The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown has been challenging in many ways, but there have been some positives too. For many of us, it has provided some much needed “down-time” to get the garage and loft sorted and bring a semblance of organisation into our homes.
However, with the easing of lockdown our lives are getting busier again and it is tempting to slip back into our old habits of not putting things away where they belong. But letting clutter accumulate around you can elevate your stress levels and reduce your ability to think clearly.
Putting things away in an organised fashion, which would take literally seconds to do, will inevitably reduce frustration and save us valuable time. For example, some of my family members, (no names mentioned!), are forever for misplacing their car keys causing havoc and strife when they next need to go out! Sound familiar? Why not designate a drawer or container or even a cupboard with hooks to avoid last minute panic?
Have a home for everything, that way it is easy to put the item away and even easier to find it next time.
Another good strategy is to store things close to where you actually use them. The DIY tools I use for little jobs around the house are a good example. I used to store these tool outside in the garden shed and after use they would be left sitting, often for days, on the side waiting to be put away. So instead I brought a small selection of tools indoors and found a little box in the utility room to store them in. Now it’s easy for me to find them and put them away when the job is finished.
Often we think we’ve not got the time to put things away but mostly it’s that we don’t have the motivation to do it. If putting something away takes less than 2 minutes it’s worth doing there and then.
It has been proven that if you have an organised place to work/live you can perform tasks more productively. Clutter overloads your senses, causing anxiety level to rise and reduces your ability to think straight and be creative. How good does it feel to walk into a room where everything is in its place? Pure bliss. So, nip clutter in the bud.
