How Your Junk Drawer May Be Wrecking Your Health, Wealth and Lovelife

Copyright (c) 2008 Stephanie McWilliams

Many of you aren't new to the topic of sorting, cleaning and editing your belongings. And many of you have read plenty of books about clearing the clutter, organizing your office and tossing your trash.

As a feng shui consultant, I've become hyper-aware of the effect of clutter on our emotional, spiritual and psychological lives. I've seen bright people's careers brought to a halt by clutter, talented folks stifled with sloppiness, and full-grown adults swallowed alive by stagnant knick-knacks and dusty bobbles.

If you have closets packed to the ceiling, cupboards that are bursting, or junk drawers that can't close, you're in very good company. But so often the process of clearing the clutter just feels far too daunting, and we simply look around not knowing where to begin.

So, grab the closest junk drawer, closet, cabinet or cupboard. Open it wide...and let's get to work!

1. START SMALL. Starting in a small area is far less overwhelming than taking on the process of clearing out your entire house. Thinking we have to tackle every hidden area can halt our progress before it has even begun. Pick one small area - I suggest your junk drawer for starters. Not only can you complete it quickly, but you'll instantly begin to reap the benefits of having at least one beautiful, uplifting place.

2. FINISH WHAT YOU START. Make sure to finish beautifying your junk drawer before moving on to something else. Many of us have a tendency to start sorting every space all at once. This can be daunting, and rarely is it possible to finish several spaces all in the span of a day. Also, if your tendency is to start too much at once, you may struggle with completing tasks in general. Use this exercise as a symbolic opportunity to release this pattern, and begin a new, more focused, habit.

3. CLEAN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER CLEANED BEFORE. Once you've dumped the junk drawer, clean it from top to bottom. Also clean every single item going back into the junk drawer. Get back inside the corners, the sides, the bottom. Clean it as if it were a sacred act that your life depended on. Be conscious, careful, considerate, as if the act of cleaning itself were a meditation. As a dear friend often tells me, "Clean as if God were coming!"

4. GIVE EVERYTHING A HOME. Disorganization usually stems from the fact that we've never organized our things in a way that made the most sense. When we find the proper containers, boxes or dividers for our things, then tend to stay there. So if your junk drawer is still a mess, perhaps you haven't quite structured things as well as you could. Are things located where you will use them most? Have you thought your process through logically and systematically? Take a second look, grab a piece of paper. Brainstorm what needs to go there, how much can fit, and where it will go. Taking a few minutes (or hours) now can save you days in the long run.

5. KEEP THINGS YOU NEED. When sorting through any hidden space, really ask yourself "Do I need this?" If you do, then great! Keep it, and move on to the next object. You "need" your can opener. You "need" your scissors. You may not "need" an old bag of binder clips, 300 rubber bands or 4 old boxes of incense.

6. KEEP THINGS THAT LIGHT YOU UP. You can also keep things that make your heart soar. As my teacher said so cleverly to me last week, "Go through your home as if you were shopping there, and keep only the things you would buy again today". Only keep around things you would genuinely spend your hard-earned cash on today - those things that make you feel wonderful, that bring a smile to your face and a lightness in your chest.

7. ANAL RETENTIVE VS. CAREFUL. As you begin bringing care and intention into your home environment, make sure that you continue to keep tabs on your underlying motivations. Do you need everything to be perfect? Do you refuse to allow even one object to be left sitting out? Does everything always need to be in it's place? Watch this fine line between careful (full-of-care) and anal-retentive. Externally, they may appear identical, but are radically different things inside. If you are inclined to be more controlling and a perfectionist, your homework this week will be to make a mess! That's right - you heard me. Lighten up! Have some fun... Any imbalance or extreme within ourselves, no matter what type it is, needs to gently be brought back into balance.

8. HOARDING VS. STORING. When dealing with storage spaces, keep tabs of hoarding tendencies. Similar to #7 above, hoarding can often times be masked as "saving up for the future" and usually reflects deep and hidden fears. There's a big difference between storing a few extra items that are used up regularly, like toilet paper, water, printer paper or tea lights vs. chocking your home full of expired vitamin bottles, unread magazines, bags of itsy-bitsy hotel shampoos, Rice-a-Roni to last three decades, 87 tubes of lipstick (not one of them in a shade that you love), or your entire wardrobe dating back to the 70's. I think you get my drift...

9. THE 50-50 RULE. Keep your closets, cupboards and drawers half-full. That's right! Leave some empty space. The key to keeping things organized is to have enough space to comfortably get things in and out as needed. Most of us fill things all the way up to the tippy-top, taking us much longer to retrieve an item, and even longer to put things back in place afterward. Consider leaving breathing room in all your spaces so that you feel uplifted, airy and inspired every time you peer inside, saving you time and energy.

Try on these nine tips over the coming weeks, and see if it doesn't make a bright new difference in your home and outlook. Lightening your load (on every level) can breath a fresh breath of life into your health, wealth, love life and so very much more!