#29. Physical Clutter is Mental Clutter
Episode Shownotes:
Today's episode is a re-release from the former podcast (before the rebrand)...an oldie but a goodie. I'm sharing some of the ways that physical clutter contributes to your distraction and unease and, more importantly, simple tips you can use TODAY to begin clearing out the clutter.
If you struggle with this sort of thing, then be sure to join the SLP Support Group on Facebook because this month we're doing a decluttering challenge. What better way to kick off the new year!? Click the link below to join.
Are you sick and tired of feeling overwhelmed by all the things? I can help. Schedule a free consult today.
Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.
Episode Transcript*:
This is Your Speech Path: Mindful Time Management for the Busy SLP. My name is Theresa Harp and, as a mom and speech pathologist turned productivity coach, I know a thing or two about how hectic life can be. If you're an SLP who's overworked, burnt out and feeling like you're constantly falling short as a therapist and a mom, then this is the podcast for you. I cover time management and mindset strategies so you can learn to love your work and your home life at the same time. Let's dive in.
Hello SLPs, welcome to Episode 29, where I'm actually doing something a little bit different. This episode is a, I don't know what you want to call it, a flashback. Those of you who have been around on the show for a while probably remember that back in 2021, 2022, I had this podcast. It was similar content, similar topics, but was under a different name, different brand. It was the old name of the business, and in what was it? Maybe February or March of 2023, I went through a rebrand and one of the sort of decisions that I had to make at the time was to pull down all of the past episodes. There were about 75, 76 episodes, and one of the things that I am trying out this year, in 2024. As I'm recording this is to kind of re-release those episodes not all of them, but certain ones and so this episode that you're about to hear was previously recorded, back in 2021, I believe, or the beginning of 2022. So you'll hear me talk a little bit about COVID and you know there's a bit more cursing in this episode than I think I've done in recent episodes, but anyway, the content itself is still very valuable, has really good information that is very aligned with what we are doing right now in the SLP support group on Facebook. So you're going to hear information about decluttering and how I go about that and what are some of the lesser known benefits of decluttering. And if this is the type of thing that you're interested in, if that's sort of the mood that you're in these days, then definitely pop over to the SLP support group, because we are currently doing a monthly challenge. This month's challenge is all about decluttering. You can join the challenge. It is free to participate. The Facebook group is free. Everything is complimentary, so there's no cost involved, but it is there to help give you the support that you need and the accountability that many of us often benefit from when it comes to any big task, and in this case it is decluttering. So, with that being said, I am going to share this episode from a couple of years ago. All about decluttering.
Welcome back to another episode. It is Tuesday morning and I've dropped all four kids off at school. Knock on wood, it stays that way and I don't get a call about a closure. I feel like we're all. I feel lucky that my kids are in person number one, and I feel like we are all just sort of holding our breath. And it feels like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with this whole COVID stuff. Because after Christmas break and winter break, you know, all the schools went crazy, everybody's gone crazy, and I mean I've I know districts that were closing like the night before school was supposed to be reopening, and it's just nuts. It's crazy for parents, it's crazy for teachers, it's just really really hard for everyone. And so I'm making the most of this time because I don't know how long I'll have it right. And I mean, isn't that the whole premise of the XXXXXXX podcast? I think so, all right.
Today's episode, episode 16, is talking about clutter. So I have a lot of thoughts on this topic, but really, what I want to talk about today is two types of clutter physical clutter and mental clutter and what I'm going to do is kind of define them or just explain what I think of when I use those words and talk about the connection between the two. And it being the new year, the beginning of a new year, a lot of people are in like declutter, purge mode, and I love that. I love to purge, as my family knows. So what we're going to talk about today is the connection for many of us between physical and mental clutter. Then the benefits of decluttering will go over some tips for reducing physical and mental clutter and then talk about what some of those benefits are. Some of them, I think, are pretty obvious and then some may be a little bit less obvious. So that's the plan for today's podcast. So if you are somebody who is finding yourself in a home or an office or an environment where there's a lot going on, then tune in because this is for you, all right. So let's talk about clutter and the connection between physical and mental clutter.
So, for so many of us, when we are in an environment that's overstimulating, we cannot focus. Have you ever noticed that when your house is a wreck or your office is a wreck. You just can't seem to get shit done. It's like you can't sit down and accomplish a task. Maybe that's on your calendar or your to-do list. It's just something that you need to get done, that you know you need to get done. It's not happening because you're too busy looking around at all of the shit around you.
This happens to me often and I truly believe that the physical clutter that's around us results in mental clutter. Then what happens is we look around and we see everything around us and we get overwhelmed, we get triggered, right. We feel, like I said earlier, overstimulated and we might feel anxious. You know, if you are trying to get something done, you can't focus on that task. If you're trying to declutter, you look around and see everything and you don't know where to start. You might be trying to relax. Maybe it's like the time of day where you're trying to read a book or watch a show and unwind, but you have all this clutter around you and it makes it difficult to relax. You just can't settle and sometimes, you know, it just feels like there's shame involved, Like you see the clutter all around you and it makes you feel guilty or it makes you feel shameful or feels like you're sucking at being, I don't know, a good mom or a good employee, depending upon what environment.
You're seeing all this clutter? Right, because, for whatever reason, we believe or society tells us that in order to be quote-unquote good, you need to be tidy. And that's not necessarily the case, and I want to be clear on that. Like, the premise of this episode is not to preach that you need to have a tidy space. The premise of this episode is the benefits of reducing clutter, and that's relative to each person. So what I think of as clutter and what you think of as clutter may be different things, and what I think of as tidy may be very different from what you think of as tidy, right? So it's definitely relative and it's personal. And again, my point today is not to shame you and make you feel like you need to get rid of all your clutter, but rather, if you are feeling like you want to make some changes and declutter, as many of us are, especially at this time of year, then we're going to talk about some tips to help you and some of the benefits in doing so.
Okay, I will add that for me, sometimes, if I'm, for example, sitting down to do work at the dining room table, and the dining room table is pretty messy, which actually is kind of the case at the moment, right now which is funny. But sometimes what I find myself doing then is I sort of just pick things up and I look at them and then I put it down because I don't know what to do with it. And then I might like stand up and then think, okay, I'm going to put it here. So I wander around the house and go put it there, and then I, when I get to that spot, I see something that, oh, I remember this thing, I didn't know this was here. And then you start looking through it or you're kind of like holding it and getting distracted, and then you think, all right, I'm going to go put this away.
And what happens is you're moving further and further away from the task that you're supposed to be completing, or that this task that you've set out to complete, right. And another thing that happens sometimes is we tell ourselves, okay, we need to clear this place, we need to clear this area before we can work. I'm definitely one of those people. I need to have a clear workspace in order to think clearly.
For the most part, I definitely think better in a neat and tidy area, but sometimes what happens is we use that that cleaning or decluttering or organizing as a form of avoidance or procrastination, whether it's intentionally procrastinating or unintentionally procrastinating. Procrastinating why can't I say that word today, subconsciously or consciously? Right it just it happens. So sometimes I do like to start by clearing the space with the intention of then going back to whatever it was that I was sitting down to work on. But sometimes I don't know I become so ingrained in the decluttering and the organizing that the next thing I know time has passed by and I haven't got the actual thing done that I wanted to get done, that I was planning to get done. Or, if it's a task that I'm avoiding or I'm not excited about doing, I'll clean and declutter the whole house, or I'll sit down before I sit down and do that one task, and then at that point I've run out of time usually. So that definitely happens.
Also, just in general, even if you're not sitting down to do a task, but you're just in your day-to-day environment. You may not realize it, but the clutter around you is distracting you, it's creating stress and it's distracting you and sometimes you don't even realize the extent to which it's bugging you and pulling you down until you've cleaned it up. Sometimes we just get so used to the clutter around us that we almost don't even see it anymore and we're not even realizing the negative impact that it's having on us. If that's making sense, and we're just walking around kind of like wondering why we're so stressed, or beating ourselves up because, like, why am I so cranky? What is bothering me? I'm so overwhelmed, and it's probably well, there's probably a lot of reasons for that, but one of those reasons is probably because you're in an environment that's just overstimulating and not peaceful.
There's visual shit everywhere and you can't think clearly, and so with the physical clutter, you see it around you and it's not just taking up space in your home or in your office or wherever, it's also taking up space in your brain. So, for example, when you have a space in your home or your office that needs to be decluttered, you want to declutter it. That's what you're thinking about, that's what's on your mind. So you know, right now I know that we have our bathroom cabinet. We have like built-in shelving in the downstairs bathroom and the cabinets that are above the countertop in that bathroom are. It's just, it's great storage area, but it's gotten really out of control, like especially over the Christmas season, when time seemed to be more limited and a lot was going on.
Stuff just kind of got thrown in there and now it's definitely overwhelming and unorganized and it's on my mind, like every time I go into the bathroom I think about that closet. I see that closet or that cabinet and I'm like I have to do it right. And then when I go to put other stuff away that is supposed to go in that closet, I keep saying closet, it's a cabinet, it's a big cabinet but it's a cabinet. And every time I have something that I know belongs in there like we have our band-aids and like medicine in there I don't want to even put shit in there now because I know when I open it up I'm going to be greeted with all of the chaos that's behind those doors and I know I'm not going to be able to fit the item where it's supposed to go, so it's just going to contribute to the chaos and it bothers me. I mean, it's not I'm not losing sleep over it, but it bothers me and it takes up brain space, and I don't have a whole lot of brain space.
To begin with, there's not a lot of free real estate up there, so I need to just get that shit done so I don't have to think about it anymore. And rant, is this making sense, right? So now you're filled with mental clutter along with your physical clutter. You can't think clearly, and then the brain space that you do have is being wasted. It's being wasted on something stupid like decluttering a task or a project air quotes that are something that you feel like needs to get done. So hopefully that's sort of selling you on the connection between physical and mental clutter.
Now let's go back to physical clutter and what we can do about it. Ok, probably one of my favorite things to do when I do this, when I'm feeling stressed, when I'm in a cluttered environment or there's just a lot going on in my house and I feel anxious and overwhelmed, I grab a trash bag and I walk around the house and I throw shit into it, and my family knows I'll throw just about anything away other than the people I happen to live with. But if it's not nailed down, I probably would throw it away, and there's one or two people in my family who they will remain nameless but they're not as comfortable with throwing things away. So this trash bag strategy may not be helpful for everyone, but for those of you that can throw things away, do it. It feels so good and I'm just laughing about. I'm thinking about how sometimes I'll throw some things away that don't belong to me and I don't think that they are worthy of taking up space in our house, and then I'll find them back in the house days later, because sometimes I'll just leave the trash bag in the garage for someone who shall remain nameless to take it out, and they may happen to peek in and see something that belongs to them and then it might wind up back out in our house somewhere. So sometimes that happens.
But even if you are not, you know, even if you're not good at or you don't like to throw away Keepsakes or things that, like you feel are really important and valuable, you can still fill up a trash bag with shit that you can part with. You really can. I mean, there's definitely stuff around your house that you don't need that just winds up like staying there, like empty water bottles. Just a kid, you know. Kid leaves it here kid leaves it there, rappers from whatever new gift or new like snack that was laying around. So there's trash around your house For most of us. So go and find it and it's really cathartic. It feels so good. So that's one thing that I do. And then I Also keep a box, usually in the garage. Sometimes it gets moved to the back of the car, like in the trunk, sometimes it just stays back there and I keep it in there rather than in the garage taking up space. But it's a donation box and it's always there. There is always a donation box available and I just throw shit in there as well. And I've done this so much that At one point I remember when my twins were like I don't know maybe two, one of them got into an empty box and said to her sister look, I'm being donated.
That actually happened and they know I mean they just know that I love to donate shit and so sometimes they'll see things in there that maybe they don't want to donate. But we've been trying to get them more involved in the process. In fact, after Christmas we had them each pick five things that they wanted to donate, that they were willing to part with, and the things that they Picked were really funny. Like one of my girls Picked a toy that Santa brought from Christmas and I'm like I Was getting a little bit twitchy because you know, and I was like, really you want to donate that. You just got it.
So we compromised and we put it in the Toy like the toy storage area, because we have a toy rotation been in the back, and by bin I mean three bins in the back of our basement. Those probably need to get purged and donated as well, because you just don't need all those things. But and I have an obsession with toys, by the way, because I'm a speech therapist and we play for work and and those of you who know me know that I love Games and toys and, like any kids, toys, so I have a really hard time parting with those things. Actually, I'm good at throwing other things away, but when it comes to toys it's not as easy for me. But I think I've made some really good progress. You know, over the Christmas break, after the kids pick their five things, we also my husband and I also grab things that we knew that we didn't need anymore, and so we wound up making two trips to donate stuff, which I think I mentioned in my last episode. So I like having the donation box always ready, because it's just an ongoing space that we fill with things that we don't need any longer, and then I keep it in the back of my car and I usually drive around with it in the back of my car for way too long until I hear them rolling around or hear like the noise toys, the toys that make noise and hear them going off and think I'm getting pulled over, which is what happened when the toy police car wouldn't turn off and then I remember that the donation box is there and then I drop it off. So that's kind of the way it goes, unless we're making, like a big trip to the donation center, which that happens occasionally as well.
Okay, the third thing that you can do we talked about a trash bag and we talked about donations. A third thing you can do to help with physical clutter is simply to bring less shit in, and this is super simple. I know it's not rocket science, but it's so huge because, no matter how much you declutter, if you continue to order new things off Amazon I'm talking to myself here or if your kids continue to bring in all the goodie bag, toys and the just shit that they accumulate from God knows where. Right, because, let's face it, the stuff in their backpacks multiplies throughout the day. They go to school with basically an empty backpack and then they come home and it's just filled with stuff. All those things take up space. So bring less stuff in control what you can really think about before you make a purchase.
I don't always do this I mean, I'm talking to myself here too but I try to really think about before I purchase something where is it gonna go Like, where is it going to be stored and do I really need this thing? And I should probably ask myself this question a lot more, and our Amazon bill would be a lot less. I'm gonna try to do that. Do that a little more in 2022. But I'm trying to think of an example. Another example for you, let's say, I don't know. I guess an example is a lot of the Christmas gifts and the birthday gifts that we have. Right, because our kids' birthdays are all around Christmas for the most part, and then so they get the birthday gifts and then they get the Christmas gifts and I mean I'm not complaining, I mean I'm happy for them and it's great and we're lucky that they are able to. You know, we're blessed, we really are, I'm grateful. But what happens is then we have a lot of stuff right that needs to get put away somewhere, so we just have to make the space or find space.
Another tip for you when it comes to decluttering, like especially if you are looking around thinking you don't know where to start been there often start with one spot. Sometimes that might be one room, but I even break it down, especially if a room just looks really overwhelming. For example, our kitchen looked really overwhelming when I got home from drop-off this morning. I'll start with one section of the room and I will just focus on that section and then that's clean or that's tidy, I should say, and then I'll move to the next section. But seeing that progress helps to keep me motivated and keeps me going to move on to the other areas of the room that need to get done. Start with one shelf, one wall, whatever it is, and then just go from there.
Sometimes you need a timer. Guys know I love timers, so use the timer. Sometimes I'll set a timer just to see how much I can get done One of the things that I've been doing because, like I mentioned earlier, I will sometimes use cleaning or and or decluttering as an avoidance tactic from doing something else usually for work, or something that I'm supposed to be doing that I need to do, that I don't really want to do, for whatever reason. So I'll procrastinate. We call it in our house, we call it productive procrastination. I'll productively procrastinate by decluttering, but what I've done lately to keep myself in check is I'll set the timer.
I did it this morning before recording this episode. I said, all right, I've got 35 minutes before I wanna start work for the day. So I set the timer for 35 minutes, and I just got done as much as I could in those 35 minutes, and then, when the timer went off, that was it. The room wasn't necessarily done. All of what I wanted to get done wasn't done. I knew, going into it, though, that there was no way I was gonna get every room back to square one before that 35 minutes was up. So I just prioritized which rooms or which areas I really was stressed by or I really wanted to have tidy, and when the timer went off, I forced myself to stop.
You might need, depending upon what your situation is and how much of a decluttering project you're taking on, like maybe this is just you wanna declutter one room or one area, or maybe you're like I need to declutter my whole motherfucking house. I don't know where to start, or this is just too much. So, depending upon which situation you're in, you might want to chunk it or break it down into smaller sections. So, going back to the bathroom cabinet example from earlier, if that's feeling really overwhelming, you might just wanna say okay, we're gonna spread this out across a couple of days. Day one is gonna be the top shelf, day two is gonna be the middle shelf, day three is gonna be the bottom shelf. That might work better for you. For other people that might be worse, because it spreads it out over time and it could make it feel like a bigger task than it is in some ways. So it all depends on your mindset and what works for you.
One thing I suggest, though, is that, at the end of the task whenever, that is, if it's the task for the day, or if you've set your timer and the timer has gone off, or you're taking a break whenever your time is up stop and identify what you've accomplished, identify what you've got done. Say it to yourself, say it out loud, and that will help propel you going forward, because sometimes it's really hard to see the progress. But if you really look and you identify it and you say it out loud, it becomes real and it's like, oh, okay, it may not look like I got a lot done, but I did get this, this and this done. Okay, maybe it's just one thing you got done. Whatever, that is gotta end on a high note and identify what you accomplished. So definitely keep that strategy in mind. And speaking of the bathroom cabinet, by the way, one of the other things that's important to realize Again, this is not rocket science either, but it was like something that I didn't I don't know. It was like sort of a aha moment for me Relatively recently is that your space is not infinite.
You only have so much space. So if it doesn't fit in the space that you have, you either need to find a new home for it. I don't mean literally a new home, although that could be the case. I mean, you know, a new space for it, a new storage spot for it in your home, or you got to get rid of it. You can't just keep jamming shit into a box and call that organization. You only have so much space. So remember that. Be realistic about the amount of space that you have and the things that are in there, because that needs to be a conscious decision whether or not you want to keep this thing. Is this thing is taking up space in my house. Is this thing worthy of this space? So that's what you need to ask yourself. Also, I don't know who needs to hear this, but you don't have to fill every space either. It's okay to have empty space there. It's okay, it's totally okay and in fact, it can feel pretty good. So try that out.
A couple of other last minute tips. We're going to talk about paper in a minute, but a couple of other tips on decluttering that I these are sort of just like general habits that I have are sometimes, if I'm in the moment, sometimes like putting a certain decluttering task on a to do list for me makes me want to avoid it even more. I don't know why. Maybe it's the rebel in me, but I sometimes will just do it in the moment if it makes sense. So, for example, if I'm cooking dinner and I open up the silverware drawer this happened the other day open up the silverware drawer and it was just filled with stuff. I don't even know. It's weird, right, because for us in our house sometimes things seem to multiply in that drawer. However, it's like we're always missing a knife or a spoon, like we never have the full set, like I don't get it. Where does the silverware go? It's something I don't understand. But anyway, is anyone else, or is that just me? But anyway. So the silverware drawer was really cluttered.
So I I just in the moment, just like ruffled through it. Is that the right word? Ruffled through it? I don't even think that's the right word. I can't even talk today. I just shuffled through it. What the hell is the word? I don't know. I went through it and I cleaned it out. It took five minutes maybe and it was done and it didn't have to take up any mental space or any space on an actual to-do list. So it's okay to just do those things in the moment sometimes, keep yourself in check and know when it's productive to do that and know when it's procrastination to do that. And another thing that we do, a habit that we have in our house is I heard this on a podcast somewhere. This is definitely not me, but somebody said I don't know who it was ABCDE Always be carrying, decluttering and editing.
So that means, for example, always be carrying, like I'll put shit on the steps and that needs to get put away and I will carry it upstairs when I go upstairs. So if I'm going upstairs to get you know, get the baby I call him the baby get my son, he's not a baby anymore If I'm going to get him out of his crib, I will carry up what needs to get put away and I'll put it away. And if it is, for example, like something that needs to go in the basement, I'll put it by the basement door and then when I'm going downstairs to the basement, I'll put it away. That's like if I'm in the zone and I'm, you know, I'm just trying to look around, I'll look around and see what doesn't belong here and I'll carry it and take it with me and put it where it belongs. So always be carrying, always be decluttering. You know, that's just kind of like what we were talking about earlier putting things in the trash bag, putting things in the donation box, like really thinking about is this something you really want or need? And always be editing. So you know, if you go to take a snack out of the cabinet and something is a miss in there and you want to just kind of like rearrange things pretty quickly, do that. You can just edit the space. So ABCDE always be carrying, decluttering and editing.
Last tip oh my gosh, I could talk about this all day. This is funny. The last tip that I have. I've got more, but I'm just going to limit myself to one because this podcast is going to be way too long. The last tip I have is the two minute rule, also something I heard from somebody else. But if it takes two minutes or less to do it, just do it. Because when you leave clutter, when you leave things around I've heard people say clutter is really just delayed decisions. It's decisions that you haven't been made, usually a decision of like where you're going to put it or how you're going to organize it. So try to. If it takes two minutes to do it, just do it. Do it then and then it doesn't build up as much, so that I follow that two minute rule for the most part. Like it's like Bible. I just that's what I do. So two minute rule Whoo, we covered a lot, right. Okay, I hope that some of these tips were helpful. I feel like I say that every week. I hope that some of these tips were helpful, but oh wait, I said I was gonna talk about paper. Oh, you guys, maybe I should do a whole separate episode on paper. Okay, real quick, what I will say about that.
I had my system for paper because I can't stand paper clutter. It's probably the most anxiety inducing type of clutter for me is we have a basket, a paper basket. I keep it on the kitchen counter. It's the one place where paper goes and the only paper that goes in. There are things that I've already edited, I've already gone through, and it's stuff that needs to get filed. So there you go delayed decisions. It's stuff that needs to get filed or needs to get put away, and that's one thing I don't do on the fly. I do all the paper once every maybe three days, so it never really gets too high, but I purge before the paper goes in the basket. So when the kids get home from school they put the papers.
We have other paper baskets in the bathroom under the cabinet that I was talking about. There's a counter there, cause the bathroom's sort of like a mudroom, except it doesn't have a washer and dryer. It would be way cooler if it did. But they put all their papers there and then I go through them and sort and so if it's trash I throw away. Most of their shit, don't tell.
But unless it's a really cute piece of art, I'm probably not gonna keep it. If it has glitter, I'm definitely not keeping it. Hell, no. So I go through all their papers and then whatever needs to get kept and addressed like a doctor's bill or something like that I'll just stick it in the paper basket and then, if I have a free second, I can do it while I'm standing there. If I'm standing there and the kids are occupied and I have a free minute, I'll just go through the paper basket and shred or file or whatever, but it doesn't get too high because I'm not putting a whole lot in. It's like only the stuff that I'm going to keep or that I need to address. So that's the system that I have for paper. All right, we covered a lot, hoping that you guys are gonna head out there and get to your purging, if that stuff lights you up or makes you feel more calm and peaceful. Thank you so much for tuning in and I will see you guys next week.
*Please note that this transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors.