QUIZ: What’s your Clutter Score?

Did you know?
There’s a professional rating scorecard for how clutter affects your well-being.

Have you ever wondered:
“How much does my clutter really affect me?”

This isn’t just about overflowing, unsafe homes like the show Hoarders.

The REALITY: Our homes are very much a measuring stick of how we live.

How much we invest in our homes to improve how we think, feel, and do life has been shown to be closely tied to our well-being and mental health.¹

Clutter impacts anyone who feels overwhelmed by stuff in their space!

Take the clutter quiz!

Do you know how much your clutter impacts you?
You might be surprised.

As professional organizers, we stay current on research and best practices to maximize your benefits from decluttering and organization.

These questions were developed by the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD), and have been used in several studies linking decluttering and organizing to higher levels of well-being.²

What is “clutter”?

We often think of clutter as “too many” things.
But the impact of clutter is a very unique experience.

Clutter is a personal and subjective experience of objects that inhibits the creation of self-identity and creates a stressful environment for the occupant(s).³

This is how a couple living in the same home can have very different opinions on clutter.

Stuff only becomes clutter when it starts to negatively impact your peace and productivity.

3 Health Benefits of Decluttering

The first step in organizing your space and living your best life is: decluttering!

1. Decluttering boosts your mood.

Clutter becomes chaos. It weighs on people emotionally and mentally. 

Several studies have shown that decluttering is associated with joy, release, and happiness.^{3 4}

Decluttering has been shown to improve sleep⁵, which is a big factor in brain performance, mood, and health.

When you’re able to manage clutter, your home environment can enhance your life instead of holding you back. A home that feels grounding, restoring, and nurturing unlocks your ability to focus on more important things like life goals and personal well-being.

2. Decluttering reduces your stress.

Clutter creates a stressful environment.⁴

Seeing mess and unfinished tasks at home creates a lot of anxiety.

Feeling shame about all the things you “should” be doing around your house can be paralyzing.

Taking back your space through decluttering and organizing decreases your stress.

3. Decluttering increases focus.

Thinking, reasoning, and remembering – these are all harder to do in a cluttered environment.

A few studies on children have shown that clutter affects performance on thinking tasks and increases behavioral problems.^{6 7}

One study showed that people were more vulnerable to making unhealthy food choices when sitting in a cluttered, chaotic kitchen vs. an organized kitchen. ⁸

Decluttering frees up our minds to focus more clearly and make better choices.

The next step is to get organized!

4 Wellness Benefits of Home Organization

Decluttering removes items that are no longer serving you.

Organizing takes it to the next level to maximize the functionality of your space.

1. Save time.
   • No more being late to work because you can’t find a matching shoe!
     
     
2. Save money.
   • Keep track of money, gift cards, and bills.
   • Stop re-buying lost items.
     
     
3. Increase your productivity.
   • Organized systems help daily life run smoothly and efficiently.
     
     
4. Maintain a clean & safe space.
   • Spaces that are easy to tidy are easier to clean.
   • Use food before it expires.
   • Safely store and find medications.
     

You can learn how to declutter + organize!

Decluttering is a skill that can be learned and developed.

We transform spaces AND pass along skills.
We make sure our clients can declutter and organize spaces long after our services.

Get started today with our guide to Declutter + Organize in 3 Steps.

What did you think of this post?
What other well-being benefits do you know about decluttering?

Be sure to join us on social media to chat about this and more!

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Works Cited

1. Sigmon, S. T., Whitcomb, S. R., & Snyder, C. R. (2002). Psychological home. In A. T. Fisher, C. C. Sonn, & B. J. Bishop (Eds.), Psychological sense of community: Research, applications, and implications (pp. 25–41). New York: Plenum Publishers.
2. The Institute for Challenging Disorganization. (2019). Clutter-Hoarding Scale. Retrieved from https://www.challengingdisorganization.org/assets/ICDPublications/C-HS/ICD%20C-HS%202019%20Quick%20Guide.pdf
3. Rogers, C. J., & Hart, D. (2021). Home and the extended-self: Exploring associations between clutter. Journal of Environmental Psychology. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101553
4. Lee, H.-H. (2017). In pursuit of happiness: Phenomenological study of the KonMari decluttering method. Advances in Consumer Research(45), 454-457.
5. Thacher, P., Onyper, S., & Tuthill, J. (2017). De-cluttering the bedroom as a possible sleep hygiene step to improve sleep quality. Sleep, 12(2), A138-A139. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepj/zsx050.372
6. Evans, G. W., & Cooperman, J. L. (2001). Housing Quality and Children’s Socioemotional Health. Environment and Behavior, 389-399.
7. Dumas, J. E., Nissley, J., Nordstrom, A., Smith, E. P., Prinz, R. J., & Levine, D. W. (2005). Home chaos: Sociodemographic, parenting, interactional, and child correlates. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34(1), 93–104.
8. Vartanian, L. R., Kernan, K. M., & Wansink, B. (2017). Clutter, chaos, and overconsumption. Environment and Behavior, 49(2), 215–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916516628178