The Intriguing psychology of a clean home

I bet you all know that a clean home contributes to our mental and physical well-being, but did you know that it also impacts your psychology? Well then, stick around to discover the influence clutter has on your daily activities. First of all, let us analyse the level of stress your clutter can supply.

The Link Between Clutter and Stress

There are beautiful benefits to keeping your home clean, but let us look at the effect of a cluttered home. This can affect adults as well as minors. So when your child or relative shows these typical behaviours of a person suffering from clutter, please look around to assess the condition of the living space for a better understanding.

The striking Link between Space Clutter and Stress

Whether we like it or not, clutter can cause stress and anxiety to the individuals who get to live with it. People typically ignore the point where they start to exhibit signs of a person suffering from cluttering because every person with a cluttering habit will always be in denial. They are willing to sit down and explain what they will use every cluttered item for. It is almost a war getting people who clutter, to admit it, especially when it is beginning to affect them.

1. Clutter overwhelms our senses

A cluttered home overwhelms your senses, from the eyes that see and interpret what has been seen, due to the excessive visuals that have been taken in and interpreted, leading to sensory overload, which causes stress. So the next time you stare at a messy space and feel overwhelmed, stressed or overloaded, please remember that this is a confirmed reaction to a cluttered space. This brings me to the question, could this be one of the reasons why mothers are always stressed out? Having to take in these overwhelming sights every day, knowing that they are obligated to fix it, and not the actual perpetrators of the clutter?

2. Pressure from decision-making

Often we see a cluttered space and the next thought would be how to correct it. When children in the family destroy things around the house, after sending them to the naughty corner, the next thought will be how to either fix or pack up the ruins they created. The need for you to make a decision almost immediately creates stress on the mind and head that lies the crown. The same thing goes for clutter, it simply signifies choices, choices like where to place the displaced things, and where these cluttered items would live around the house, the thought process that goes down, before decluttering, amounts to stress on the mind of the cleaner. So professional cleaners and hosts of TV cleaning programs, do encounter major stress, which they combat by fixing the messy homes. So in as much as the result is supposed to be revealed to the house owners, the hosts also benefit from the result. When next you watch a cleaning show, remember that the host undergoes stress to create the perfect reveal.

3. Clutter Creates a Feeling of Disorganisation

There is always an emphasis on fixing your home space, making it bright, airy and decluttered. There is a significance it has on your thoughts, creativity and happiness. A cluttered space can make you feel chaotic, lack control, overwhelmed or even defeated or failing, adding more stress to your already mounting stress.

Now with a better understanding of what a cluttered space is capable of doing to us, let’s explore what a decluttered space can correct in our minds. Does the opposite always mean good? Can it counter the negative effect of clutter on the mind? Can it improve the mental and emotional health? We often see these YouTubers choosing minimalist home decor, does it signify calmness and healthy space? Decluttered space can:

1. Significantly Reduce Stress and Anxiety

A decluttered or clutter-free space can significantly reduce your stress level, and dampen your anxiety. The sense of peace and calmness even when things are not working out how you want them to. Study shows that you are less likely to feel overwhelmed by your home when it is clutter-free. The orderliness you have put in place signifies strength, power and control, which can come in handy when you are facing stress from other aspects of your life, like in your professional life and relationships. Do not go through a break-up in a cluttered space, that will make you feel defeated. Clean up that space now, as a pending breakup could be on the way. lol.

2. Improves Productivity and Your ability to focus

No news exists that a clean space improves your productivity and focus on your goals. It has already eliminated your distractions, leaving you in a good place mentally, especially if you are creative, working from home, a student or content creator, and having that free focus to tackle the task at hand with a goal on your mind.

3. Improved Sleep Quality

Your bedroom is perhaps the room which will personally benefit you the most when it is clutter-free. The reason is that if ever you prioritise your mental health, then your room, the place you sleep and wake up in, should be the most clutter-free place in the house. This will promote peace and calmness, it will promote relaxation, helping you to easily unwind and sleep better. There is a link between cluttered space and bad sleep quality, which increases stress, irritability and anger. So to avoid all of these, ensure your sacred space (bedroom), is free of clutter, either for good sleep or a better baby-making process.

4. Mood Improvement

A clean home often creates a brighter mood. In fact, the act of cleaning is known to release endorphins, the feel-good hormones that brighten your mood. Now staying or returning to that clean home leaves you longing to go home because it provides you with the happiness and comfort you need. In general, people who love to clean, are happier than people who do not love to clean. Because while the former will always be in a clean space, the latter won’t, and that will collectively and unknowingly harm their mood.

5. Reduces Health Issues

A clean home isn’t only appealing to your eyes, it also transcends to your mental health. A clean environment is usually expected to have little or no dust, which in turn has no allergens that won’t attack your health. This then leaves you feeling and being healthy, happier and alive. So to be healthy, you need to have a healthy lifestyle and environment, especially where you call your home.

6. Boosts Your Self-Esteem

The simple act of owning/occupying a clean space, whether at work or in your home, plays a significant role in boosting the self-esteem of an individual. The people who reside in the slum, have it at the back of their minds, that they are not to have a say in society, as whatever they say won’t be useful to society, since they are from the dirty part of the region, and this place a role in their confidence outside of their confines. The enjoyable yet unappealing act of cleaning the space you live in can single-handedly be a part of self-care. Investing your time towards maintaining cleanliness around the home, makes you understand that you are in fact worthy of any good thing that comes your way, and this will in turn boost your self-esteem, your self-worth and your confidence. A clean home brings confidence.

7. A De-stressing Process For Home Occupants

Have you ever taken the time to notice how calm people from a clean home can be? They mostly don’t automatically act weird and erratic, unless they have the need to. An organised home benefits the home and its occupants, and their dynamics, whereas the opposite is the case for a cluttered home and its occupants. A clean home doesn’t require yelling, unnecessary agitation and arguing, and no tension rising amidst the family. When we all do our bits and assist with the cleanliness a home bears, it brings a good sense of peace from the accomplishment of a clean home and family teamwork.

8. A Decluttered space declutters the mind

The Zeigarnik Effect, states that people tend to remember uncompleted tasks better than completed ones, and living in a cluttered space gives the exact same uncomfortable feeling because it leaves you with the burden of needing to finish a task. That’s why when you keep your home clean, it brings you an instant sense of comfort and calmness because your mind is free of any set reminder, so it lets go of and doesn’t remind you of a yet-to-be-completed task.

Tips for Maintaining A Decluttered Home

Having outlined the psychological benefits of choosing to have a clean home, let us grab onto some tips that will equally maintain it. Some people with children say their homes only stay clean for about 20 minutes after cleaning before the cluttering starts again, but can this be controlled:

• Declutter Regularly: Search and choose the most convenient time for you to regularly declutter your living space if you live alone, and together as a family if you don’t live alone, fight the urge to hoard unused/unwanted items. Use ‘need’ to decide on what you keep for yourself, donate to charity or even sell on apps like ‘Vinted’, and lastly, what you discard.
  • Perfect A Daily Cleaning Habit: A collective healthy daily cleaning habits, like doing the dishes promptly, putting things back where they belong, wiping down the kitchen counter regularly, sweeping the floors and getting rid of items no longer needed, mopping the kitchen floor before going to bed, as a collective quick before bed tidy up, will eventually lead to easy cleaning life.
• Ensure A Designated Space For All Items: Always have a space for each item in your home, this is where these items will live or be returned to when not in use. When an item has no home in your home, then that is a decluttering red flag. This makes it easier to maintain a clean home.
• Have Enough Storage Space: Storage spaces like shelves, wardrobes, and cabinets are not to be taken for granted, because they make a difference in decluttering a home. This will help ensure that every item in your home has a living space.
• Stick to the One-In,One-Out Rule For Balance: When a new item is bought and brought into your home, always consider taking out the item it has come to replace. This is the first rule in preventing cluttering.
• Consider a Professional Cleaner: When the size of your home becomes overwhelming to clean, then consider external help. It is realistic to clean a cosy space, but won’t be that smart for a large home, so seek a professional cleaner to come in on designated days and clean the house.

Conclusion

The psychology of a clean home is a prove that our living space holds a strong bond to our mental wellbeing. Like, the saying goes, the environment makes a man. A clean home is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eyes but can reduce stress, improve productivity, improves your mood and overall mental health. By simply incorporating the mentioned tips incorporating the tips mentioned above into your daily cleaning, you are open to enjoying a tidy living space where you get healed from the encounters of the outside world.