Written by Ryan Erwin

A person’s environment exerts a subtle but powerful influence on their feelings and actions. We know our moods improve and we feel a heightened sense of well-being when we are out in nature. Being exposed to moderate amounts of daylight can also help people who are ill recover faster. Infants are more likely to learn to talk, crawl, and walk earlier if they are always surrounded by
toddlers more than if they only saw adults every day. Furthermore, people who are naturally reserved can become more outgoing in the company of others they are comfortable with. Everything in your environment influences your behavior, whether you know it or not. But it is better to how the different things in your surroundings influence your behavior. That way, you can be intentional by permitting only things that have a positive impact on your mind and body.

In this regard, the most important place to start with is your home. While you can always escape to nature or some other place to find rest and solace, those episodes are short-lived and you must inevitably return home. This makes your home the most influential environment in your life and why your attempts to surround yourself with an uplifting environment should begin with the home. As Keyrenter Hampton Roads Management recommends, everything in the home should be optimized to help you make the most of the time you and your loved ones spend there.

What are the ways to do this? Naturally, when trying to create a home environment that is well-attuned to your well-being, one of the first things you think about is painting the home with colors that put you at ease. The next thing is to use furniture and décor that are soothing to the eye and touch. However, the most important factor for creating a positive environment in your home without renovating it is imposing order in the home. The most underrated aspect of the home is the effect of clutter on your mental health.

A cluttered environment will mess with you in more ways than you realize.

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The negative effects of a cluttered home

• Clutter interferes with your ability to grow and move forward with your life. People who
  cling to things they should dispose of do not give their minds the chance to let go of the
  old and make way for the new.
• Clutter steals your time. From impeding free movement through your home, to forcing
  you to spend tons of time searching for stuff, a cluttered home will force you to waste
  valuable hours.
• Clutter has an unlikely effect on your ability to think. In a cluttered room, you are less
  likely to make connections between cause and effect because the environment deprives
  you of clarity.
• Clutter can even negatively influence people’s food choices. This surprising effect of clutter can cause obesity and other health problems.

On the other hand, a clean and tidy home can completely transform your experience of being in that environment. Here are just a few ways organizing your home can improve your quality of life.

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The benefits of a well-organized home

• Improved productivity: Being able to think clearly, move through your home without needing to navigate clutter, and knowing exactly where everything in the home is can have a massive positive impact on your productivity. If everything in the home is organized, you will not waste precious minutes searching for something as you might often do.
• Reduced overwhelm: The mere presence of unsorted stuff in the house can heighten your level of anxiety. Every time you look at those things, you can feel the stress piling on. On the other hand, if the home is organized, this burden on your mental and emotional health is removed.
• You know exactly what you have: With a well-organized home, you know what you have and where each item is located in the home. There is little chance that you are going to go out and buy something you already have. This not only helps you save money, but you also make the most of what you own.
• Your home is always visitor-ready: With an untidy home, you have to dash around to make your home presentable every time someone tells you they are visiting. But even with the last-minute dashing around, the home is not as clean or tidy as it could be and your visitors know it.
• Boosts self-confidence: A well-organized home boosts self-confidence because you see yourself in a different light. Instead of feeling like a pack rat, you think of yourself as someone with some level of significance. That feeling will overflow into the way you act in other areas of your life.
• Improves self-discipline: Organizing your home imposes a high degree of self-discipline on you. You have to think
  carefully about where you want things to be. You will also be more likely to return things
  to their proper place after using them, instead of postponing it.

If you need a step-by-step program with expert help and guidance to help you declutter and start living better at home, look no further than joining the next session of Contented Interiors’ Chic, Kid-Proof Living Rooms Course + Community. The 12-week program will transform your living room from cluttered and stress-inducing to chic, streamlined, and able to be tidied in less than 5 minutes! Learn more by visiting this link.

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