If the constant stream of things to pick up around your home causes you to feel anxious or stressed, you're not alone. Research suggests that clutter affects your mood and well-being. If your living space is full of knickknacks and unused belongings, or your desk is buried in papers, then it might be time to clear out and tidy up.

Why Stuff and Clutter Become Stressful 

Possessions play a central role in defining and representing a sense of self. They embody past experiences and represent accomplishments and connections to important people and places in your life. Surrounding yourself with possessions helps make your living space feel like "home" and creates positive feelings.1 

But too many objects and clutter can begin to impact how your brain processes information, which can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. According to Craig Sawchuk, Ph.D., L.P., a Mayo Clinic psychologist, one reason clutter and extra stuff increases stress is that the brain likes organization. Reliance and repetition make things easier for your brain, giving it less work to do, and helping you be more efficient and relaxed. 

Studies show that a cluttered or untidy environment increases stress for most people. One study showed that women who described their homes as cluttered or disorganized had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than women who described their homes with more positive language.2 Another study set out to examine the relationship between clutter, well-being, and attachment to one’s home and possessions. The study surveyed more than 1,400 residents of the United States and Canada who had mild to severe issues with clutter. The results showed that clutter had a negative effect on well-being and might prevent people from reaping the benefits commonly associated with feeling at "home" – including identity, belonging, comfort, and security.1

Too much clutter can also contribute to time management problems. One study reported that chronic procrastinators often live in cluttered households and that clutter interferes with their quality of life. The study authors explain that it's unclear whether clutter leads to procrastination or if procrastination leads to clutter, but each was highly associated with the other.3  

The threshold for clutter is different for everyone. What you call cluttered might be someone else's happy space. Afterall, it was Albert Einstein – known for his messy workspace – who famously remarked, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

Regardless of your level of tolerance for an untidy space, it appears that when your threshold for clutter, personal space, and disorganization is crossed, the body tends to go into coping mode, which impacts your ability to connect with others, focus, and learn.1,4-6

If you find that clutter and extra stuff is causing you to feel anxious, frustrated, or gets in the way of your productivity, try the following tips to declutter and clear the way for a more relaxed state of mind.

Clear the Clutter to Improve Focus and Productivity

If you have a lot of objects on your desk or in your workspace, then it might be hard for you to be productive. The visual cortex – the region of the brain that receives, integrates, and processes visual information – is highly sensitive and can be overwhelmed when presented with non-task related objects. A cluttered environment can make your brain less effective at processing information.5,6 

Visual clutter competes with the brain’s ability to pay attention and over time can impede cognitive functions.5,6 The more objects that surround you, the more difficult it is for your brain to focus. Taking time to organize your personal space will likely save you time in the long run by allowing you to work more efficiently.

What You Can Do: 

  1. Organize computer cables and electrical wires.
  2. Clear your workspace at the end of each day. Toss what you don't need, file documents (both the paper and electronic kinds), put away pens and office supplies. To reduce clutter from sticky notes or sheets of paper, consider logging your to-do list and notes in a digital file or task-organizing software.

Reduce Abundance to Feel Better

Having more things doesn't necessarily make you happier – even though advertisements try to convince you otherwise. Case in point: In one study, when toddlers were given just four toys to play with, they played twice as long as when they had 16 toys to choose from.7

According to the study experts, more toys equated to lost opportunities for the children to develop longer attention spans that can translate to better focus and attention later in life. Plus, more toys scattered about means more clutter and more things for a caregiver to pick up.

It's common to accumulate more than you need. It doesn't matter whether you have too many toys, books, clothes, or other objects, the result is the same – more stuff is often associated with feeling more stressed.1,2,7

What You Can Do: 

  1. Box up extra items and put them out of sight. Swap boxes for a fresh mix of toys or change clothing in your closet with each new season. If you find you or your kids don't miss what you stored, then sell or donate the extras. 
  2. Another good way to declutter is to keep items out of the house in the first place. Most people have an emotional bond with their possessions – and that's why it's hard to part with objects, even when they don't hold special meaning or memories.1 Consider whether you truly need an item or if it adds to your home’s sense of dysfunction or overabundance. Once it’s in the house, it’s hard to let it go.

 Organize Your Kitchen for Better Self-Control

Behavioral studies show that individuals eat more in settings that are disorganized or distracting.8,9 In one study, participants in a messy and disorganized kitchen ate twice as many cookies as the participants in an organized and clean kitchen. The researchers indicated that clutter led participants to feel stressed and out of control, fostering a low self-control-mindset that resulted in overeating.9 

What You Can Do: 

  1. Keep kitchen and dining room spaces for preparing food and eating. If your dining room or kitchen table is doubling as an office or classroom, then pack up the work or school project before sitting down for dinner. 
  2. Avoid turning your kitchen and dining space into a mailroom or collection site for coupons and takeout-menus. Instead, organize and store items in a system that works for you. You might choose baskets with labels, or a filing system by due date for bills and expiration date for coupons.
  3. Clear the countertops and be hyper-selective about what stays on the counter and what gets stored in a drawer or cupboard.

Streamlining and picking up clutter isn't just housekeeping. Research shows that clutter can interfere with your brain's ability to process information – affecting your happiness and well-being. 

There are many websites with information and support to help you declutter and organize. Whatever you decide to tackle, it's usually best to start small. Taking 10 minutes every day to put away stray items will lessen stress from clutter, make you feel better, and help you enjoy your surroundings.

References

  1. Roster CA, Ferrari JR, Jurkat MP. The dark side of home: assessing possession "clutter" on subjective well-being. J Environ Psychol 2016(46):32-41. 
  2. Saxbe DE, Repetti R. No place like home: home tours correlate with daily patterns of mood and cortisol. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 2010;36(1):71-81. 
  3. Ferrari JR, Roster CA, Crum KP. Procrastination and clutter: an ecological view of living with excessive stuff. Curr Psychol 2018;37:441-444. 
  4. Thornock CM, Nelson LJ, Porter CL, Evans-Stout CA. There’s no place like home: the associations between residential attributes and family functioning. J Environ Psychol 2019(64):39-47. 
  5. Seidl KN, Peelen MV, Kastner S. Neural evidence for distracter suppression during visual search in real-world scenes. J Neurosci 2012;32(34):11812-11819.
  6. McMains S, Kastner S. Interactions of top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in human visual cortex. J Neurosci 2011;31(2):587-597.
  7. Dauch C, Imwalle M, Ocasio B, Metz AE. The influence of the number of toys in the environment on toddlers' play. Infant Behav Dev 2018;50:78-87.
  8. Higgs S. Manipulations of attention during eating and their effects on later snack intake. Appetite 2015;92:287. 
  9. Vartanian LR,  Kernan KM, Wansink B. Clutter, chaos, and overconsumption: the role of mind-set in stressful and chaotic food environments. Environ Behav 2017;49(2):215-223.