The spring clean that will change your life

Clutter: it’s not just in your house, it’s not just your problem, we promise. Everyone has clutter. It could be hiding in the spare bedroom or taking over the farm office. It could be piling high in those kitchen cupboards – you know the ones you don’t open for fear of what will fall out. Take it from us, everyone has a dirty little clutter secret.

Clutter really becomes a problem though when it’s taking up more headspace than floor space. Now that spring has finally arrived, you might be thinking some spring cleaning is on the cards, but if it all feels a bit much then Sarah Reynolds’ book Organised could offer a helping hand.

Sarah is a self-confessed organiser, who loves clean spaces, storage boxes and believes everything has a place. That’s not to say she is perfect. “At this very moment in time, there are clothes strewn across my bedroom floor,” she confesses.

However, there is a difference between a messy floor and a cluttered house, and getting from one space to the other involves facing the fear.

Facing the Fear

“It’s like this”, says Sarah. “Nobody likes to clean. Very few people get excited about sorting through boxes of old stuff, separating sentimental items from junk, not even me,” she laughs.

“What you need to look towards is the feeling you’ll have after the space is cleared. You have to ask: ‘Which is more stressful for me? The thought of taking a day out of my life to tackle this spare room head on, or the thought of still looking at the same mounting clutter in a years’ time?’”

Keeping up with the Jones’s

Not only has Sarah written a book on getting organised, she also runs her own company, going to people’s houses and helping them face the mounting situation.

She says picking up the phone is sometimes the biggest struggle.

“Hoarding isn’t really my focus. If someone has hoarding issues, I usually ask them to work with a counsellor beforehand, because they really need to know why they are keeping stuff before moving on.

“I do work with people, though, whose houses are pretty disorganised – and there is a huge amount of shame associated with that. People always ask: ‘Do I have the worst house you have ever seen?’. Or immediately they start explaining why there is a mess.

“There is a big ‘keeping up with the Jones’s pressure, and everyone always thinks their neighbour’s house is far cleaner. Well, I am here to tell you that I was probably in your neighbour’s house – and theirs was just as bad.

Stay Focused

As well as the comparison, people also have to face the procrastination, says Sarah. “Procrastination adds stress to people’s lives. But life comes with its own challenges and can be stressful enough as it is, so why add little pressures on top of that?

“People tend to dread reorganising and decluttering and hate the thought of tackling the farm office, but when you get into it, you realise it’s not as bad as you think.

Sarah’s book is divided into key chapters, such as looking at your habits and prioritising your time to declutter. However, the most important element is not just action but keeping going once you have the job in hand.

“I have seen it time and again that people will start making progress, see the space start to clear and think: ‘Ah, that’s grand. I’ll leave it there now for another day. But then you lose momentum. You come out of decision-making mode regarding whether items need to stay or go, and then you find yourself six months later or next spring looking at the same task over again.

“You need to keep going and put a system in place to avoid the clutter building up again. Look at your storage solutions. Does everything now have a place? Develop a new system so that the place can continue to be clutter-free.”

After that, general cleaning and tidying will feel far more obtainable. “I said earlier that there are clothes on my bedroom floor. There are because I have had a busy week. We all do, it’s life, it happens. However, I know when I go home this evening that if I give my house just a half an hour, maybe an hour, and I will have it back to normal again.

“It is all about habit. I often say the difference between an organised person and someone who isn’t is the dedication of time. For example, I will go home tonight and make my dinner. I can tell you this: I probably won’t want to clean the dishes afterwards. I will want to sit down, relax and watch telly as much as the next person.

“However, I know if I do that, I am just adding stress and another job to my to-do list tomorrow. So getting it sorted quickly and then moving on can make life much easier.”

Clear the Mind

This element of stress management is key to Sarah’s approach. “Your mind and your house deserve more. Your house could be the most important financial decision you have made in your life. You are probably working hard every day to pay off a mortgage.

“It should be your refuge. It should be the place you go to relax and de-stress. It shouldn’t be a place where just looking at the pile of junk under the stairs adds another stress to your life.”

In fact, she argues that it even goes beyond that, it could be costing you money. “One area of the house that many farming families are petrified of tackling is the farm office. Paperwork has been a huge issue for farmers for many years and often they are afraid to throw out anything. However, that doesn’t mean all your farm documents need to be clogging up the farm office.”

Look at filing old paperwork into labelled boxes and store them in dry, safe places, maybe in the attic or in storage sheds. You’ll still have access to them if needed, but you don’t have to look at them every day, she recommends. Also consider buying some online storage and filing stuff in the cloud. This will only get easier with time, given that every farmer now has to apply for basic payment through agfood.ie, so there is a back-up online of any documentation that has been sent between you and the Department.

“Getting the farm office sorted isn’t just about getting the place clean,” says Sarah. “I really believe a cluttered office can stagnate potential to grow and increase income. A decluttered space – no matter how small it might be – will help to clear your mind, be creative and see more opportunity with the business. It really is just about facing the fear and getting stuck in.” CL

For more information, log onto www.organisedchaos.ie.