Such an interesting question I was asked this month, and hopefully the answers will enable you to think about your own situation and how your clutter itself could be the clue to your deeper needs and therefore provide you with a starting place for decluttering.
Every single thing you own (physical stuff, mental thoughts and emotional feelings) says something about you, and each of those things that you also identify as clutter adds another layer of "data".
Clutter is the symptom of unmade decisions.
So, if you think about the mental side of clutter first, it is quite easy to understand - those things pinging around in your head that are either getting you down, stopping you moving forward, provoking certain conversations or creating a sense of overwhelm are cluttering up your mind and taking away your head space are probably all about decisions you have to make.What are the themes, common threads to your mental clutter?
Emotional clutter is also representative of decisions but in a different way. We often have emotional clutter due to events that we are still upset from (whether we know it or not!) - perhaps they were traumatic, confusing or maybe we were not supported in the way that we needed. We then experience this in the present by overreacting to things, regularly feeling guilty or ashamed or by being uncomfortable with other people's emotions for example. The decisions that are "hanging" with regards to emotional clutter are around deciding when we are ready to listen to the message that a particular emotion is bringing us. What emotions are recurring for you and what might they tell you about what you need?
Physical clutter is often the most "presented" clutter issue but can be the trickiest to decipher. Every time you acquire something and every time you let go of something you are making decisions. All the time you own something you are either making a conscious decision to keep it (i.e. useful stuff, things you love etc) or you are avoiding the decision to let go of it. Clutter is the stuff you are avoiding making the decisions about.
What is your decision difficulty?
Clothes - is linked to your identity past, present and future.
Loft/Garage/Shed - is linked to things being too much to handle and therefore things are packaged up and put away.
Kitchen - often a busy area for families and this clutter is linked to your current priorities. It may be that you are taking on too much or are keeping yourself particularly busy on purpose.
Kids stuff - letting go of things your kids have finished with can be particularly painful if there is a sadness around having them grow up and not be little anymore. There may be also be sadness around your experience as a parent.
Work/Paperwork - keeping clutter in these areas could be linked to having an increased sense of duty or maybe a concern about having to prove or justify yourself at some point.
Let me know what resonates, or if you have a different clutter situation let me know and I can help with some clues.
You can see now that with physical clutter even if you have tried many different things to help, such as hiring an organiser, buying storage or even contemplated moving house, you are still finding that clutter creeps back time after time, This is because clutter is the symptom of something, and not the root cause, and so just clearing physical clutter, for instance, does not always mean that you are solving the problem- unless you also do the mental work around why you have it in the first place.
Your challenge with clutter is not about the stuff it is about the difficulty you have in making those specific decisions.
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