A cluttered home comes with an emotional cost
A cluttered home comes with an emotional cost
What is the true cost of a cluttered space?
For this writer, it is the loss of potential income and shared ideas. A wasteful use of brainpower, as the moments…hours…tick away and nothing productive gets done.
Physical clutter equals brain clutter. Neither offers much in the way of peace nor output.
It all began with a set of curtains.
They’d been in the closet for months, and I talked my husband into hanging them one evening. Well, you know the children’s book, If you give a mouse a cookie?
Decorating is my cookie. If you hang a curtain, I’ll want a clean space to go with them.
What are the benefits of less clutter?
I began a major declutter of the space that houses both my office, a living area, and my creative “studio”. (It is really a side of the room with shelves and my artistic pursuits, but heck, I have always wanted a studio. Why not honor it as such now?)
There was room for a folding table, right in the center, allowing me to spread out papers for work and host varied in-process creative projects.
The problem?
TOO many things began to vie for my attention.
Signs of a cluttered home
The pieces became the nagging visual reminder of things left unaccomplished.
Instead of being a gift, this table became home to clutter and distraction.
While he hung the curtains, I removed the table. That forced the removal of all the crud on top of it.
Those beautiful projects become quite ugly when they steal the margin away from personal peace.
How can I make my house less cluttered?
New folders are now sorting all the piles of papers, very specific in what they hold, to make it easy to find things.
The loose papers of quickly jotted ideas will be transferred to one place, again.
Perhaps this will always be a struggle, but it will never be insurmountable.
One piece at a time, one idea at a time, one folder at a time.
Margin is a necessary component of peace in our daily lives.
It is worth fighting for.
As the piles diminish and the floor is wide open and empty, I’ll be able to start working on the things that really matter to me.
Planning content, telling stories, and creating valuable work that gives my writing life progressive momentum.
Now, this freed up space is the equivalent of margin. I’ll have to choose one thing, the right thing.
Not getting distracted by the hundreds of choose-your-own adventure-style moments, that flying by the seat of my pants invites.
This is a forced gift of concentration for a very distractable sort.
Yes, I lose an amazing workspace. But the payoff? A smile from my husband, who never liked that table there. A tidier space and a less cluttered mind.
Lastly, and most importantly? That peace of mind that only margin, a free space in life that is available for something unexpected, can bring.
Your turn- how you do work best? I’d love for you to leave a comment and share about your favored creative environment!
P.S. I know you are eager to know where the mug came from…want to support small business? Find a similar one in RebelleHeart’s Etsy shop.
Need inspiration about living well with less clutter?
- What Your Clutter Is Trying to Tell You: Uncover the Message in the Mess and Reclaim Your Life
- Beautifully Organized at Work: Bring Order and Joy to Your Work Life So You Can Stay Calm, Relieve Stress, and Get More Done Each Day
- How to Keep House While Drowning: 31 days of compassionate help
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
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Hi Christa! I’m stopping by from the By His Grace FB group. I’m so with you – margin in my home, in my calendar, in my life is so essential. I can function without it, but not well. It’s something God has truly had to cultivate in me and I’ve had to give myself permission to create those blank spaces to work, as well as rest and recover. Now…if I could just bring myself to stop working at the kitchen table and move upstairs to the beautiful office my husband created for me. #goals So glad to visit you today. Pinning your post too!
HI Tiffany, so glad you are here! I love how you phrased “blank spaces to work, as well as rest and recover”. That is exactly how I am using it today…just a rest and recover space. Without the burden of PILES. I work at the kitchen table too, much to my hubs dismay. Ha! It is the heart of our home Tiffany, what can we say? Blessings to you
I could not agree more! There is nothing quite like the feeling of a clean, streamlined work space that is also your happy place. I love your pics and can so relate to that annoying stack of notes and paper scraps…You’re right…it is a nagging reminder of undone tasks. Thanks for sharing the importance of margin in my space and my life in general. P.S. Decorating is my cookie, too! 😉
Hey there Karin! I love your blog, sounds like we’d enjoy “cookie-ing” together…after, of course, we cleaned up and made room for the essential margin. Blessings to you!