Clutter

Imagine trying to prepare a meal in a messy kitchen. There are dirty dishes, oversized pots, and half-empty soda cans scattered everywhere. The groceries were never put away and the trash is overflowing.

To top it off, the ice cream is melting because someone forgot to put it back in the freezer. You want to DoorDash dinner, but you can’t find your phone. Maybe one of the kids has seen it.

The rest of the house is pretty much the same. The family room is home to jackets, backpacks, and random shoes that don’t have a mate. You haven’t used your dining room table in months because you can find it under the debris. How did it get this bad?

Why Do We Have So Much Clutter?

We spend our lives accumulating things. We go shopping, we receive gifts, and we inherit items that we don’t always want. We are constantly adding to our collection of stuff. We shop in small retail stores, big box stores, and outlet malls.

On top of that, Amazon has given us the thrill of instant gratification. It takes only a couple of clicks to have an Amazon haul delivered by tomorrow. Many of us are guilty of shopping almost every day. Our habits are out of control.

This addiction to ceaseless consumption leads us down the road to mountains of clutter that do nothing but use space. Not only that, but this clutter can have severe effects on our mental and physical health.

A Self Storage Unit is a Practical Solution to This Problem

Finding a secure, budget-friendly, climate-controlled self storage unit is one solution to this problem. Here at Modern Storage Solutions, we can help you find storage unit sizes to fit your needs. The clutter is gone—not gone forever—but removed to a secure storage facility. You can visit your belongings any time, but you don’t have to live with the mess and chaos.

A self storage unit will give you as much or as little time as you need to decide whether to discard or donate your stored items.

How Clutter Produces Tangible Negative Effects On Your Mental and Physical Health

Clutter Increases Stress
According to a study in The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, people who live in cluttered homes have high levels of the hormone, Cortisol. This hormone has been associated with greater chronic stress, disease progression, and weight gain.

Clutter Promotes Overeating
Dr. Eva Shalhoub explains that because clutter is stressful for the brain, you’re more
likely to resort to coping mechanisms like overeating. You’ll grab anything to distract yourself from the real problem. If your kitchen is organized, it will be easier to find the healthy snacks.

Clutter Can Trigger Respiratory Issues
Cluttered homes are frequently dustier than orderly living spaces. As items accumulate,
more dust is generated, creating the ideal living environment for pests like dust mites.
The harder it gets to clean, the more serious these respiratory issues can become. All of that excess dust becomes an irritant to your respiratory system.

Clutter Can Jeopardize Relationships
Clutter in the home can negatively impact the life of your significant other. To some
people, the idea of parting with their belongings is distressing. When you live with a person who values neatness and organization, this can take a toll on the relationship.

Spouses or partners who are bothered by messiness tend to be judgmental, angry, and irritable. They may resort to name-calling and negative comments. This frequently results in a toxic environment and an end to the relationship.

Clutter is Isolating
The condition of your home can inhibit your desire to entertain. You will eventually begin to avoid social gatherings because you don’t want to reciprocate.

Sadly, children can also feel the negative effects of a cluttered home. They can be prone to elevated levels of distress. They don’t want to invite friends to their homes because they are embarrassed for the same reasons that you are. This alone should encourage you to clean up the mess.

Clutter Threatens Career Goals
Your messy tendencies can also creep into their professional lives and impact job
performance. A disorganized desk, filing system, or briefcase can result in decreased productivity. This inhibits your career goals.

Clutter Can Encourage Bad Spending Habits and Increased Debt
A cluttered environment makes it easy to misplace things. With your distracted state of mind, buying replacements becomes easier than looking for lost items. If this becomes a habit, you could end up with accumulated debt.

Unless you use paperless billing or online banking, a cluttered home can make it challenging to locate bills and bank statements. This leads to late payments, additional fees, higher interest rates, and, unfortunately, collection calls.

Final Thoughts

You need to find a way to get this situation under control. The bottom line is that everything has its place. Getting rid of physical clutter can be emotionally devastating to certain individuals, but there is a strategy. Don’t just relocate your possessions to another area of your
living space. As mentioned above, find a reputable storage facility with a professional, caring staff who will explain your options. Your mental and physical health depends on taking control of this problem.