January 12, 2018

There are more kinds of clutter than you might think

Home & Life

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What do you think of when you hear the word clutter? A messy house, an overflowing closet, a garage filled to the brim?

 

In her bestseller “Clear your clutter with Feng Shui” Karen Kingston says, that per her definition there are four categories of clutter:
– things you don’t use or love
– things that are untidy or disorganized
– too many things in too small a space
– anything unfinished

 

Again, even reading this, some might only think of the physical clutter in their house, garage, office, or car. But there is so much more to clutter, these are the levels that come to my mind:
– physical clutter
– digital clutter
– mental clutter
– social clutter
– emotional clutter

 

There is also spiritual clutter but that’s a whole other ballgame that I’d like to leave for another time.

 

So are you surprised? When I talk to people, they understand physical and digital clutter but have no idea what mental, social or emotional clutter could be.

 

That’s why my upcoming Decluttering Challenge touches all five levels. If you want to be part of it and start moving from Chaos to Peace in your life, sign up for the Challenge here

 

To give you a little glimpse into these different kinds of clutter, let’s explore each of Karen’s categories with the five levels I came up with. You can either watch this video or scroll down and read the blog post.
 

 

 

Things You Don’t Use Or Love

Physical Clutter

This is probably the easiest and most obvious, all the things that you own that you don’t use and also don’t love
 

Digital Clutter:

Saved files and emails that you never will need to refer back to, unread emails that are older than 1-3 months
 

Mental Clutter:

Old ideas that have nothing to do with your current life, negative self-talk.
 

Social Clutter:

Old friends, you have nothing in common anymore, new friends that drain your energy and pull you down
 

Emotional Clutter:

hanging on to anger and frustration and staying in victim mode instead of working through it in order to let go and move on.
 
 

Things that are untidy or disorganized

 

Physical Clutter

Even if you use and love your stuff if things don’t have a home it’s hard to find them and the chaos can be a drain on your energy
 

Digital Clutter

Even if you don’t have useless files on your computer, if you have no system on how and where to save these files, you will pull your hair if you need to find something
 

Mental Clutter

Bad habits and too much information aimlessly put into your mind creates a thought chaos and you lose focus of what’s important,
 

Social Clutter

this is a little harder to spot, but I’d say if you don’t know what priority a relative or friend has in your life you can
easily fill your precious time with the wrong people. When somebody that you care about needs your support and help you have no time for them or have to cancel and reschedule
 

Emotional Clutter

You have no routine or practice to sort your emotions on a regular basis to make sense of them
 

Too Many Things In Too Small A Space

Physical Clutter

Your life or family has grown out of your current home, or the home was never big enough
 

Digital Clutter

You don’t have enough memory on your computer, cloud, or phone to safely store your data. When you want to save something important you would need to go on a delete-spree first or buy more space
 

Mental Clutter

If you overwhelm your brain with to much information in too short of a time
 

Social Clutter

You have too many appointments and commitments on your calendar for the day, week and/or month. if your calendar has no wiggle room for unexpected stuff that can come up
 

Emotional Clutter

You try to suppress emotions to not have to deal with them until eventually, you explode like a pressure cooker
 

Anything Unfinished

 

Physical Clutter

Little repairs around the house that are not done, buttons that need to be sewn on, leaking tap etc
 

Digital Clutter

Started eBooks and eCourses, an inbox full of unread emails
 

Mental Clutter

Opinions you have not formed, decisions you procrastinate to make
 

Social Clutter

Friends or family you don’t talk to because you didn’t resolve an argument,
 

Emotional Clutter

Disappointments you haven’t processed, grief you haven’t dealt with
 

Are you surprised with my list? This is how I see the different kinds of clutter. If you are interested to learn more, join my FREE Decluttering Challenge starting February 1st. It’s four weeks of small manageable tasks to help you clear your household, business or paperwork, digital, mental and social clutter.

Clearing clutter in your life opens up space for you on several levels and moves you from chaos to peace with ease. Decluttering is self-love, sign up for the challenge here.

 
 

Subscribe now and never miss an episode

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