Spring Cleaning: How to Use Organization to Improve Wellness
Ilana Friedman, Advanced Clinical Fellow
The alarm starts blaring, you scramble to stop the incessant beeping but can’t find your phone amidst the crumpled receipts, half-drunk water glasses, and tubes of lip balm filling your nightstand. You stumble to the kitchen to make coffee, open a cabinet to grab a mug, and realize that they are all in the sink because when you try to put them away, they just don’t fit. You wash the mug and reach in the drawer for a spoon where an army of discarded sauce packets and single-use chopsticks attack your hands. Coffee is finally made but now you’re running late for work. You go to the closet to find that one blue shirt you like, but after 10 minutes of fruitless searching through your overstuffed closet full of clothes that you literally have not worn since college, you give up and pull a wrinkled tee from the top of the “kinda dirty/kinda clean, wore it once but could wear again” pile on your hamper. You run out the door late and frazzled, yet again.
Stressed? Yeah, me too.
We have all seen how popular organization is these days with not one, but TWO TV shows dedicated to organizing, the colloquialism of “does it spark joy?”, and the sheer number of Instagram posts dedicated to rainbow-color-ordered, basket-filled, labeled-within-an-inch-of-its-life celebrity pantries. But can organization improve your mental health and wellness? I say “yes!” and so does the founder of NYC-based Horderly Professional Organizing, Jamie Hord. She says,
Clutter and mess are linked to negative emotions like confusion, tension, and irritability while an organized home tends to produce more positive emotions like calmness and a sense of well-being. To the brain, clutter represents unfinished business and this lack of completeness can be highly stressful for some people.
She adds that organization can improve productivity and focus, enhance relationships, increase self-efficacy, and even lower allergies (it’s true!). By streamlining your space, you can lower stress and truly maximize your potential!
So now I’ve convinced you that it’s time for some spring cleaning... but HOW!? It’s super overwhelming to think about organizing your whole apartment! The key is to start small and give yourself plenty of time to complete the project. Jamie suggests picking just one “problem area” to start your organizational journey, whether that’s the kitchen, front closet, or primary closet and to follow the steps below!
DIY Organizational Steps to [Streamlined] Success
Take everything (and she means everything!) out of the space and sort it into piles by category (i.e. dresses, jeans, scarves, etc.). Just remind yourself that it’s going to look way worse before it gets better but it WILL get better, I promise!
Go item-by-item through each pile and ask yourself, “Keep or Donate?” Make sure you pay attention to that initial gut instinct when you touch on each item. You should LOVE everything you own!
Strategize placing your beautifully decluttered items back into the space. Keep like with like (i.e. all sweaters together) and think about Prime Real Estate. The items you grab frequently should be within arm’s reach, those ski clothes you use once a year? Get them way up high or down low!
Label, label, label. Labeling the space means you don’t have to use your precious brainpower to search for things and makes maintenance a breeze!
No longer will you have to duel with sauce packets, you can really enjoy your morning coffee and have a moment of serenity to start your day! No more frustration trying to find the perfect shirt amidst chaos, you will be able to find the outfit you want to wear within moments and leave the house on time!
That is the magic of organization, the energy in a space actually shifts. By creating systems and organization, you give yourself the gift of time and clarity and by decluttering you create space for a life that truly *sparks joy* every day!