Decluttering Visual Clutter

In today’s fast-paced world, we are surrounded by an abundance of visual clutter. Everywhere we look, there are billboards, advertisements, pop-ups, and notifications, all vying for our attention. This constant bombardment of information can be overwhelming and distracting, leading to decreased productivity and increased stress levels. However, by decluttering visual clutter, we can create a more peaceful and productive environment for ourselves.

Welcome to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series! We will be starting in the kitchen this month. Each day is dedicated to spending only 30 minutes decluttering your specific daily task. We will be working 5 days a week, so you can take 2 days to enjoy time with your loved ones.

Ignore the dates within this post. Each year we do the declutter series, so the dates won’t coincide from year to year. If you wish to subscribe and join us as we Declutter a Room in 30 minutes a Day, leave a comment below. You can also find the video below and subscribe via youtube. Follow me as we explore How to start Decluttering Visual Clutter today.

What is visual clutter?

Visual clutter refers to the excessive visual stimuli that we are exposed to in our daily lives. This can include anything from physical clutter in our homes or workspaces to digital clutter on our screens. When we are surrounded by visual clutter, our brains become overloaded with information, leading to cognitive overload and decreased ability to focus. This can result in increased stress levels, decreased productivity, and a general feeling of being overwhelmed.

How to Declutter Visual Clutter

Decluttering visual clutter can be a challenging task, but it is essential for creating a more peaceful and productive environment. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Identify the sources of visual clutter: Take a look around your home or workspace and identify the sources of visual clutter. This may include excessive decorations, piles of paperwork, or an overwhelming number of notifications on your computer or phone.
Prioritize: Once you have identified the sources of visual clutter, prioritize which areas need the most attention. Start with the areas that are causing the most stress or are most distracting.
Clear the physical clutter: If you have physical clutter in your home or workspace, start by clearing it out. Donate or sell items that you no longer need, and organize the remaining items in a way that is visually pleasing and easy to maintain.
Limit digital distractions: Turn off notifications on your phone and computer, and limit the number of tabs you have open on your computer. This will help reduce the amount of visual clutter you are exposed to and allow you to focus on the task at hand.
Simplify your surroundings: Keep decorations and other visual elements simple and minimal. This will help create a more peaceful and organized environment, reducing the amount of visual clutter you are exposed to.

The benefits of decluttering visual clutter

Decluttering visual clutter can have a significant impact on your overall well-being. By reducing the amount of visual stimuli you are exposed to, you can reduce stress levels and increase productivity. You will be able to focus more easily on the task at hand, leading to increased efficiency and a greater sense of accomplishment. Additionally, by creating a more visually pleasing environment, you will feel more relaxed and at ease in your surroundings.

In conclusion, decluttering visual clutter is an essential step towards creating a more peaceful and productive environment. By identifying the sources of visual clutter, prioritizing areas for improvement, and simplifying your surroundings, you can reduce stress levels and increase productivity. Take the time to declutter your surroundings, and enjoy the benefits of a more visually pleasing and organized environment.

Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home.

Struggling with the daily housekeeping chores and wondering: What Housework Should Be Done Daily? Grab my free ebook to walk you through the process. What Does a Deep Clean Include? One of my best Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to use a House Cleaning Planner. Check out my ebook on this topic, entitled Make Over Your Homemaking. Use this link to get it at a discounted price. Better yet… get it FREE when you subscribe to my site. Also, you can find my room by room Declutter Guide at the end of this post designed to help you learn tips and Decluttering Ideas For Your Home.

Maybe your house is clean but cluttered. If so, you need to know a few Declutter Tips and Ideas before you start using the Step By Step Decluttering plan I use for Decluttering Visual Clutter. Does a Cluttered House Cause Stress? You Bet! Let’s look at a reputable, mental health site to answer that question and see exactly How Clutter Affects You. Then you can learn Why and How To Start to Purge Your Entire Home.They have given us 8 ways mess leads to stress and exactly How Clutter Affects You. According to Psychology Today:

How Clutter Affects You: Clutter can play a significant role in how we feel about our homes, our workplaces, and ourselves. Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood? You bet! How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? Messy homes and work spaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a significant source of stress in our lives. (source) But, unnecessary stress is one aspect of How Clutter Affects You.

How Clutter Affects You Mentally can help provide the motivation you need to know How to Clear Clutter and begin Decluttering Visual Clutter. Why does mess lead to so much stress? (source)Getting rid of all of that stress can be one of the best declutter motivation tips you need for some instant Declutter Inspiration.

Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t necessary or important. (source)
Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. (source)
Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.(source)
Clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done.(source)
Clutter makes us anxious because we’re never sure what it’s going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile. (source)
Clutter creates feelings of guilt (“I should be more organized”) and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces. (source)
Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brainstorm, and problem solve.(source)
Clutter frustrates us by preventing us from locating what we need quickly (e.g. files and paperwork lost in the “pile” or keys swallowed up by the clutter). (source) So, experiencing constant frustration is another aspect to How Clutter Affects You.

Overwhelmed by a Messy House? It can really affect you negatively. How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? One way is to have a plan, set aside a specific time, and learn the steps to declutter your home. What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? I have a room by room specific Printable House Cleaning Checklist linked above. Also, you can find my room by room Declutter Guide at the end of this post.

For a clean, simplistic look, one of the best Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to declutter a room before cleaning and then use an Easy House Cleaning Schedule to maintain it. Declutter Checklists can help you learn How to begin to Purge Your Entire Home and begin Decluttering Visual Clutter.

How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? As you can already see, there are at least 8 ways we become negatively affected by clutter. Also, I though it might be thought provoking to look at some statistics on clutter to learn more about How Clutter Affects You.

US consumers buy 40% of the world’s toys, but bear only 3% of the world’s children.
Most people wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. (source )
9.4% of U.S. households rent a storage unit. (source)
People do not look at 80% of the papers and information they keep.(source)
The average American house is double the size it was in the 1950s–and getting bigger. (source.)

The U.S. Department of Energy reports that one-quarter of people with two-car garages have so much stuff in there that they can’t park a car. (https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/)
According to the National Soap and Detergent Association, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.(https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/) Wouldn’t eliminating a lot of housework provide some declutter inspiration? Read on for more Decluttering Ideas For Your Home.

Today, we’ll lay out the solutions for the steps to start Decluttering Visual Clutter using my tips on Why and How to Declutter a House. Plus, we’ll look at a few ways to answer the concern of How Clutter Affects You and what you can do about it.

A few guidelines to keep you on task:

1.Only spend time on your specific daily task.

2.Do not get side-tracked or distracted.

3.Work within a time of day that you have the most energy and stamina.

4.Avoid thinking too long about whether to keep or discard an item. Recruit help if you are stuck in the decision process.

5.Avoid cleaning during your declutter. Getting rid of the clutter is your priority. Cleaning can be accomplished later.

Your Decluttering Visual Clutter task today for August 30th is to:Declutter your exterior of your refrigerator- paperwork, magnets, etc.

Declutter any broken magnets.
Declutter any reminders you no longer need.
Get rid of anything that you have copies of elsewhere.
For children’s artwork, consider how you might display it elsewhere.

Decluttering Supplies Needed:

1. boxes -preferably ones you can donate (Declutter Tips and Ideas: Avoid plastic storage bins because you may be tempted to just store the items and not part with them.)

2. sturdy trash bags

3. marker/pen to label boxes

5 Easy Minimalist Organization Hacks for How to begin Decluttering Visual Clutter:

1. Start by eliminating trash first- use a sturdy trash bag

2. Sort items by category if needed so you can see what you have

3.Get rid of duplicate items, broken items, outgrown clothes and shoes, anything you’ll never use again.

4. Box up the donations and trash/recycle the rest

5.Select a charity to donate your items and schedule the pick-up if that is an option

Struggling to decide if an item is clutter? Use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item.

A quick recap from yesterday, August 29th. Your August 29th task was to declutter your medicine cabinet. I already have a detailed blog post on this, so I will try not to repeat myself.

Your first step in Decluttering Visual Clutter and organizing this area is to take everything out of the cabinet and start sorting it into categories. You may have sinus medicines, allergy medicines, pain medicines, prescriptions, cough medicines, vitamins, etc. Set them all out on a countertop so, you can decide how much you need to store.

Next you declutter. Toss anything that has expired or is no longer useful.

As with any organizing method, using up every inch of space is ideal for optimum storage. To do so, you’ll want to measure your space and decide how best to use it. I decided to use plastic drawers to store dry medicines.

In my medicine cabinet, we store first aid items, also. So, I’ll share some organization ideas for those items, too. Next, I added labels on each drawer for clarity.

Unfortunately, my label maker died just prior to this, so I simply printed some labels from my printer. I use these drawers to store “dry” tablet medicines, not the liquid variety. Also, removing excess packaging is a must for first aid items, as long as they are easily identifiable.

For example, I store the bandaids loosely in their designated drawer. Do not remove items from boxes that you cannot easily identify. For example, one white tablet can look the same as any other white tablet, so keep these in the original boxes.

You can read more details about how to declutter and organize your medicine cabinet in my blog post that is strictly dedicated to that purpose.

I hope this Year Long Thorough Declutter is beneficial to you! I am certain you are making great progress as you complete those daily tasks.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to my blog to get those daily tasks to keep you going strong in completing the Year Long Through Declutter.

Need to deep clean? I have lists for you to guide you along.

My How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen list can be found here.

My How to Deep Clean Your Bathroom list can be found here.

My How to Deep Clean Your Kids’ Rooms list can be found here.

My How to Deep Clean Your Living Room list can be found here.

My How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom list can be found here.

You can get your printable Daily Housekeeping Routine and Deep Cleaning Your House Schedule here. This 15 page printable kit is delivered digitally to your email for you to print and personalize. What Does a Deep Clean Include? It includes a daily schedule, calendar pages, and deep cleaning checklists for every room and area of your home. Below is a sample page of what you’ll get in my printable set designed to help you create your personal Housekeeping Schedule Printable.

Also, to keep up the general housework, you may need to create a daily housekeeping schedule that suits your specific needs. To do so, I have created a helpful series you can read here.

Need to Declutter Every room? I have declutter checklists for every room and every space in your home to guide you along below.

How to Declutter the Guest Room or Your Kid’s Room checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Laundry Room and Patio checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Coat Closet/Hall Closet/Linen Closet checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Home Office checklist can be found here.

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How to Declutter Your Attic checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Garage checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Living Room checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Kitchen Checklist can be found here.

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How to Declutter Your Entry/Foyer/Mudroom checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Clothing checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Bedroom checklist can be found here.

How to Declutter Your Bathroom checklist can be found here.

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Need some Inspiration to Declutter? Join us for the Year Long Through Declutter Series by subscribing by email below. To subscribe, leave a comment below.

Happy Decluttering!

To Subscribe to this Declutter Series, drop me a comment below. Your email will be sent to me but will not be posted publicly. You’ll receive a daily declutter task via email for the daily task we are working on. You can unsubscribe at any time.

New to deemiddleton.com and don’t know where to start? I recommend going in this order:

Step 1: Check out this post on the 1st step you should take to get organized. If you don’t have a calendar, you can grab my free weekly printable calendar page here. It is in my shopify store, but it is totally free, so you won’t be prompted to put in any payment information. It is a free download and will be delivered straight to your email.

Step 2: Create a daily Housekeeping Schedule. You can use this series to start to set up your own schedule. You can also use this simplified weekly schedule.If you often ask: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Or, if you struggle to get organized and have tried and failed time and again, you can likely find out which of these 11 reasons cause you to fail to get organized.

Step 3: How do you remove clutter?.…Sign up for the Declutter Series and get your entire home decluttered in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.”Declutter Your Home” checklists are provided in each email.

Step 4: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Use a timer and use the Deep Cleaning Checklists above. They will help you get your home sparkling after you’ve decluttered.

Interested in becoming a full-time blogger like me? Check out my blogging series. At the top of every page on my blog, you’ll find a drop down menu. Just select the BLOGGING category.

Check out the most popular posts on deemiddleton.com:

14 Things That Make Your Home Look Cluttered

How to Do A 1 Day Declutter

How to Create a Daily Housekeeping Schedule

How to Clean House When You Are Completely Overwhelmed By Clutter

What is Preventing You From Getting Organized?

Also, check out a great post on decluttering over here from becomingminimalist.com. Joshua Becker has some great tips on decluttering and minimalism.

For further reading, check out the fly lady here. She has some great cleaning and kitchen decluttering ideas plus excellent organization tips to get you started.

I hope you have benefitted from my tips on Decluttering Visual Clutter. Leave a comment below to subscribe to my daily declutter task email series.