What’s Clutter Anyway, and Why Should I Care?

With all this chatter about clutter, and the importance of decluttering, I wanted define what clutter means to me and the insidious ways it can impact other areas of our lives. 

Even though the word ‘clutter’ sounds adorable, like a fluffy Pokemon character or a cake ball with crunchy stuff on it, it’s anything but sweet and adorable. While the Oxford dictionary defines clutter as a “collection of things lying about in an untidy mass,” to me, clutter means something slightly different.

In the context of one’s own home, clutter is a bunch of unmade decisions. Whether it’s the bag of unworn clothes (with tags!) sitting in your closet, or the stack of unread books crowding up your nightstand, these items are prolonged decisions begging for you to make up your mind, already! 

We all have the tendency to put off handling messes around the home, especially when there are more pressing tasks to deal with (e.g., planning a work presentation, cooking dinner, putting the kids to bed, yadayada), but when your stuff starts to take a toll on you mentally, clutter becomes something else entirely. 

When we’re constantly surrounded by piles of ‘meh’, this leaves us feeling disoriented and unable to make firm decisions on a greater scale. When you practice firmly saying YES or NO to the stuff in your home, it’s one great practice run for being able to say YES or NO to other stuff in your life. 

When you say NO to that massive pile of yarn you hoped to turn into a sweater, not only are you freeing up space, but you’re building that decision-making muscle. You’re more likely to say NO to a dinner you’re too exhausted to attend (and not feel an ounce of FOMO or guilt over!), or NO to listening to a friend vent for hours over a petty work drama. You’re more likely to say YES with confidence to hanging out with an old friend, and conclude that a MAYBE might just be a NO in disguise.

Indecision is really just a bad habit, like chewing gum with your mouth open, or biting your nails. And the good news is that it can be broken! All you have to do is this: decide that you’re a decisive person. That’s it. Tell yourself, “I’m a decisive person!” over and over until it sticks. Until you witness yourself making delightfully firm, decidedly decisive decisions in the moment. 

So, one beautiful byproduct of being more decisive about your stuff is that you get more space in your home. But another amazing benefit is that you get to be more decisive on a larger scale. Your yesses will be hard yesses and your no’s will be nopity nopes. Practice makes perfect, so go don’t over-intellectualize holding onto stuff that’s stressing you out. Go with your gut. Give yourself permission to let go of that irreparable toaster oven and buy yourself a new one! You deserve a nice toasted bagel with cream cheese.