Decluttering with Neurodiversity or Chronic Illnesses
Why Declutter?
I’ve always been fascinated with how things are categorised, organised and filed, but it can be so overwhelming when you have lots of stuff. The more rooms you have and the bigger the room, the more stuff you fill the rooms with stuff and the harder it is to organise your belongings.
It can be overwhelming to have your home stuffed with belongings from floor to ceiling or boxes of things you “haven’t got round to sorting out… yet” piling up in your precious home space. In most countries is now so expensive to have and run a home, whether you choose to buy or to rent and that every squared foot or squared meter counts in real estate!
So why keep stuff that you are tripping over? Is it because you don’t have enough space or because you have too many belongings? I guarentee it’s the latter…
The Meaning of Decluttering
What is decluttering? Well, it is the process of assessing which items in your home you need, want and love and then removing the items that do not fit into those categories.
Marie Kondo has made the popularised the question “Does it spark joy?” when assessing whether you should keep something and this approach is very useful too, but can be taken to an extreme in that some clients jokingly tell me that their tax return or work laptop doesn’t spark joy and they want to clear it out!!
However, you do need to consider if something is essential for creating the life you want to lead. So I prefer the question “Is this supporting the wonderful life I am trying to create?” and this question allows us to think more deeply, so that we can appreciate items we have. For example, “This work laptop helps me to earn the money to support my family and allow us to go on our annual skiing holiday”. It is necessary to keep!
The Psychology Behind Decluttering Blocks
Decluttering is a process that is not just physical - removing the unwanted items - but also psychological. Sometimes people don’t want to let go of things that were gifts, keep hold of things ‘just in case’ they might need them later, or become sentimental about everyday things just because someone who is no longer alive gave it to them.
These thought patterns are built into our human need for survival. As previous hunter-gatherers, we did not know when we may come across an item again and a scarcity mindset comes from that survival instinct. So, it is built into our nature to want to keep things we don’t even need! “But I might need that plate if we have guests, even though we already have 27 plates and only use 8!”
What Decluttering Blocks Do People Have?
The two biggest blocks clients experience are:
I don’t know where to start, as there isn’t room to move in here!
I need it to be perfect but I don’t think I can do that, so I just don’t start!
Decluttering Coaching can help with these particular blocks as coaching helps you to reflect on your situation, go deeper and uncover the things that are preventing you from getting started. We discuss the fear of disappointment of the end result not being perfect, the fear of failure, the overwhelm of how it has got out of hand and may do all over again. The emotional and psychological self-care needed to maintain a clutter-free home is fundamental to the process of removing unused or unneeded items from the home.
How Chronic Illness or Neurodiversity Can Make Decluttering Overwhelming
If you have been struggling with your health, energy levels or chronic pain, have a disorganised brain due to ADHD or dyslexia, or are spending a lot of time in hospital, it is really hard to get round to decluttering! The more things start to pile up, the worse the feeling and the situation gets and overwhelm sets in. The important thing to remember is that you are not alone in this and that even neurotypical people whose health is fine struggle with clutter! But here are some things you can do to help:
Starting small like doing a bit every day. Start with the things you know you don’t need - go around and collect up all the things you can put in the bin or in the recycling and maybe focus on clearing one specific area or surface that will make a significant impact on you.
Setting routines and giving things a home like hanging your keys / bag / purse in the same place every time you come in the door. If everything in your home has a place to live, you can find things much quicker and more easily.
Creating habits like choosing to always open your mail and recycling the envelope (and the letter if not needed) straight away instead of putting it onto a pile to be lost and become clutter.
Employing a cleaner to come week, fortnightly, monthly, or even as a one-off deep clean, depending on finances, so that you are forced to keep your space tidy so that they can clean your home. This helps with the upkeep as well.
Making it fun by putting on some music and sing along, or having a family member or friend help you and catch up whilst you declutter instead of catching up over a coffee!
Having an annual ‘spring clean’ weekend to stay on top of your home by clearing out: expired medicines or foods; clothing, shoes, make up or bath products you haven’t used up in the past year; clothes or shoes that no longer fit or are worn out. I like to do this in January when it is cold, dark and people have less money to socialise after the Christmas season.
Starting With Decluttering a House and Making a Home
If pain, fatigue or focus is a challenge and you find it daunting to begin, start small with the decluttering process by doing 10-20 mins per day and start with the easiest non-sentimental items, such as clothing, bath & beauty, kitchenware, books, paperwork, recycling etc.
If you have reached your limit and just want to get stuck in, then you may wish to set aside a weekend to get as much done as possible and try to complete my Quick Decluttering Challenge. If you can afford to, book a cleaner to do a deep clean after you have done this declutter challenge as a treat for completing it! See how many you can tick off in a weekend! Let me know how you get on! Check out the video and the list below:
Look out for further articles on the blog around organisation, systems and maintenance to continue your decluttering journey!
