With the New-York Times bestseller “The life-changing magic of tidying”, Marie Kondo raised awareness to something many people never thought of.
How important is tidying your house really?
And what health benefits are associated with it?
There are many different approaches to living when it comes to tidying up.
Some people have the cleanest, tidiest homes you could imagine, others can get messy at times.
And then there are the people living in chaos. Some call it “organized chaos”. But can chaos ever be as organized as… an organized home?
In today’s article, I will try to convince you to start caring more about cleaning your house and tidying up.
If you are already a very clean person, take this as a pat on the back, and see if the benefits I am going to list match up with your experiences.
Benefits of a clean House
Before going into tips on how to clean up your home, I might have to do some convincing first.
That’s why I will list the benefits you will reap first. To get you all excited about a cleaner home.
1. Get an overview of your stuff
First and foremost, you get a pretty good idea on what you actually own.
Sure, you might think you know that already, but that is probably only the stuff you use on a daily, or weekly basis.
Depending on how much you own, there are lots of things that are busy catching dust in some corner or box somewhere.
There is a good chance you have completely forgotten about some of it.
Cleaning your house and sorting through everything will make you discover things long forgotten.
It has the power to spark memories, find useful items you can start using again, and opening up space to be used differently, or not to be used at all.
2. Saves time
Tidying up will finally put an end to coming late for a meet-up because you couldn’t find your keys.
It will make you find all the resources you want way faster than before.
As a former messy person myself, I know how much time it costs to find that jacket, hidden in mountains of clothing.
I know how it affects your ability to be on time a lot since you never plan in the time you use for searching.
As an example, if you know the way to your workplace is 15 minutes from your home, you might plan in 5 more minutes. Just to be safe.
However, once you realize that you have no clue where your keys, work clothing, and lunchbox are, things get heated.
Yes, in most cases you can scramble these things together and make it in time. But every now and then, you won’t make it.
Maybe it’s all red traffic lights that day.
Perhaps there is a new construction site you didn’t know about and now you have to pick a different route.
Or perhaps there was an accident that slows down traffic heavily.
All these unforeseen things wouldn’t be much of a problem if you didn’t spend 5 minutes to find your accessories.
On top of that, even if you manage to come on time every day, it is much more stressful this way.
You never know how much time you really need.
How much time you have to plan in.
When you have a tidy home, where everything has it’s placed, it makes it easier to find everything you need, and reduce the stress you experience.
3. Improves social settings
I don’t want to make any assumptions on your social life based on the condition your room or house is in.
And that is not where I’m going with this.
But, inviting people does get more enjoyable, and it might encourage you to do it more often.
In fact, once you are proud and happy about the state of your living situation, you might feel pride in having people over.
I don’t want to say that friendship or relationship is dependent on how messy your room is.
Obviously, real friends and family will visit for the purpose of seeing you, and that will be enough to satisfy them.
Anyhow, presenting a nice and tidy home will make the whole experience more enjoyable, especially for you.
Because in the end, you might be the one stressing out the most about presenting a messy place to your beloved ones.
Additionally, think about social settings you haven’t planned for, or are of spontaneous nature.
Imagine going out with friends to a party.
Now imagine meeting someone you would love to take home.
The conversations flow, the mood is perfect, what a great experience!
Anyhow, are you really confident to bring that person home to a messy room?
As you perhaps didn’t anticipate not returning home alone this night, there is a real possibility you didn’t do any extra preparations.
Which entails that your house will look exactly like it does on an average night.
This can either be beneficial, if you are already a tidy person, impressing the other one and setting a good start to the night.
On the other hand, it could also make a bad start to the night.
For example, if you first need to make space on your bed, or there are plates of food laying around.
This might be a bit of an extreme example. But for some people, it’s reality. And that is ok. It’s just not the most flattering thing.
Furthermore, inviting new people over and not having to hassle all your stuff into boxes and your closet is convenient.
4. Improves sleep
Studies have shown that having a tidy bedroom increases sleep quality.
It helps you fall asleep and makes the quality of your sleep better.
As sleep is a fundament of our happiness, productivity, and overall well-being, taking action to make sure you get the best sleep possible should be a no-brainer.
Even though this is only a side-product of all the benefits tidying up brings with it, it’s certainly a very welcome one.
5. Tidy your room to tidy your mind
As Marie Kondo states in her book “the life-changing magic of tidying”, “From the moment you start tidying, you will be compelled to reset your life. As a result, your life will start to change.”
While it might seem like a little bit of an abstract concept at first, there is definitely something to it.
As I started to be more tidy and organized, there is still room for improvement, I have noticed to be calmer and collected in general.
Moreover, it feels good to come home to a clean house.
It looks good, too!
If you are constantly confronted with the mess you left behind or created, it reminds you of work that needs to be done.
This makes it harder to rest and declutter your mind.
6. Safety
Safety might not be the first reason to tidy up that comes to mind.
I, for example, have never found myself in a situation in which a messy state of my room would pose any danger whatsoever.
However, it’s logical to know that the less filled your room is with stuff, the easier it is to navigate.
You could fall from slipping on a shirt laying on the floor.
Fires have an easier time to spread through the house when there is always something to spread to.
All these fringe scenarios probably don’t concern you. But stacking them up makes for another reason to tidy your home!
7. Tidying promotes good dietary decisions
No, I am not talking about the calories you burn while putting your books on the shelf.
Research has found, that a messy environment has a negative impact on eating behavior.
Being in such a chaotic environment influences your choice of food. Not for the better.
It makes you prefer unhealthy snacks, which can cause weight gain.
While living in a chaotic environment powers your craving for unhealthy food, living in an organized and tidy home does not.
8. Reduces the spreading of germs
This is a simple calculation. A tidy and cleaned home equals fewer germs.
Makes sense, right?
9. Fights allergies and asthma
Closely related to number 8 on the list, tidying and cleaning have even more health benefits.
If you are suffering from allergies concerning dust or asthma, there is no way you don’t want to minimize the impact this has on your life.
One way to do it is by cleaning your home regularly.
This will eliminate dust and particles that trigger a response from these allergies.
What is the best way to tidy up?
I hope these 9 benefits are enough to convince you to pay more attention to the state of your home.
Now that there is enough motivation to tackle the problem, let’s take a quick look at how you can effectively tidy up.
Get rid of useless stuff
We all have items we don’t want to throw away because their time might be yet to come.
While that is a logical way to think about it, let’s face it. This time does not come.
It takes space and catches dust for years until you finally decide to get rid of it anyway.
To avoid that, and to avoid coming back to the same things over and over again, take a day, or a couple of hours, and go through all your belongings.
Once you have gathered everything that you don’t really use anymore, get rid of it.
But don’t just throw everything away. Consider family and friends first. Is there anyone who could put the item to use?
Furthermore, think about donating things to good causes before dispensing them.
After you have finished to give away the stuff, you already made a big improvement.
As a tip, start with things you don’t really care about, before getting to the stuff you have a personal affection for. It will make it easier.
Assign a specific space to every item
In order to avoid your place getting messy again, make sure you have a particular space for everything.
Right after using the item, you put it back to the assigned space.
This way, you stop randomly putting things down because you cannot think of a place to put them at that moment.
Ensuring that your home maintains clean and tidy.
Bottom line
I hope you gained some appreciation for having a clean and tidy home. While getting a look at the Benefits of living in a clean house.
I know that getting more conscious about my living space has improved my life tremendously, and I don’t think I am an exception to that.
I would deeply recommend everyone to take a day out of your schedule, or a couple of hours, and tidy up your whole house.
After that, make small efforts here and there to keep your home clean. Assign certain places for certain items, while freeing up space by getting rid of stuff you don’t really need.
On top of having a nice looking, beautiful, home, tidying up inherits great benefits!
These are
- Knowledge of what you possess
- Saves time
- Improves social settings
- Improves sleep
- Clears your mind
- Safety
- Reduces germs spreading around
- Fights allergies and asthma
Do you have negative experiences with a chaotic home?
Were you always a clean and tidy person all your life?
Tell me about your experiences and engage in the conversation!
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Matthis
