Declutter Your Life

Reduce Stress, Increase

Productivity, and Enjoy
Your Clutter-Free Life

By Michelle Stewart
 Declutter Your Life: Reduce Stress,
Increase Productivity, and Enjoy Your
Clutter-Free Life / by Michelle Stewart

Copyright © 2012 by Unique Vision

Press. All Rights Reserved. Published in
the United States by Unique Vision
Press. First Edition.

You are welcome to use a short excerpt

of this book for review or critique
purposes.

Visit the Blog:

LifeIteration.com

Other books by Michelle Stewart

De-Stress Your Life

 The Frugal Life

The Beautiful Home

Find them all at

MichelleStewartBooks.com
 Table of Contents
A Clutter-Free Life Starting Today

The Truth About Clutter

The Origins of Clutter

The Cost of Clutter in Your Life

The Cost in Productivity
The Cost in Dollars
The Cost in Physical Health
The Cost in Mental Health

The Psychology of Clutter

Why We Keep Things
Declutter Your Home
Create a Plan
Tips for Decluttering Each Room

Declutter Your Office

Organizing Your Desk
Organizing Filing Cabinets
Declutter Your Computer

Declutter Your Life and Reduce

Stress
Dealing with Mental Clutter
Declutter Your Social Life
Declutter Your Media

How to Maintain Your Clutter-Free

Life for the Long Haul
Three Steps You Can Take Right Now
Create a Plan
Choose a Space
Reward Yourself

The Office Has a Floor: A

Decluttering Success Story

Share Your Success

Other Books by Michelle Stewart

A Clutter-Free Life Starting
Today
I have a friend who recently lost her
husband in a tragic accident. Her friends
and family rallied around her, but she
was reluctant to let people into her home
so they could help her. People offered to
cook, clean or simply spend some time
with her, but she was very selective
about accepting the offers of help and
many people did not know why. It was
only weeks later that I learned that she
had been feeling ashamed of the state of
her house. There was clutter throughout
the home and outbuildings, and it would
take her months to go through it all.
Perhaps you have a similar situation. If
you are reluctant to invite friends over
for dinner or scared to look in your own
closet, then you might have a problem
with clutter. You should not be ashamed,
however. Clutter is a very common
problem and can arise in almost any area
of our lives. The key is acknowledging
the clutter, creating a plan for dealing
with it, and taking immediate action, as
well as consistently guarding against
clutter in the long-term.
 The Truth About Clutter
Often, we think of clutter in terms of
physical stuff. We see books and
magazines spilled across the coffee
table, extra dishes stacked on the
counter, and clothing draped over the
dresser, the treadmill and any other
available surface in the bedroom. The
truth is that clutter can also be an
emotional, mental and social issue. If
you have trouble getting to sleep because
your mind is crowded with competing
thoughts or you are exhausted by jam-
packed weekly schedules, then you may
need to deal with clutter of a different
sort.
To define clutter, first you need to know
what clutter is not. Clutter is not dirt.
You can be the best housekeeper in the
world when it comes to mopping the
floor and scrubbing the tub, but still
succumb to the problem of clutter piling
up on your shelf and desk.

Clutter is not hoarding. Hoarding

involves an often unhealthy process of
being reluctant to part with unnecessary
stuff. Clutter generally involves an
unintentional collection of items
throughout your space or home.
Hoarding may require outside
intervention, while clutter requires a
commitment to organization.
Clutter is not necessarily the same thing
as a collection. My husband’s aunt
collects odds and ends from around the
world. She displays them in cabinets or
on shelves. Although her house is full of
collectibles, it does not have a feeling of
being cluttered. This is because the way
she displays her items is organized and
she does not keep them in walkways or
areas of common use such as kitchen
counters or the dining table.
 The Origins of Clutter
Before removing clutter, it is a good
idea to find out its origin. You would not
scoop rising water from your basement
without first closing off the source of the
leak. Clutter comes from every person
living in a home. Kids create tons of
clutter by leaving toys out, dragging
home small goodies from parties or
kids’ meals, and collecting sets of toys
like Barbies and Legos.

Adults similarly generate clutter. We

often think we are too busy to put
something in the proper place, so we set
it on the dining table to deal with later.
Those things add up and before you
know it, a small pile is growing. You
might also gain clutter through junk mail,
catalogs and magazine subscriptions.

The key to organizing your clutter is

recognizing that you play a role in
creating it. Often, families never make it
through a decluttering process because
they are too busy blaming each other for
the problem. By admitting that every
person plays a role in contributing to
clutter, you can move forward to finding
a solution.
The Cost of Clutter in Your
Life
Whether or not you realize it, clutter has
a price in your life. It could be costing
you in areas of productivity, finances,
emotional well-being and physical
health. Everyone deals with clutter in
their own way, and each person’s clutter
threshold is different. For example,
when I was a teenager, my mother would
say, “You have got to clean that room! It
is a mess and there is stuff everywhere!”
What was chaos to her ended up being a
couple of pairs of jeans thrown over
furniture and several books scattered on
the floor. On the other end, my husband
had a small office in our home. For
several years, you could not even reach
the farthest wall due to stacks of paper
and boxes of electronics. His clutter
threshold is obviously higher than my
mother’s, but there is a happy medium
between absolute order and reigning
chaos. It is in that happy medium that
most people will find the best state.

The Cost in Productivity

One of the most common costs of clutter
has to do with productivity and time. If
you lose five minutes every morning
searching for something that is not in the
right place, then you are giving up over
30 hours per year. If that does not seem
like a lot to you, here are some things
you can enjoy or do in 30 hours:

Watch 15 movies,
Read three to six books,
Take an overnight trip, or
Earn 30 hours of overtime at your
job.

Clutter at your office desk can cost

minutes every day and can even result in
lost work. Social clutter may cause you
to overbook appointments or waste time
with poorly made plans. Mental clutter
can slow you down and even cause
anxiety that keeps you from necessary
tasks. No matter how you slice it, clutter
interferes with your ability to get things
done.

The Cost in Dollars

Clutter can hit your wallet and you never
realize it. The kitchen in our home is
galley style with minimal cabinet and
counter space. My husband repurposed
three old cabinets and put them in the
basement to act as an overflow pantry.
The space quickly became cluttered,
mostly because I did not feel like going
into the basement to check on our canned
good needs every time I shopped or
cooked. Additionally, one of the
cabinets was out of my reach and
required a stool for access. It was a
perfect breeding ground for clutter, and
we did see a financial impact. I often
bought items we already had and used
things that were out of date. The result
was that we threw away expired food on
several occasions before we
reorganized our food storage.

Other ways you might see a cost in

dollars include buying replacement
items for those that you cannot find or
that are damaged in the clutter. If you do
find an item that was part of a pile or
unorganized shelf, you might find that it
was damaged and that you need to pay
for repair costs. However, the cost of
clutter is not only related to the
accumulation in your home or office. It
can also generate from the actions that
lead to clutter in the first place.

Buying items that you do not need, do not

have a place for or are purchasing on an
impulse can lead to clutter. They also
cost money that you could spend on
things you really need or save for a rainy
day. Retail establishments play to our
impulses by creating attractive displays
at the end of aisles, putting things on sale
and using a variety of proven
psychological methods to increase the
number of items customers bring to the
checkout. One of my weaknesses is
buying things that are on sale for a great
deal. If an item is regularly $20 but is
marked down to $11, I think I save $9.
My husband is quick to point out that we
did not need the item or plan to buy it.
Thus, instead of saving $9, we spent
$11.

The Cost in Physical Health

Some people suffer physical ailments
due to clutter in their living space or
office. Clutter causes an accumulation of
dust and other particles, leading to
problems with allergies. Excessive
clutter provides a breeding ground for
rodents, insects and other pests. You
may not realize that pests are building
nests or leaving biological waste
throughout your home, but your lungs
will eventually catch on. In addition to
diseases that can be carried through
insect or flea bites, excessive clutter
may increase the chance of developing
or aggravating respiratory problems
such as asthma.

Even if you do not have such an excess

of clutter that it would allow pest
problems, there is still the potential for
injury. My husband collects vintage
home audio and video equipment. At
times, this equipment sits in one of our
open spaces while he waits for parts or
determines where to put it. I have
walked around a piece of furniture and
stubbed my toe or banged my knee on a
number of occasions. Luckily these
injuries were minor, but when clutter
expands into the walkways of your
home, you increase the risks of
dangerous slips and falls.

The Cost in Mental Health

At the beginning of this book, I shared
the story about my grieving friend. At a
time when she was already undergoing a
great deal of stress and emotional
torment, the clutter in her home added
more. You do not have to be in a tragic
situation to suffer mental costs
associated with clutter. One of the most
common emotional or mental issues
associated with clutter is stress. Often,
this occurs when you consider having
people over, but you want to present a
nice home. Rallying the family to last
minute cleaning can be a difficult and
stressful task, lessening the enjoyment of
a social gathering.

You can also experience clutter-related

stress simply because you are constantly
aware of the stuff around you. Perhaps
you would prefer a more organized
home, but you cannot find the time to
declutter your space. In these cases, we
often enter a dangerous mental cycle. We
avoid thinking about the problem for as
long as possible. Then, something occurs
that brings the problem to the forefront.
We might have company coming, or the
search for a needed item makes us late
for work. We resolve to fix the issue, but
cannot find time. Many people start to
develop feelings of guilt regarding the
situation and that turns into burying the
problem again. As time goes by, such
mental hijinks can lead to anxiety or
depression.
 The Psychology of Clutter
If any of the costs of clutter discussed in
the above section resonate with you, then
you may want to declutter your space
and stop paying those prices. Before you
can create a plan for ongoing
organization and declutter, you need to
understand some things about the
psychology of clutter. Understanding the
thought processes that lead to clutter
will help you stop it from occurring over
and over again. After all, clearing away
the mess only to allow it to increase
again meets Einstein’s definition of
insanity.
 Insanity is doing the same thing
over and over again and expecting
different results. – Albert Einstein.

Why We Keep Things

Physical clutter arises because we keep
items in our homes or offices. One of the
key aspects of conquering clutter is to
understand why you keep the things you
do. Generally, we keep extra or
unneeded items around because we
believe we might need them in the future;
we have a sentimental attachment to
them or we perceive a value in the
object that makes it hard to throw away.
A Possible Future Need

It is amazing what we keep because we

might need it in the future. My husband
keeps all sorts of cardboard boxes and
containers. He might need to store
something or ship something. I have a
problem with hanging on to bits and
pieces of craft supplies. I will keep a
tiny ball of yarn because I might
incorporate it into a future crochet
project. It matters very little that I rarely
have time to crochet anymore or that I do
not like the color. I perceive a possible
future use, so I am hard pressed to toss
out an otherwise useless item. In our
basement at this moment, we have
several half-used cans of house paint, a
stack of old carpet squares and a few
odd bits of plywood. We have no plans
for using these items in the immediate
future, but we still hold onto them.

The trick with evaluating items like this

is that you very well might have a use
for them in the future. It would be a
shame to toss out perfectly good and
costly wood, and then realize you want
to build a shelf. My husband’s family
tells a story of how his father got so
tired of the craft supply collection in
their home that he went on a cleaning
spree. As he swept random paper and
other items into the garbage, he
inadvertently tossed out a pair of real
diamond earrings. They also tell a story
about how my father-in-law hid all his
baseball cards in a special location in
his boyhood home. Years later his
mother threw out a box of mint-condition
and valuable cards because they looked
like junk to her.

It takes a well-disciplined mind to

evaluate items in the clutter pile to
determine if they truly have a future
value or use. To keep yourself from
going to either extreme, carefully
consider each item with others in your
home. Ask these questions:

Is there a concrete plan to use the

item within the next six to twelve
 months?
Is the item in good working order?
Is the item of significant monetary
value?

If you can answer yes to at least two of

the above questions, then the item may
be worth storing. Otherwise, you should
strongly consider getting rid of it. There
are ways to decrease the struggle it takes
to get rid of an item. I reduced most of
my yarn stash by giving it to a young
lady who was learning to crochet. She
was delighted with the abundant yarn
choice and quickly put almost all of it to
use.

Sentimental Collections
There are some things that are simply
irreplaceable due to sentimental value.
Old pictures capture favorite memories,
family heirlooms harken back to our
history and small mementos remind us of
great events. It can be hard to get rid of
sentimental items, so you may want to
consider a more organized storage
option. Pictures can be scanned into the
computer and stored on an external hard
drive. Not only will this reduce clutter,
it will also preserve your memories
safely.

Collections and heirlooms can be kept in

well-organized cabinets or spaced
throughout the home as tasteful
decorations. Remember what I said
about my husband’s aunt? Because she is
organized, her collections do not
actually create clutter.

When keeping things for their

sentimental value, you do need to ensure
that they are irreplaceable and really
evoke personal emotions. Plastic
souvenirs from your latest beach trip
might not make the cut, but a small
memento from your honeymoon is often
worth keeping.

Monetary Value

If you paid good money for an item, you

may find it difficult to throw away, even
if you know you have no use for it. In
cases like this, it is best to give the item
to a friend, donate it for a tax break or
sell it online or in a yard sale. It is much
easier to part with such items when you
are receiving some sort of value in
return.
 Declutter Your Home
Once you take stock of your clutter
situation and understand where your
clutter is coming from, it is time to begin
working on the problem. You have
already learned that clutter takes on
many forms and will differ from person
to person. Almost everyone has some
sort of clutter in their home, so this
section provides a step-by-step look at
decluttering your home.

Create a Plan
Before you take action, you should
create a plan. An organized approach to
clearing clutter ensures that you do not
make mistakes such as tossing out
diamond earrings. A plan also allows
you to approach clutter in a systemic
fashion that reduces feelings of anxiety.
By tackling small sections of your home,
you reduce burnout and create workable
tasks that can be completed over time.

Your plan should define the locations of

clutter in your home, divide the work
into smaller rooms or areas, and ensure
that all necessary individuals participate
in the work. Including your family in the
plan creates a corporate environment
that will make it more likely that you
will remain organized in the future. It
also ensures that valuable items are not
thrown away. My mother is known for
quick and efficient cleaning, but she is
also known for tossing out items that are
valuable to someone else. If there are
other people living in the home, then you
need their input.

Create, Keep, Throw, Give Away and

Sell Piles

As you tackle each space in your home,

you need to know what you will do with
the items. Moving them from place to
place simply prolongs the time you live
with clutter. Instead, create piles for
items that you want to keep, throw away,
give away or sell. Once you are done
with an area, make sure you take care of
each pile immediately. Find an
organized way to store or house all the
items you are keeping. Place the items in
the throw away pile in a large garbage
bag and haul it to the curb. Make
arrangements to give away or sell the
other items as quickly as possible. The
last thing you want to do is create four
piles that become long-term clutter.

Tackle Small Jobs

Decluttering an entire house can take

hours or days. Likely, you do not have
that kind of time. Instead, you can spend
a couple of hours each week on
decluttering by tackling small spaces. A
single bookshelf, closet, under the bed,
or a wall of the garage are all great
areas to start with. You will also
increase your motivation by
accomplishing each job. You may not
realize it, but breaking tasks into small,
easily achievable chunks is a proven
mental motivator that increases your
energy and willingness to complete the
entire project.

Tips for Decluttering Each

Room
Kitchen
Go through your dishes, pots and
utensils and consider getting rid of
duplicates or extras. You might
have saved a plate or two from an
old set, but if you do not use the
items regularly or can make do
without them, pass them on to
someone else or donate them. Do
the same with all other items in
your kitchen to make some room in
your cabinets for better
organization.
Go through your plastic ware and
match tops to bottoms. Do not keep
mismatched pieces. Create an
organized storage area so that you
can easily grab matching pieces
when needed.
Avoid keeping plastic butter,
whipped cream or other similar
dishes unless you have a specific
and immediate use for them.
Use small pieces of wood to build
shelves in your cabinet or pantry
for canned goods. Store canned
goods in rows of like items with the
oldest food in front to avoid tossing
items that are beyond the expiration
date.
Browse your pantry and fridge
prior to shopping to create a list of
foods you actually need. Shop only
from the list.
Store items in the refrigerator in
see-through plastic or glass
 containers to help your family know
what foods are available.
Convert bulky boxes of cereal or
pasta to air-tight plastic containers
that are easier to stack and store.

Bathroom

Use small baskets or dividers to

make the most of available drawer
space. Divide items by use. For
example, cosmetics could go in one
basket, items used for tooth care in
another and items that you may only
occasionally use in another.
Arrange extra bottles of shampoo
and other personal items in an
orderly fashion on a shelf to keep
yourself from buying supplies you
do not need.
Use plastic milk crates to make
extra shelves or storage spaces in
large cabinets.
Buy a small caddy for each person
in the home. They can put their
personal shampoo, conditioner,
razor or other items in the caddy
and pull it out when it is time for a
shower. This will keep the bathtub
from collecting a dozen bottles.
Make use of open shelving to store
items in attractive baskets or to
store stacks of color-matched
towels instead of decorative
elements that provide no
 functionality.

Bedrooms

Avoid shoving items under the bed

where dust and other particles
build up. If you must use under bed
storage space, purchase shallow
plastic tubs to hold items. This is a
great way to store seasonal
clothing, because it keeps the fabric
clean, dry, and protected from
moths.
Make it a point never to leave
clothing on the bed or draped over
other furniture. Put clothing away
immediately and use a hamper or
 basket for dirty items.
Make your bed each day to
automatically enhance the look of
your bedroom and motivate
yourself to keep it clean.
Make sure dressers are an
appropriate size for your clothing
and avoid stuffing them full. Go
through your clothing periodically
and get rid of anything you have not
worn in over a year.

Living Area and Dining Room

Avoid the temptation of flat spaces.

Any flat space in your living area is
likely to gather items. However, if
you put a few decorative items on
the top of shelves or tables, it
makes it a less obvious place for
laying down burdens.
Spend ten minutes every day
clearing clutter from the couch,
living room floor and spaces like
coffee tables, end tables or dining
tables.
Buy a small basket or bin for
everyone in the family. Label them
with names and stack them in a
corner. Go through the living and
dining spaces daily and place items
in the appropriate basket. Each
member of the family is then
responsible for returning their own
items to the appropriate place.
 Be careful with decorative
elements. There is a fine line
between aesthetic value and clutter.
If items are getting in the way of
everyday living, then you may need
to relocate or get rid of some of
your accents.
Clear the dining table after every
meal and wipe it down. Leaving
small dishes or unused items on the
table can create an ongoing clutter
situation.

Garage

Install shelves along at least one

wall of the garage to keep clutter
 off the open floor.
When possible, avoid storing items
in cardboard boxes. Use clear
plastic or labeled bins to store
items in a safe, organized way.
Install ceiling and wall hooks or
pegs to store bikes, sports
equipment or tools.
Keep balls and other small items
away from the parking area by
installing a mesh sports hammock
in one corner.

Basements and Attics

Avoid storing items on the floor of

the basement to reduce the chance
of water damage. Use plastic bins
when possible and build shelves
along the wall.
Provide each person their own
section of the basement or attic and
require that everyone label the
items they store. This will help
during family decluttering days.
Schedule two days a year when the
family goes through the basement
and attic to determine what should
be kept, and reorganize any
cluttered areas.
Keep items that will be accessed
regularly in the most convenient
locations, and store seasonal or
less frequently used items at the
top, back or bottom of storage
 areas.
When possible, make use of the
wall or ceilings to hang items for
storage.

Closets

Hang all clothes with the hook

facing out. When you wear an item,
hang it back in the same place and
turn the hook in. After a year or
other appropriate time period, get
rid of any item with the hook still
facing out.
Use hanging racks or bag-storage
systems to store shoes and other
small items.
Keep linens and other items in
plastic storage bins on shelves.
This keeps them from hanging down
and getting in the way, makes them
easier to stack and protects them
from bugs and dirt. Do the same
with seasonal clothing to lengthen
the life of your items.
Use vacuum-seal bags where
possible to reduce the amount of
storage space you need. However,
avoid using such bags for items you
need more than once a month, as it
can be tiresome to retrieve and
restore these things.
Avoid storing items directly on the
floor of any closet. If there is
enough floor room, put a shelf in
the closet or use plastic bins or
crates to create additional
organization.
 Declutter Your Office
One of the areas where there is a high
production cost related to clutter is in
the office. Whether you work from home,
in an office or in a cubicle or shared
workspace, clutter can reduce efficiency
and create an inhospitable work
environment. Clutter in a business office
can even cause problems for others or
reduce the efficiency of your staff.

For years, I had a boss who was known

for the clutter of his desk and office. It
was common knowledge that you never
left anything of value on his desk, and if
you gave him a document, you always
made a copy first. We were working on
a high-level project with a tight deadline
once, and he asked one of my employees
for a copy of something that was sent to
us only in hardcopy. Like a good
employee, she immediately handed it
over and he lost it. It cost numerous
hours in phone time to get another copy.
To avoid causing this type of frustration
for yourself or anyone else, it is vital to
keep an organized workspace.

Organizing Your Desk

I always thought that a desk with a ton of
drawers and several bins or trays
offered the best chance for reducing
clutter. Although that may be true for
some people, over the years I found that
drawers just offered another place to
shove paper I probably did not need, and
inboxes and outboxes were hardly ever
used appropriately. On the other hand, a
good friend of mine created a space with
carefully labeled file drawers, dozens of
small baskets and bins and a four-tray
priority system for paperwork. Her desk
was full, but never cluttered, and that
system worked for her. What I am trying
to say is that the most important thing in
reducing clutter in your office is finding
a system that works for you.

If you are an organized and detailed

person, then keeping up with numerous
drawers and bins may be easy.
Otherwise, you may provide yourself
with extra work and stress because you
have to take time out of your busy week
to put your desk back in order.
Regardless of the method you choose,
here are a few important tips for keeping
a clutter-free and organized desk space.

Label your filing system and bins.

When you are away, other people
should be able to locate important
items with minimal searching.
Prioritize your work and get it
done. A main reason for desk
clutter is putting off work. As it
sits, other things pile up on top and
you may find yourself losing work
or missing deadlines.
Operate on a trash, pass or act
mentality. Every piece of paper that
crosses your desk should be
evaluated. Is it something that is
needed, or is it junk mail or
something that is already available
on the computer? Trash things you
do not need. Is it something you
will handle? If not, pass it on
immediately to the proper person. If
it is something you need to handle,
act on it immediately.
Use a follow-up filing system to
keep track of work when you are
waiting on a reply or action from
someone else. An expandable file
or file drawer works great for this.
Label your folders “Today,”
“Tomorrow,” “This week,” “Over
a week.” Paper clip items for each
day together and put them in the
appropriate folder. Go through the
folder labeled “Today” at the
beginning of each day. Move the
“Tomorrow” contents to the today
folder and the first paper-clipped
packet of the “This week” folder
into the “Tomorrow” slot.
Avoid letting other people create
clutter by labeling a single bin or
tray for incoming items. Go through
that tray several times a day to
handle or file items. If you can put
the incoming bin on a wall or
 outside your door, it reduces clutter
even more.

Organizing Filing Cabinets

It is sheer irony that the filing cabinet,
which was designed to help organize
offices, is one of the easiest places to
create clutter. If you have a filing
cabinet, I bet if you start going through
the paperwork, you will find items from
years ago. My husband and I recently
went through a small filing cabinet in our
home office. The bottom was filled with
random items like a stapler, cassette
tapes, cords and old cell phones. The
top was stuffed with hanging folders and
paper. I found files full of maintenance
tickets on cars we no longer owned and
bank records for accounts my husband
had more than twelve years ago.
Although the cabinet looked organized
from the outside, the inside was full of
clutter.

Regardless of whether you keep filing

cabinets in your home or work space,
there are some things you can do to
reduce paper clutter.

Always use labeled, hanging file

folders and ensure that you put
items in the proper place. This
makes it easier to find information
later.
Create proper categories for your
files. We had files for every piece
of home equipment when a single
folder labeled “Home manuals and
warranties” would have sufficed.
Remember the expert requirements
regarding data. Financial data can
be shredded after seven to ten
years, depending on your industry.
Warranty information can be
scrapped once the warranty date
has passed.
Invest in a scanner and external
hard drive to minimize the amount
of paper you need to keep.
Although you do need to keep
original birth certificates, social
 security information and anything
with a certified seal, you can create
electronic copies of a lot of other
items.
Clear out the filing cabinet at least
once a year. Set a date each year to
sit down with anyone else
concerned and go through filing
cabinet contents. If you have
labeled and dated everything in an
organized way, it should not take
long to clear out the oldest
paperwork.

Declutter Your Computer

Like the filing cabinet, the computer is a
secret habitat for clutter. One of my first
jobs was as a legal secretary for a small
law firm. The attorney I worked for and
his paralegal had a detailed hierarchy of
files with requirements on file names.
Each case had a folder. Within that
folder were subfolders with titles such
as “Correspondence,” “Deposition
Transcripts,” “Deposition Summaries,”
and “Trial Notes.” If I typed a letter to
an opposing counsel named Smith
dictated on January 2, 2012, I would
save it Smith_Ltr_010212 in the
correspondence folder of the
appropriate case. If I typed a Motion to
Dismiss dictated on August 14, 2012, I
would name it MotionDismiss_081412.
It might seem like an extremely detailed
system, but it did not take extra time to
save the document with these details and
anyone in the legal office could find the
file if they needed it.

Create a similar file system for

documents on your computer. If you
manage others who share files, ensure
they understand how to name each file
and where to save them. You should also
go through old files periodically and
delete or archive any that are not useful.
 Declutter Your Life and
Reduce Stress
So far, we have only covered clutter of
the physical or electronic spaces. You
can also have clutter in the mental,
social and media areas of your life. This
clutter can be much more difficult to
deal with, because it is hard to identify.
It is not something you see, but
something you feel. Because of this, you
may not realize that you are feeling
cluttered. Often, life clutter results in
stress and anxiety. In some cases, it can
lead to anger, depression and other
serious mental health conditions. This
section will deal with tips and
instructions for reducing life clutter and
dealing with the effects of clutter on your
emotions and mental functions.

Dealing with Mental Clutter

You know that feeling of being
physically exhausted but having a racing
mind when you lie down for the night?
That is a symptom of mental clutter. The
inability to relax or to concentrate on a
single task often arises because you have
too much going on in your mind. Most
people cannot simply shove their
concerns and responsibilities aside, but
there are some things you can do to deal
with these issues and create a more
functional mentality toward life.

Relaxation Techniques

One of the most fundamental relaxation

techniques is proper breathing. When
you become overwhelmed or anxious,
your breathing quickens. This increases
your heart rate and throws the amount of
oxygen you take in out of proportion.
Taking a moment to concentrate solely
on your breathing to return it to a slow,
rhythmical pattern calms the fight-or-
flight reaction in your body and will
help you consider issues more clearly.

Movement is often a way to expunge

nervous energy and relax your mind.
Short and vigorous walks, a couple of
rounds up and down the stairs, some
stretching exercises or a turn on the
treadmill are all great ways to reduce
stress. Add some music via headphones
and an MP3 player to help redirect your
mind from the clutter of problems or
thoughts occupying center stage.

For a quick mental getaway from any

location, practice visualizing imagery.
Imagine a restful place using all of your
senses. Think about how it looks,
sounds, feels, tastes, and smells. Using a
place you know well can help bring it
realistically to mind, and concentrating
on all of the sensations will take your
mind away from the current task and
provide a soothing mental break.

There are many ways to achieve a

relaxed or calm mindset. I personally
find online or phone app games like
Bubble Pop soothe my mind and calm
my breathing. My husband likes to vent
to a friend or family member as a way to
get the mental kinks out, and one lady I
know finds a hot cup of tea and a few
quiet moments to be the perfect remedy
to a stressful afternoon.

Learn to Let Go

Sometimes, mental clutter arises because

we hold all of our responsibilities close
to our chest. Often, we can delegate
some of our tasks to others or ask for
help. It can be difficult to let go of work
or obligations, but over committing is
bad for you and bad for the people you
are trying to help. Learn to delegate
appropriate tasks and trust capable
people to handle them. You can also
delegate in your home and social life.
Do not snap up every volunteer
opportunity that comes your way, and
ask the kids to carry some of the burden
of housework. By allowing people to
help, you free yourself up to provide
quality time and effort to tasks that you
cannot delegate.

Single-Tasking
The constantly connected, fast-paced
world of today has made everyone a
multitasker. As a business manager, I
often saw applicants list multitasking as
one of their strengths, probably because
it was a keyword that they thought
inspired confidence. While multitasking
is certainly necessary in many aspects of
life, there are times when you need to
shut out the clamor and concentrate on
the task at hand. Allowing the weight of
your to-do list to interrupt work, play or
other activities can diminish your
productivity or enjoyment.

Get in Touch with Nature

The natural world provides plenty of
ideas on how to live a less cluttered life.
You do not see wildlife bounding about
at madcap paces to pay the bills and
socialize. Instead, they go about their
work with a steady pace meant to see
them through the winter. Getting out into
the world and enjoying its beautiful
sights and sounds is also a great way to
clear your mind and separate yourself
from the clutter of your life. Go on a
short walk in the park, take an afternoon
hike or bike ride, or get away for a
weekend cabin stay in the woods.
Musician Jeremy Camp writes in his
book, I Still Believe, that he often sought
solace and prayer time in the woods
when he was confused or depressed
with life. Getting away provides
perspective and allows you to see what
should and should not be in your life.

For more tips and advice on living a less

stressful life, check out my book, De-
Stress Your Life: Reduce Anxiety,
Increase Energy, and Enjoy Your Stress-
Free Life.

Declutter Your Social Life

An excessively busy social life can be
the fast track to mental clutter. I am not
proposing that you become a hermit or
develop antisocial habits, but I do think
there is something to be said for
moderation in all things. Take a look at
your day planner or calendar. If the days
are nothing more than swirls of ink and
penciled-in tasks, it is possible your
week is cluttered beyond reason. If you
do not have a calendar or planner, then
you may have a cluttered social life
without even realizing it.

Keeping a Calendar

One of the first steps in decluttering your

social life is getting a visible look at
your activities. You do not need to
splurge on an expensive leather planner,
but purchasing a reasonably priced
pocket calendar or planner is a good
idea. I find that buying a small planner in
August is the best method. School
planners make perfect life planners, and
you can generally find a quality item
during back-to-school season for
between $3 and $10.

Planners are a personal choice, so you

will need to experiment with what
works best for you. I like a small book
that includes at least five lines for each
day of the week. I also prefer that the
planner is already filled in with months
and dates, because I have consistent
problems with filling them in myself. A
friend who pastors a small church
prefers to use the electronic planner in
his smartphone. He must make on-the-
spot commitments and found he would
not always have his planner with him.
After double- or triple-booking his time
on several occasions, he started
recording everything in his phone. The
added benefit is that the phone provides
an alarm chime for each appointment.

Find a method of calendaring that works

for you. My mother uses a simple wall
calendar on the fridge to record
appointments and important dates. I use
a more detailed planner to keep track of
appointments, social events, due dates
on jobs and more. The key is
consistency.
Learn to Say No

Once you look at your schedule in a

planner or calendar, you will see how
busy you really are. If there is little room
to write anything else in a given week,
you may need to back off some of your
social engagements. Many people have a
tendency to never say no to things. They
do not want to miss out on good times,
social climbing, networking or important
jobs. A good friend is fond of saying,
“People always say they do not have
enough time. Well, everyone has the
same amount. Everyone has 24 hours
every day.”

The key to reducing social clutter is not

gaining more time. It is prioritizing your
time appropriately, and that means
learning to say no. If the family has been
on the go all week, say no to the Friday
dinner invitation so everyone can get
some needed downtime. Make it a point
to spend a certain number of evenings in
every week at home and schedule the
other evenings carefully. You should
always be gracious when declining
invitations and try to avoid turning the
same friends down every week.
However, if a friend cannot understand
that you are tired or need some
nonsocial time to relax and rejuvenate,
then he or she may not be a friend you
want to keep close.
Quality Over Quantity

Another detrimental aspect of living in a

fast-paced world is the common habit of
trying to fit more in a day than 24 hours
can reasonably accommodate. Busy
people want to do it all. They want to
perform well at work, shine in social
settings, be good parents, spouses or
friends and have a little me-time left at
the end of the day. While all of these are
noble goals, fitting everything in every
day may not be possible. Even if you do
manage to schedule it all, the time spent
on each activity may be forced, rushed
or confusing. Instead, choose to do
fewer things, but do them well. Instead
of striving to spend two hours of family
time every night, spend four awesome
hours on Saturday. Instead of saying yes
every time a friend suggests an activity,
pick only those things that you will
actually enjoy together and that do not
impinge on other obligations.

Keep a Group Calendar

As my son grows older, my family is

more likely to make plans that do not
coordinate. As soon as he hit middle
school, I created a white board system in
the hall off our kitchen. There are
sections for him to write down projects
and test dates, social events and items
that he needs from us. There is also a
section for us to write down things we
need from him. A small calendar hangs
next to that board and everyone writes
their appointments and social events on
it. This little area in our hall ensures that
no one schedules an event that is at odds
with someone else’s, and that we are all
aware of what we need to do to ensure
my son does well in school.

If you have several children in school,

you might consider providing each a
small whiteboard or bulletin board. You
can also choose a door or wall in your
home and paint it with whiteboard or
chalkboard paint. This converts the
entire space into an easy-to-access
message and planning board.

Declutter Your Media

When you hear about decluttering and
organization, media probably never
crosses your mind. The truth is, many
people’s lives are full of unnecessary
electronic media such as television,
social networking and video games. I am
not one of those hardcore folks who
want you to toss out the big screen
because television rots your brain.
However, I do think many people spend
far too much time in front of a screen of
some sort and this can have an impact on
their entire life.
Recent statistics from StatisticBrain.com
indicate that the average child in the
United States spends more hours in a
year watching television than they do in
school. The average person watches
approximately 25 hours of television or
movies each week. That is a massive
drain on time and we have not even
included Internet use. You could be
spending 40 or 50 hours each week on
these pursuits. That is equal to a full
time job. By cutting back on electronic
media activity, you free up your
schedule for quality time with friends,
productive work, and other activities
that will help you achieve goals.
Declutter Television Habits

Think about how you watch television.

Are there times when you sit in front of
the screen and watch whatever is on out
of habit or inertia? You are already
there, so you just tune in to the next
program. There is a difference between
passive television viewing like this and
watching a show you really enjoy. There
is a value to watching something that is
entertaining and touches your heart or
mind. Our family enjoys watching
certain programs together because of
this. Here are some things you can do to
improve your television habit, so that
you are watching programs you really
enjoy and cutting out all the time-eating
fluff.

Decide how much television you

can afford to watch each week.
Make a list of shows to watch and
stop when you reach the allotted
time. This will force you to
prioritize.
Record shows on a DVR or TiVo
and fast-forward through
commercials to reduce the total
time spent on a show.
Purchase or rent shows on DVD to
increase your family’s control over
when and how you watch
television.
Designate a certain time each
 evening for television. Our family
watches television between 7:00
p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on weeknights.
When you start watching a show,
evaluate how you or the family
feels about it. Never keep watching
a show just because you started it.
Your time is valuable, and you
want to fill it with entertainment
you truly enjoy.

Declutter Social Media Habits

How many social media accounts do you

have and how often do you check them?
As a freelance writer, I struggled with
time management for several months. I
could not figure out how so many hours
passed by, but I did not get much work
done. As I took stock of how I spent the
time, I realized that I was habitually
checking Facebook every time I used my
browser. I was not spending a great deal
of time during each session, but a few
minutes were wasted every time. It
probably added up over the course of a
day to two hours or more.

Take stock of your social media habits.

You may be filling your time with
Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn
and more. In addition to reducing your
productivity, social media use might add
to your mental clutter. I found that when I
read updates from numerous friends
every few hours, my mind became
occupied with things other than the task
at hand. From worry about sick friends
to envy over someone’s newest vacation
pictures, I was being distracted.
Decluttering your social media habits
involves recognizing that they are a bad
habit. Once you can do that, here are
some tips for keeping social media
connections without having an impact on
your productivity and mental
concentration.

Unless you need multiple accounts

for business networking purposes,
choose one or two accounts that
you use regularly and where you
can interact with the most friends.
Avoid liking, friending or
following every person you
encounter online. Keep your lists
manageable, and subscribe only to
items you really want to read about
each day.
Keep social media buttons off your
menu bars. If you have to type the
address in, you are more likely to
think about what you are doing. I
was habitually clicking on the
Facebook button and navigating
social media before I realized what
I was doing. Sometimes, I did not
even mean to go to social media
and instead, meant to conduct
research online!
Do not make use of “keep me
logged in” options. Again, if you
have to type in your user name and
password each time, you will
realize how much time you spend
accessing social media.
Set times for accessing social
media. I check mine in the morning,
at lunch and in the early afternoon.
My friend uses Facebook as a
reward. Each time she completes a
certain amount of work, she sets a
timer for five minutes of Facebook
use.
 How to Maintain Your
Clutter-Free Life for the
Long Haul
Decluttering your life is not easy, but
maintaining a decluttered state is even
harder. It is not impossible and should
not be stressful, but it does take work
and a commitment to the process.
Obviously, you need the continued buy-
in and support of the entire household.
Support from close friends and
coworkers is also helpful, especially if
you share work or living spaces. You
need to create a plan and commit to it.
Clutter will not stay out on its own, and
you will periodically need to devote
time to reorganizing or cleaning a
cluttered area.

The number one key in maintaining a

clutter-free life long-term is motivation.
We all know people who have spent
hours cleaning, organizing and
redecorating a room. Perhaps we are
those people. We present the stunning
results to family and friends and we take
pictures. I always take pictures of a
room I just redecorated or organized,
because I have the secret thought that it
will never look that good again. This is
the wrong way of thinking. Instead, I
should commit to keeping things clutter-
free. Here are a few tips for developing
that thought process.
When you declutter, create an easy-
to-maintain organization. Simple,
easy-to-access organization is the
best way to ensure everyone will
continue to use the system.
Spend ten to twenty minutes each
day putting your area back into its
proper order. This is where baskets
with names come in handy. Make
everyone responsible for putting
their own things away.
Reinforce the idea that a
decluttered space is more livable.
Note how easy it is to work in a
space, find things you need and live
in the space.
Never be too hard on yourself. If
the dining room table collects some
clutter, you have not failed. You are
simply living in your space. Just
make sure you clear it away at the
next appropriate time.
 Three Steps You Can Take
Right Now
I’ve provided a lot of information in this
e-book, and you may be overwhelmed.
Take a moment to look back at the
chapter on relaxation and just breathe.
Dealing with clutter should reduce the
stress in your life, not add to it. You can
begin with simple and small tasks such
as the three easy steps below.

Create a Plan
Get a pen and a notebook. Make a list of
all the areas in your life where you
would like to see more organization and
less clutter. This is the beginning of your
plan. Do not try to tackle every area at
once. Instead, divide each area into
subsections. Your home might be
divided into a living room, dining area,
bedroom, closet and kid’s room. Your
office would be divided into desk, filing
cabinet and bookshelf. You could even
make further divisions for easier-to-
conquer tasks, such as top desk drawer,
left desk drawer, top filing cabinet
drawer, and so on. Next to each
subdivision, write the names of anyone
who shares that space or is responsible
for that space. You will need to meet
with that person, explain why declutter
is necessary and develop a cooperative
plan of action.
 Choose a Space
Choose only one space to work on,
depending upon the time you have
available. If you have fifteen minutes
before leaving the office, clear out the
small desk drawer. If you have four
hours on a Saturday, tackle the dining
room or a closet. Circle that item and
mark it out when you are done. Circle
the next item on your list and tackle it the
next time you have a few moments or
hours.

Reward Yourself
To increase your motivation for the job,
do not forget about rewards. If you have
decluttered the bathroom, you might
enjoy a relaxing shower in the newly
organized space. You could also relax
with a cup of hot tea, read a good book
for half an hour or splurge on a candy
bar. Positive motivation will increase
your willingness to move forward with
the long-term project.
 The Office Has a Floor: A
Decluttering Success Story
The downstairs bedroom in our funky A-
frame home was a running joke for many
years among our extended family. When
we moved into the home, my husband
occupied the space as an office. At the
time, he was working at home and I was
not. Over the course of a year, the space
was filled with boxes, filing cabinets,
peg boards and miscellaneous items. By
the end of that year, you could only see
the floor in a slim path from the door to
his chair. After my husband started
working outside the home again, the
office simply sat without change for
several years. He could make it to the
computer and seemed to be able to
locate necessary supplies, but it was
always a hassle.

After several years, I started working at

home and we decided the office needed
to be a shared workspace. There was no
way I was working amid piles of boxes
and paperwork, even if I could see a
way to clear a space for my small desk.
We made a shared commitment to
clearing the office. I thought the job
would take days, but my husband said,
“It has to be done Friday night. It is the
only time we have.”

With that looming deadline in mind, we

went to work. We even had my son help
sort papers and organize trash. Over the
course of four hours, we threw away
two garbage bags filled with paper,
discovered that my husband was not
even using the small closet, and sorted
through two filing cabinets full of
ancient documents. We placed a shelf in
the unused closet to increase our storage
space and cleared the entire floor. We
also divided the space. I have one wall
and he has the opposite. We placed a bin
near the door labeled “To be filed,”
because my husband is fond of tossing
paper to the side for later. My desk is a
simple table with a single small drawer
to prevent me from indulging my habit of
stuffing drawers full of stuff. You can
see that we addressed each person’s
clutter habits in the design of the room,
and it has been easy to keep clean since.

My brother-in-law walked into the

office shortly after we organized it and
cried, “My goodness! There’s a floor in
here!”

Unclutter your “floors” today and make

the best use of your space, time and
mental energy. Begin taking steps to
declutter your life, reduce stress and
meet goals with increased productivity
and motivation.
 Share Your Success
If you found the information in this book
helpful for your life and would like to
pass on any of these tips to your family
and friends, I invite you to share the
book on your social media pages. I also
invite you to review the book on
Amazon.com. Feedback is always
appreciated, and I would love to hear
which advice was most helpful to your
life.

MICHELLE STEWART
 Other Books by Michelle
Stewart

The Frugal Life: The Simple Path to

Living a Good Life on a Budget
Author Michelle Stewart delivers a
common sense approach to living a
simple, frugal life. With tips that include
how to save money in almost any area of
your home, how to cut back on
entertainment costs without giving up
fun, and how to incorporate your entire
family into the process, The Frugal Life
offers advice that will work for busy
moms or anyone trying to save money for
the future.

Michelle Stewart goes beyond tips about

saving a few cents with coupons or
cutting back on unnecessary spending.
Through real-life illustrations, she looks
at the reasons people spend too much
money and outlines some steps for
changing the way you think about
finances. Anyone can save money, pay
down debt, and live a more peaceful
life; they just need to be willing to make
some basic changes in how they deal
with money.

Get the book:

www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6EFPEK/
The Beautiful Home: Decorating
Ideas on a Budget for Your Dream
Home

Author Michelle Stewart brings a

practical approach to home decorating in
The Beautiful Home. Drawing on her
previous work in Declutter Your Life,
De-Stress Your Life, and The Frugal
Life, Stewart approaches decorating
with an eye toward enhancing overall
health, saving money, and presenting a
beautiful home.

Home decorating is a fun hobby for

some, and a worrisome chore for others.
Many people never get started with
decorating, because they are afraid they
will mess everything up. Stewart
promotes decorating tactics that can
always be undone, and advises newbie
decorators to avoid permanent changes.
She explores how little things can make
a big difference, and provides
introductory tips on how color, themes,
organization, and creativity can be
combined to create a stunning room.
With a combination of broad tips,
inspiring full-color photographs and
instructions for detailed projects, The
Beautiful Home offers information about
decorating that anyone can put in motion.

Get the book:

www.amazon.com/dp/B00C107DLQ/
De-Stress Your Life: Reduce Anxiety,
Increase Energy, and Enjoy Your
Stress-Free Life

Michelle Stewart uses her professional

and personal experiences, as well as
current research, to deliver a short,
concise and common-sense book about
dealing with stress in your life. De-
Stress Your Life is full of tips for
learning to deal with negative thoughts,
keeping work-related stress from taking
over your life, and dealing with
relationship and social stressors.

The first step in dealing with stress is

admitting that you are stressed and
locating the root of the problem. Many
people fail to admit to their stress
because they feel it will show weakness,
lack of control, or an imperfect life.
Michelle Stewart does a great job of
sharing relevant examples from her life
that show the truth about stress. Whether
you are dealing with money matters, the
work place, your home, or your own
mental worries, stress is completely
normal. De-Stress Your Life offers basic
and easy-to-use advice about dealing
with a normal problem in a healthy,
positive way.