Whether you like it or not, or how much you tell yourself being greeted with a messy room everyday does not bother you, clutter has an impact on you whether you want it or not.

Still insisting that an unorganized bedroom does not bother you?

Have you ever walked into a hotel room and gushed over it’s interior design and alluring environment? If you do, and you are used to clutter, then clutter does bother you. If not, you would find your mess of a room to be more seductive than a classy hotel room.

The general view that clutter promotes negative energy is not limited to what we see. The spiritual world is a great advocate of practicing clutter-free living.

I cannot think of any mainstream religion that does not encourage followers to clean up, pack up, and keep things organized at home.

Even in metaphysical science, feng shui makes organization the core of the whole practice itself.

Cluttered living does not just display your strong tolerance levels towards disorganization. It actually implies a few more things about you that are not exactly flattering on a blind date.

It’ says that you:

• don’t manage your time very well
• have a problem letting go
• are a huge mess even in other areas of life
• live a stressful life
• are as lazy as a panda

Whether these are true or not is not the point. The point is that friends and strangers can decide that about you even if they don’t know you.

You might be a loser or you might not. But I’ll bet you prefer a neat and tidy home instead of a clutter-everywhere kind of home.

You know how I know that?

Because I also have a lot of clutter at home. And although I would like to have everything more organized and more pleasing to the eyes, I’m just too lazy to sort out everything and arrange them nicely into cabinets and shelves.

Here are the most common excuses people use to tell themselves it perfectly fine to keep clutter lying around as they are.

Disorganization is my method of organization

Of all the excuses people give. This is one of the toughest to argue against.

Because who are you to decide what is organization and what is not?

And if you are to test them to see if they know where their stuff are, they can pick them out from the field of junk in the bedroom. And if you pack up their stuff for them, they go hysterical about not being able to locate their personal belongings.

I don’t need them now, but I will in future

Raise your hands if you have stuff lying around which you don’t need now. You actually bought it for forecasting your need for it in future.

I used to have a very bad habit of buying stuff that I feel I would need. And even after years, I still don’t need them. It took many purchases that were never used for me to realize how wasteful I have been with my money.

And these cool gadgets just add to the clutter at home.

These days, I don’t buy stuff that I don’t have an immediately need for anymore. So what if it is on sale at half price? It would still be money down the drain when you don’t use it no matter how much money you have got discounted from it’s retail price.

This is of exceptional value to the right person

I cannot even believe I’m writing this… because I have kept some stuff with me for about a decade and a half for exactly this reason.

They are toy collectibles I had the opportunity to acquire when I was in my early 20s.

I’m not a collector. I have no use for them. I just cannot bear to throw them away. Someone would value it highly. Yet I think they are today worth at most 5-times the price I paid for them.

If I charge myself rental for the space these stuff take up, I’d probably be making a loss.

It’s time to either throw them away, or finally attempt to search for the buyer who would pay for them.

It can be fixed

I just looked into the upper right corner of a wardrobe and found 2 laptops sitting there covered in cobwebs.

I don’t know about you. But I just have a phobia with throwing away old computers. There is always this irrational fear of having some geek recover all the personal files inside and find some way to abuse them.

There are no sex tapes inside. And there’s nothing important stored in them as I have not attempted to restart them for years. Yet I leave them sitting there… unwilling to condemn them to the junk yard

In fact, I know jolly well that all I need to do to get them running like new is to format their hard drives and reinstall Windows (which I know how).

Yet I’m too lazy to overhaul them. And I’m just procrastinating with the next course of action I’ve planned for them.

If only I have a bulldozer to crush them…

I can still wear them if I slim down

When I was still experiencing puberty, I used to buy clothing one size bigger so that I can still fit into it 6 months later.

And when we grow up, we no longer get bigger due to hormones. It’s usually due to fat and a lower metabolism. And usually, this phase of tummy expansion goes much faster than puberty.

Before we know it, our fitted T-shirts and skinny jeans no longer fit. And we continue to keep them in the already-overflowing closet thinking that we are going to slim down someday.

What are the odds for that dream to come true? Almost zero if you don’t diet and don’t exercise.

There is a minor chance that you could lose weight drastically if you contract some form of serious illness. But in that scenario, your clothing would be the least on your mind.

Send all the shirts and pants that no longer fit to the Salvation Army. That way, at least some good can come out of your textiles.

Clutter is not therapeutic. If anything, it’s counter-therapeutic. And it’s not ideal when you are trying to manage stress or eliminate anxiety. Annihilate all excuses and get to work in cleaning up. It could do wonders to your mental and emotional health.