. This article on “Micro-Progress and the Magic of Just Getting Started” might help you on your way. You can also apply my “Things Can Be Different” process or read my posts on compulsive collecting and mindfulness.  

You are capable of making these changes. I believe in you. Things Can Be Different.

So crack open that Marie Kondo book, fire up her Netflix show, or check out my blog posts and start clobbering your clutter right now. 

Hope and joy,

Rachel