Eliminating Physical Clutter

Clutter is like junk food for your brain, it competes for attention! How can we expect to focus when we've got to navigate physical clutter?

Can I ask you a question?

This one might make you feel a little uncomfortable might make you squirm in your seat a little bit might make you feel like I'm picking you but I promise you I am not picking on you. I promise you. This is as much directed at me as it is at you.

here's here's something that speakers and coaches do. We teach on the things that we have had to conquer or that we are trying to conquer ourselves.

We are speaking to ourselves as much as we are speaking to you, I promise. So let me ask the question.

How much clutter is around you right now? How much clutter? Are you shoving down into drawers? Or shutting behind a closet door? How much clutter is on your desk? How many projects do you have open? How many tabs are open on your computer right now? Again, not a judgment call because I think at last count I had 13 open.

Seriously all this clutter. We're only going to talk about physical clutter. Today we'll talk about emotional clutter, another time.

We're talking about physical clutter, the physical kind, the stuff that crowds all of your spaces, the stuff that makes it hard for you to put your laundry away because you don't have any more room in your closet in your drawers. We're talking the kind that is about your junk drawer in your kitchen. How many of you have that? We always had a junk drawer. And so I thought it was just a way of life you were supposed to have a junk drawer. And then one drunk drawer turned into two and then three and then well you know,

clutter is the junk food of your brain. It competes for attention. It has this negative effect on your habits and your daily life. How can you expect expect your brain to focus when it has to weed through images of physical clutter and feelings of emotional clutter?

We have to develop smart habits and smart strategies to manage all the paper objects and pent up emotions if we want to reset our course and have a hugely impactful life. So today we're going to we're going to focus in on that physical clutter. And next week we will look at emotional clutter. Let's talk about physical clutter. You know how junk food slows you down makes you lethargic literally makes you sick and it is not good for you. No matter how many excuses

You make for eating it.

clutters the same thing to your brain. It slows you down makes you lethargic literally makes you sick and is not good for you. No matter how many excuses you make for keeping all your stuff around you shoved in your closets and cupboards and spilling out of every drawer. Seriously, do we need a junk drawer? If we are stuffing something in a drawer called a junk drawer Think about it. Do we need a junk drawer? I recently got rid of the junk drawer so freeing. Oh my gosh. Why did I need a junk drawer? Why was I hanging on to pens that were half full of ink and didn't even write anymore?

Why are we holding on to all this stuff? Take a look around you is there clutter on your desk are papers piled in neat piles. I use that in quotes neat piles or scattered all over your desk. The truth is your brain cannot concentrate fully on what you are doing. If there is clutter all around you seriously clear your space. Your brain cannot function correctly and efficiently if it has to deal with seeing all this clutter. How about your closets, your pantry your cupboards, dresser drawers, kitchen table, dining room table bathroom vanity, medicine cabinet jewelry box, how many dressers and closets in spare bedrooms are full of quote unquote maybe I'll wear this someday things how many purses are shoved under your bed and storage bins or stacked on the top shelf of your closet.

Again, this is not a judgment trust me I named all of those things because I have all of those things. A closet that has more clothes than I can wear in a variety of sizes. You feel me on that those quote I'm going to get into these someday close. Those jeans you haven't worn in 10 years and you're pretty sure they're out of style. But still you hold on to them for some magical morning when they're in style again. And you know that if that day ever comes you are going to buy new ones anyhow, because they will have tweaked them a little bit. So the ones from 10 years ago aren't going to be in style again. Get rid of them, get rid of them.

How about a pantry, full of all those things that you got a great buy on if you bought 10 but you really only needed one and now you have nine that I had nine of the item sitting there waiting to get to the expiration date so you can feel good about throwing it away. And the cupboard so full of mugs and bowls and plates. So many more than you need. In fact, if you got on a store right now and went to the top shelf, you would be amazed at what's up there right because you forgot about it. But what do we do we look up and go wow, I forgot I had that and then we shove it back in and we close the door or we close the cupboard.

Why are we holding on to it all? That physical clutter is literally literally the junk food of your brain it is wearing you down. Okay, how about the dresser drawers 50 t shirts, really 100 pairs of socks and the bras that we never even touch or the shirt that you had to have every color of how about the overflowing the entity with all those creams and gel that you just had to have I mean the commercial said it would take away every wrinkle so we got it. And then the next commercial said it would take away every wrinkle. So we bought it and we have all these half used things on our on our vanity, just cluttering everything. And the spare bedroom closets and dressers full of those quotes. Someday I might wear this again unquote things. The kitchen table the catch all space that keeps catching more and more stuff. And when someone comes to visit, it all gets stuffed into an already overflowing drawer. When did it get so crazy? When did we feel the need to accumulate all this stuff? Listen, people our brains are tired. Just because we have a closed lid or a closed closet or a closed drawer, our brains still know there is a mess behind the door. A mess inside the dresser, our prefrontal cortex, that beautiful part of our brain that's right behind our beautiful foreheads is all about organizing, sorting and prioritizing. It's also the part that wants to block distractions. So if you have too much stuff in front of you around you and shoved in drawers, closets and cupboards, your brain is using all of its energy to block the clutter, and it results in you getting tired and then you're less productive. Boom.

We don't want that.

It's not what we're all about. If you clear the space around you while you are working, your brain could actually focus and your tasks would get done in record time. So where do we start on physical clutter?

I recommend starting on the area where you spend most of your time. If it's your office, your desk, start there if it's your kitchen, start there you get the idea. Start with paring things down first. Do you really need 200 colored pens or 1000 paper clips or 500 journals.

Recently, my niece visited and I asked her if she wanted to take home some extra Sharpie markers. I had

To her class so she could share them. And she said, share them with my class, how many do you have? And I opened up a drawer, and her eyes got huge. And I and she says, Well, how many of those Can I take? I said, I want you to take all of them. Those are my overflow Sharpies. So she got out. She put them all around her on the floor, and she started checking to see which ones work there were two in them. That didn't work. I told her to check them. There were only two, she took 300 Sharpies home with her to share with her class. That's ridiculous. Why did I ever need? Well, it said that they were. They were a they were a limited edition color. And I had to have them. And they sat there in a drawer. They would have eventually all gone bad. What a waste. How about all the books on your bookshelves? Will you ever read them again? Or could you share some of them? And better yet? Have you even read all of them? And are you going to get real with yourself be brutal about what can go and what needs to say? I'm not suggesting you go with a minimalist attitude, unless that's what you really want. But the truth is, most of us have way too much stuff, clear your desk, every evening have only one project out at a time, I used to stack up all of my projects on one side of my desk that I wanted to do in a day, I'd stack them all up. And then I would grab one folder and open it up to start working on it. But half of the folder was kind of laying on top of the stack. And I was never efficient because my brain was always looking at all of those stacked folders. My idea was well I'll just I'll just work on one, move it to the other side of my desk work on one move it to the other side of my desk. it slowed me down. When I moved them to a totally different space. Not only was I more productive, but it forced me to get up and move between projects as well which is super good for your body. But that's a whole nother podcast.

If you're organizing a kitchen, follow the same idea. Get rid of the things you don't need. We recently removed 15 pots and pans we weren't using from our cupboards 15 and we gave them to our kids who needed them. The sense of peace and calm that came with decluttering was amazing. It is freedom. All this cleared up space is liberating. So we kept going clearing out mugs and plates serving spoons and knives you get the idea. Keep going. Do this in every room. Clear the pantry clear your closets clear the dressers Listen, the shirt you're holding on to from high school, let it go. If you put something on that makes you feel anything less than Superwoman give it away. Someone is waiting for it. We hold on to clothing that makes us feel just downright icky when we wear it because we paid money for it. Listen, if it doesn't make you feel like a million bazillion gazillion bucks, get rid of it. Someone else is waiting for it. Resist the urge to buy those cute organizational tools until you have completely decluttered the area and you know exactly what you need to organize what is left. We get trapped into buying all these cute organizational things, listen stacks and stacks and stacks of cute bins holding 300 extra Sharpies is still clutter.

When you have finished decluttering you're going to find that you don't have to work on organization as much as you used to. Less stuff equals less organizing equals more time on your plate. Guess what you don't need 100 purses, or 50 pairs of sneakers or 25 pairs of sparkly high heels 20 will do I'm kidding.

And while we're talking about clutter,

let's talk about that infernal digital clutter better yet. Let's just save that for another podcast. Let's focus on the physical, physical, physical clutter around you get real with what you are dealing with.

How many pens Do you really need? How many shirts Do you really need?

Do we really need to have so much stuff in our closets that we've got to shove everything in and then when a child moves out we take over the closet that was in their room.

Do we really need to have every space in our houses filled with stuff.

If you haven't used it haven't touched it haven't needed it. Share.

If your pantry is so full that you're thinking you can't use everything before it gets to the expiration date, share.

Join me on this journey. I have been on a journey of decluttering for a while but I am getting deep and real on this in 2021 it is part of me resetting this year, every day, I aim to touch at least at least two things and decide if it's staying or going.

I have been able to clear so much clutter already and I've just begun and I am far far far from minimalism. But I am tired of quote unquote organizing all my stuff. I

Don't need it. I organize things and then never touch them again until it's time to organize or clean them again. That's a waste of my time and it's a waste of our energy and it's a waste of your time and energy.

Let's go on this journey together. I would love to hear from you. message me on Instagram and I am Carrie Vee, email me at Carrie via coach Carrie Vee calm. I want to hear what you are doing with this decluttering project we're going to talk more about, about the digital decluttering and about emotional decluttering. But right now, let's focus on this physical decluttering and get it done. If we are going to have an amazing 2021 Let's do it with a whole lot less stuff that we don't need. We don't need.

We once went through things. And this has been a couple of years ago, we went through the house and we got rid of so much stuff. And there's still a ton left but we got rid of so much stuff. And it felt good to bless a family that needed this. It was a family where they had moved their parents in and family and from another country. And they were so happy to get all this stuff that we didn't need any more. But when I looked around the garage Bay that we had filled with this stuff I realized that most of it was stuff that I just knew I had to have we used to go yard saleing every week and I would buy all this stuff had to have this stuff. Well guess what? It was all sitting there in the garage ready to be given away? How much how much time energy money wealth do we spend on these things that we don't even need? And we don't even know why we're buying them is to fill this to fill this void in our in our hearts and stuff isn't going to do it. You are going to sense so much peace and freedom when you start decluttering get real with what you really need. How many bottles of lotion Do we need to keep? How many eyeshadow palettes Do we really need?

clutter is the junk food of your brain.

Let's get rid of the junk.