Tidy Home, Tidy Health? How Committing To A Neat, Clutter-Free Home Can Improve Your Mental And Physical Health

Let's face it — it's a mess "out there" in the world right now. I don't know about you, but I feel stressed every time I have to brave the supermarket knowing that countless fellow citizens don't take COVID-19 precautions seriously, and knowing that being exposed to the virus myself could very well mean exposing the elderly people I care for. 

I've never been much of a neat freak, I'll confess. After working fairly long hours, I prefer to either chill out or make time for some of my rather mess-making hobbies, like spinning, knitting, and making soap. I have, at times, been surprised by the moral judgment people seem to attach to a slightly disorganized home. (Yes, research has found that women are more harshly judged for having messy homes, despite the fact that science also debunked the popular myth that many guys are "dirt blind".)

The pandemic changed all that. If I was going to spend (much) more time at home than before in a bid to keep others free from COVID by avoiding it myself, I wanted my home to be a peaceful haven — with everything I love and need in its own, carefully chosen, place, and everything else on its way to recycling.

Why a tidy, clutter-free, home can liberate your mind and soul

OK, OK, that was perhaps too lofty of an idea, but still, there are plenty of ways in which tackling that decluttering project can give your emotional wellbeing a boost:

• Clutter can be a source of tension between people sharing a household — while tidying up, cutting down on unnecessary possessions, and agreeing where everything will "live" can lift this source of interpersonal stress. 
• Disorganized spaces overflowing with too many items haven't only been found to be distracting to many people, reducing their productivity, but also impact the accuracy with which people can carry out work-related tasks. This especially matters in an age where increasing numbers of people are working from home. Reducing clutter to manageable levels, on the other hand, has an immediate positive impact on focus and productivity.
• While it's true that the state of your home can be a reflection of an already existing state of mind, some research has found that excessive clutter — which doesn't necessarily even have to reach Hoarding Disorder level heaps of possessions — contributes to mental distress and depression. Tidying up, on the other hand, gives you a mood boost, whether you're clinically depressed or just feeling down. 
• Feeling like your home is a safe space where you can be yourself and engage in psychologically meaningful activities with others in your household makes you feel more emotionally confident and secure. While many people like collecting, frankly, more possessions than they need in their home, so much clutter that your home can never truly be tidy can, research suggests, have a rather deep impact. It can influence your sense of self. 

How decluttering and committing to a tidy home can impact your physical health

In the elderly population, which is already more vulnerable to serious falls that can land them in hospital, decluttering can quite literally save them from a life-threatening event. Even the presence of small, isolated, areas in your home where piles of books, clothes, or other items are concentrated can pose a significant fire hazard. 

How do you get started with tidying and decluttering?

Many detailed tidying, decluttering, and minimalist guides are at your disposal online, and I recommend you explore a few different options before ultimately coming up with your own. I learned from Marie Kondo, and imagined what kind of life I wanted before I got started seriously revamping my home.

If the role your home plays in your life has changed since COVID-19, I suggest you do the same. Do you work from home, now, at least part-time? Does your partner? Do you have children who are still attending school online? Think about how that impacts what you need from your home. It may well mean that you need to create a separate space for leisure time and work time. If you find that your work or study responsibilities are taking over your family's whole life since the pandemic started, you will want to think about creating a central point that's so inviting you'll all want to spend time there, away from the computer. 

Besides that, here's how I did it:

• First, get rid of everything that you already know you really don't want or need. Don't just put it in a cupboard; remove it from your home. 
• Think about the purpose you envision for each space of your home. Take out everything that doesn't fit that purpose, and put everything that does in there. 
• Borrow from KonMari. Go through all your clothes, including off-season ones, at once, and then work your way through the categories, in the order she suggests or not. I did miscellaneous (of which I had a lot) after clothes, sub-sorted into different categories for different hobbies. Then I went through books, papers, and sentimental items. Then I did it all again, because I wasn't thorough enough the first time around. 
• If you have some cash to spare, truthfully consider what pieces of furniture or other items you'd like to replace. Maybe your old desk was fine for your pre-COVID life, but you need a more serious working space now that your job is done from home. Maybe you didn't spend much time at home before, but now want to invest in pieces that help foster a sense of comfort. Perhaps you're cooking more and need some gadgets. 

Finally, if you're just not sure where to get started, ask for help! Even if COVID-19 means people probably won't be running over to organize your home, plenty of organizing junkies online are more than happy to help you through your process, something which is also very motivating.