I have been publishing and earning on Hubpages for the past five years.
I have a special interest in researching and writing health topics but I have also published on other general topics as well.
My specific areas of interest are mindfulness, nutrition and other health topics.
You can see my portfolio on Hubpages at:
katemcbride.hubpages.com
I decided to join this site to expand my writing and I look forward to continuing to research and write quality articles here.
I am currently publishing two series of books on Amazon- "Everyday Made Easy" and "Nutrition365"
Thank you for viewing my page here :-)
Kate McBride
Declutter Your Life
Your home and your mind
Decluttering in a comprehensive way involves decluttering the physical space you live in as well as decluttering your mind. Both these parts are necessary and work best in tandem with each other. In this hub we will consider each of these areas and give some useful tips on the best way to proceed with them Living in a clutter-free environment will have a positive effect on your mental well-being as well as making your living space more comfortable.
There are good reasons to declutter outlined here as well as useful hints and tips on how to become motivated to do it and how to go about it.
Declutter your home
Disposing of physical clutter is an essential practice of good housekeeping. There are many good reasons to declutter our living space, some of which are as follows:
A clutter-free home is easier to keep clean and tidy.
Decluttering reestablishes a good energy flow in your home.
A decluttered home has a positive effect on all family members.
Decluttering makes future housekeeping chores easier.
A home that is clutter-free is easier on the eye and more comfortable to live in.
Living with clutter drains energy .
Your home will be more spacious.
It will be easier to find things in your home.
Removing physical clutter can be made very easy if you follow a few simple steps as outlined in this article. Basically, it involves sorting out your belongings in one place at a time. Dispose of anything that is not necessary or that you don’t use any more. There are lots of people who want an easy way of decluttering their home as many people genuinely struggle with clutter. It is important to note that after initial decluttering, further effort has to be made on an ongoing basis to maintain the home as a clutter-free environment. Decluttering needs to become part of life and daily housekeeping policy in the context of keeping a clean, tidy home. A comprehensive guide on how to declutter and maintain the improvements can be found here and is well worth reading.
Even if you are not interested in decluttering at the moment, it is something that will become an issue for you unless you address it so it is better to do so sooner rather than later to avoid unnecessary work and stress.
Ten easy steps to declutter your home
1. Start by removing clutter from one room at a time. Go through all storage units in the room and remove unnecessary/unwanted items. By the time you have finished, that room will be so much more comfortable than the rest of your house and easier to keep clean that it will motivate you to move onto another room.
2. Avoid bringing unnecessary items into your home in the first place. The first thing to do when you have decluttered a room is to establish a rule not to bring any further clutter into it or the purpose of the initial decluttering is defeated. This way, when you do declutter the existing stuff, you’ve already stopped the vicious cycle of repeating the clutter.
3. Bring as much of the stuff you have decluttered as you can to the charity shop for resale. In this way you don’t feel guilty about wasting it which you would do if you just dumped it.
4. Put aside 15 minutes daily for decluttering and stick to this. Although this is a short space of time, you can manage to shift a lot of stuff in 15 minutes.
5. Use smaller storage units so you have less room for unnecessary stuff.
6. Only keep an item of clothing for six months. If you have not worn it in this space of time, it is time to dispose of it by bringing it to the charity shop or passing in on to someone you know who will wear it.
7. Keep moving everything out of your home when you are finished using it. For example, books that you have finished reading can be passed on to friends immediately.
8. The “one in, two out “ rule is a very good idea for maintenance of a clutter-free home. When you bring a new item into your home throw out two items-simple!
9. When you have filled a few boxes or bags with your clutter, take them to the charity shop as soon as possible to avoid the temptation of rummaging through them again to take things back out.
10. A good way to start is to remove clutter from counters and other flat surfaces in your home. Leave only the essential items, putting the rest in a cupboard for future use or in a box for the charity shop.
There is nothing as gratifying as having your home clutter-free, tidy and clean so get started now and reap the benefits of this simple, free way of improving your home.
Declutter your mind
The basis for decluttering your mind is to a large extent dependent on becoming more organised and getting into a healthy routine. Another factor is to limit the amount of information we expose ourselves to which can be difficult in this information age. Making decisions rather than procrastinating is another factor which has the positive effect of reducing the stress and anxiety of indecision.
Making lists is another way of freeing up mental space because when we write things down we can forget about them until we need to refer to the list when we need to remember something.
Ruminating about the past is something we need to stop doing to free our minds of mental clutter.
Avoiding multi-tasking by focussing on one task at a time will also ease the stress associated with mental clutter. In this context, it is also necessary to prioritise tasks in order of importance to get the important things done first.
There is an excellent article on this topic available at this link .
Changing your lifestyle by having less mental clutter will have many beneficial effects, notably more efficiency,less stress and a more relaxed life.
