How A Messy Room Appears In Your Home + What To Do About It
A new year is always so refreshing because a lot of people begin the year by setting intentions + goals on what’s most important to us. Somewhere along the way, as the newness of the year wears off — we lose sight of those intentions.
No shame here *wink* life definitely happens to all of us.
We’ve gone deep on how clutter affects our well-being before and encourage you to give that a read because it covers everything from heightening anxiety levels + negatively impacting our sleep to weakening our focus and ultimately lessening our productivity.
The reality is, regardless of what state your home currently resides in, living in an organized home is at the top of your list.
There are a handful of reasons why you may find your home disorganized or even unorganized but ultimately there are three scenarios I want to talk about that will provide some clarity in how a messy room keeps happening.
So, let’s dive in and take a peek at how a messy room happens anyways, shall we?
Not Knowing Where To Begin
Many of our organizing clients struggle with not knowing what to do first.
Should they take everything out of the room and then only bring back into the room what they want? Or should they leave everything as it is but get rid of what they know they don’t want?
And the reality is, a messy room happens for a very specific reason.
Because you don’t know.
Not only do you not know where to begin with the mess or what to do with some (or all) of this stuff but when you don’t have a plan, decluttering and organizing can feel like a constant barrage of overwhelming decisions.
If this feels like you… then the first step for you is not to begin decluttering with a trash bag in hand and a donation bag in the other.
The first step for you is to determine what you want from this space in your home. It’s only by knowing with laser-focused clarity what you actually desire that you’ll ever achieve your goal.
In the book “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek, he says “vision is the ability to talk about the future with such clarity as if we are talking about the past.”
Looking at that messy room right now, wouldn’t it be amazing to have this level of clarity about what things should stay in this room and where they should all be stored away and neatly organized?
You bet it would! Which is why you must first assess.
Let me ground this for you. If you don’t have a crystal clear reason behind why you want to get organized, what this organized room in your home will do for you or what being organized even looks like for you… well then, you’ll not only wind up wasting a ton of time, energy + a lot of money but you’ll more than likely never arrive at your destination #OrganizingFail.
And that’s a shame, right?
Not to fret my friend, at its core, this is exactly why we developed our rock-solid organizing process that gets results.
So, go on + assess.
Because before you know it, this will become your saving grace. Your north star. A beacon that you can rely on + refer to often because it helps you identify what you ultimately want in your home. And as you navigate that messy room of yours, it’s going to help you outline a prioritized game plan that gets you from point A to Z by allowing you to check things off as you go.
Long story short boo, it keeps you on track + is designed to help you actually address the mess.
Systems Don’t Work
Organizing systems that don’t work fail for several specific reasons. Stick around here because in a few short weeks we’ll be dropping knowledge all about why your organizing systems fail *wink*
However, for now, though — another reason a messy room, drawer, cabinet or space in your home pops up is simply because the organizing system doesn’t work for everyone.
If you’ve ever been frustrated that your partner, kids or house cleaner murkies up the closet you tried to organize last week (psstt… then, this is you).
If you’ve ever felt like gosh this is a mess but for everyone else in your home they can use it, then this, also may be you *wink*
While organizing may come relatively easy to some, a disconnect in any organizing systems for others who use them leads to a mess.
A lot of this stems from the fact that organizing systems should be simple to understand + easy to use. Otherwise, well they fail.
And they fail for one very obvious reason — as humans, we are drawn to the path of least resistance. If staying organized is too difficult for you or for others, ask yourself why?
Friend, are you sensing a pattern yet for how to organize a messy room? Simply ask why.
Maintenance Isn’t A Habit
The third struggle people who find themselves with a messy room is, maintenance isn’t a habit for you or for others.
When maintenance isn’t a habit for you or someone in your home — you don’t put things away, stuff doesn’t make its way back to the designated space, or culling through the belongings in the space you have doesn't happen… so a messy room will appear.
And that happens for one very specific reason — because organizing isn’t a rotisserie chicken *wink* it’s not set + forget it.
What I mean is you can’t live in an organized home just getting organized once. Organizing, and quite frankly home, are continuous. People aren’t static. Our likes/dislikes and desires evolve over time.
Now, we’ve written quite a bit about some of the challenges with a disposable culture of waste but that’s because we believe in intentional living. And likewise, living in an organized home requires a bit of consistency. You know...to evaluate what’s working + what isn’t in order to create a home that’s everything you need + nothing more.
Other Factors That May Lead To Having A Messy Room
Sentimental Clutter
We see over + over again. When it comes to working with our beloved clients, one of the most common reasons some have a messy room is because they’ve accumulated a lot of stuff that they didn’t buy.
Stuff they’ve received as gifts from friends + family and because they didn’t know how to (politely) say no to unwanted gifts nor had they devised an exit strategy for dealing with things they no longer use. Think random coffee mugs, nick-nacks, things that’ve been inherited from relatives who have long since passed away.
At the end of the day boo, sentimental clutter is no joke. In fact, we wrote an entire blog post on How To Tackle Sentimental Clutter.
Somewhere along this journey of getting organized you’re going to stumble across a stack of old family photos, your grandmother's china collection or *dare I say it * a box that’s overflowing with kids artwork –– because if your children are anything like mine they are prolific artists! *wink*
Regardless of “what” it actually looks like, we define sentimental clutter as anything that makes your heart flutter with joy or sadness.
If it makes your heart tingle with excitement, feel accomplished or loved. If it has any type of emotional value whatsoever (yup, you guessed it) it’s sentimental!
And a lot of times, we’re not simply “afraid” of hurting someone's feelings but rather we feel a real sense of guilt for no longer wanting whatever ‘it’ is. Regardless of if that person is still alive or is no longer with us this can be really tough.
So then, how do we deal with this honest deeply rooted sense of guilt? The answer: head on. Now, as your favorite go-to professional organizer in Seattle, we’re never ever going to force you to throw away + get rid of the things you feel attached to.
We will, however, help you process through those swirling emotions + decide what to do with it because part of organizing a home you never want to leave is about recognizing what we keep in our homes has value to us.
In other words, if you’re bound by guilt + blindly keep stuff or hold on to items out of fear that one day that special someone will come over to your house + call you out by asking where that mini violin, Danny Divitto pillow cover or rubber chicken slingshot is –– then nothing in your home will have much meaning.
How could it — instead of curating a home of the things you love, you’ve curated a home that’s built on a foundation of guilt.
And nobody wants that kind of home ;)
FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out
Another super common reason that we see a messy room is because some fear that if they get rid of it — they’ll need it later.
From the paper clutter of tax documents that we need to keep (but instead of all over the place should have a dedicated spot in our home) to the bins of extra wires, chargers + cords we cling to because you never know...we might need these things if we’re in a pinch, right?
Well I hate to break it to ya boo, all of these things add up over the course of our lifetime + quite frankly we could all benefit from a healthy purge.
But keeping oddball stuff isn’t the only reason we hesitate when it comes to getting rid of things. In fact, a lot of times we second guess ourselves + the moment we’re about to let go of something a wave of doubt comes crashing down on us while creating fear around “what if I need it again.”
The reality is, if you’re asking yourself this question — most likely, you won’t especially if you haven’t used it for years.
So, what do we do? Instead of playing the what if game, ask yourself what would it take to let go of those old linens you haven’t used or put on the guest bed in 3, 4 or even 5 years? What would happen if you didn’t have umpteen thousand pens or highlighters (looking at you mom)? And what would it look like if when you went to make yourself a cup of coffee you grabbed a coffee mug that makes you smile instead of opening the cabinet + it looking like you’re competing with Bob Thomas for the world's largest collection of coffee mugs (who btw has accumulated a whopping 6,352 different mugs)
Of course in reading this, it sounds incredibly easy to make the decision that leads you down a path towards your desired outcome but I cross my heart + promise you that every single one of us is holding onto something that’s collecting dust because we fear that if we let it go we’ll wind up needing it again in the future.
Fear Of Wasting Money
This is a big one because a messy room often has a handful of things that we’re holding onto even though no one is really using them. Things we’ve been meaning to post to Craigslist or OfferUp or things we don’t want to sell but never get around to using them like your old camping gear, bicycle or even extra furniture lining the bay of your garage.
But it’s not just the things we’ve been meaning to sell that we haven’t gotten around to, it's also the stuff we’re holding onto for a friend or trying to give to someone in our family even though they may not want it either.
The fear of losing money is a tough cycle to break but the best way to deal with this bottleneck of clutter so you can finally undertake organizing your home is to put all of this stuff in one pile and set a date for when you will get rid of it.
How To Start Organizing A Messy Room
Friend, are you sensing a pattern yet for how to organize a messy room? Well, if not let me give you the answer…
Over the last decade, as one of the most prominent professional organizers in the Seattle - Bellevue area, we’ve found that the most crucial part of the entire organizing process is identifying the root cause of your clutter.
In other words, taking the time to really understand why you have the specific, unique, situation that you do.
What is it that’s holding you back? And boo, I’m not talking about just the physical stuff but dig deep + explore all the emotional stuff that keeps you from living out that vision of creating a beautifully organized home.
Knowing why helps provide context for not only what it is that you want or what the challenges and obstacles are in getting you there BUT it explains or rather reveals HOW to go about creating order for everyone.
Below are a couple of quick tips to get you started organizing a messy room.
Do the easy thing first
Yep. Sometimes it’s best to get a “quick win” and feel the momentum of starting to get organized.
Just like your home didn’t necessarily get disorganized in the blink of an eye, it won’t get organized with the snap of your fingers either. So, while you have to do the work — find a way to address an easy situation first. Move papers from all over the room into a single pile that you can come back to with fresh eyes + sift through later or pick up the Mt. Everest size pile of clothes laying on the chairdrobe in your bedroom + move them in your closet or on top of your dresser.
This way, you’ve started the sorting process + can carve out time to focus on organizing the rest another day.
Remember, it’s all about Progress Not Perfection, my friend.
Create a simple routine + follow it
Waking up in an organized home is what you want, but what good is it if you don’t change your habits to actually maintain things long term? It’s not a game of set it + forget it. Having an organized home is about committing to the long game + tending to it regularly.
The great news, there's more than one way to peel an orange.
From simple daily activities that are easy habits to develop, like creating a home for your shoes to live + putting your shoes back where they go when you get home to doing weekly activities like laundry — creating routines is truly about you + it’s hands down one of our favorite parts about being a Seattle based professional organizer.
Don’t Judge
Yeah, this one is definitely a quick win. In fact, it’s probably the quickest win of the three but boo, trust me when I say –– it’s crucial.
Don’t judge your mess or someone else's mess.
Clutter is clutter + if you live in a glass house you mustn’t throw stones.
At the end of the day, clutter is entirely in the eye of the beholder. So, whether you’re working to organize your linen closet, your home office, the kitchen pantry or your daughter's bedroom, be mindful to not make damning comparisons.
Don’t compare yourself to those pictures you see on social or to that of your neighbors home + certainly my friend, be mindful of what you may perceive as clutter vs what someone else sees as order.
Being organized is an ongoing process that is continuously evolving –– because let’s face it, life happens. It doesn’t have to become this complex, over the top + exhausting process but when it comes to getting organized our belief system at Elegant Simplicity is that the notion of set it + forget it... Has. To. Change!
You can’t simply organize things once, turn a blind eye + then expect the system you developed to keep pace with our constant change of everyday life.
In order to remove the clutter, to rid ourselves from all of the unnecessary, to make a messy room + a messy home tidy, getting organized can’t be viewed as a final destination.
Shift your philosophy around being organized my love, because it’s a lifelong journey. It’s about embracing the process of creating a beautiful, functional + forgiving home. A home with everything you need + nothing more takes time.
And don’t forget, if you’re in the preliminary planning stages of your next project, let’s chat.
P.S. If you loved this article then you’re going to really enjoy the4 Days To A More Beautiful + Functional Home.