You open your closet door and a pair of soccer cleats come tumbling out. Or maybe you can’t even get the door closed because your closet is bursting at the seams. If your closet is cramped with stuff, you’re definitely not alone. Clearing away the clutter is something that almost everyone struggles with, but it’s important to do in order to have a healthier life. That’s why you need to learn how to clear closet clutter — once and for all.
According to a study conducted by Mercari, 63% of Americans admitted to having too much stuff. And sadly, more than 37% of Americans experience “extreme anxiety” because of the clutter in their lives. It can be hard to know where to start and even harder to let things go. So what’s first when it comes to clearing out closet clutter? Elisa Robyn, PhD. a wealth relationship psychologist, says that subtraction is the first step when it comes to decluttering. “One of the first steps is subtraction, emptying out the physical and emotional aspects of their life that do not support them,” says Robyn. By clearing out our closets, it can also lead us to getting rid of our old lifestyles and being able to create someone new. “We can see who we were and what we no longer wish to be,” Robyn says.
But sometimes, that’s easier said than done. After all, many people form an emotional attachment to things, making it even harder to get rid of items that are just taking up too much space. “We hold on to family mementos that have lost their meaning from a sense of obligation or gifts that someone gave us but that we have never liked,” says Robyn. “We tie ourselves to the expectations and desires of others and do not have room to create our own life.” So even though it might be hard to get rid of that sweater a family member gave you for Christmas five years ago, it is definitely time to let it go so there is room for things you actually enjoy.
And once you start to pare down your possessions, you’ll suddenly feel a shift in energy and even optimism in your life. “When our environments are clean, we have a sense of having more room in our lives, with more organization and structure,” says Dr. Sherrie Campbell, Ph.D., a physiology expert and author of Success Equations: A Path to Living an Emotionally Wealthy Life. Clearing closet clutter has the ability to not only allow you to be neat and organized, it can also help us with how we feel on a day to day basis. “When we are able to declutter, we have more energy, less stress and more freedom to live as our true self.”
Our emotional state and what we bring into our closets go hand in hand. Clearing closet clutter allows us to have more room for a new and improved version of ourselves!
–Natalie Bennett