A Case for Home Organization
How an organized home can positively impact any career
Marie Kondo, organization expert, once said, “A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective. It is life transforming." 1
Home organization has become an increasingly important aspect of modern-day living, which not only affects the physical space which we live in, but also has a substantial impact on individuals’ mental and emotional health, overall well-being, and even their professional lives.
As spouses, parents, and professionals, maintaining a balance between personal and professional life is of utmost importance. Homes play a significant role in this balance, as they can either contribute to stress levels or provide a sanctuary from work.
All working professionals should invest in home organization because of the numerous benefits, including eradicated symbolic pollution, improvement of day-to-day life and overall well-being, better work-life balance, and increased work performance.
Home Organization Eradicates Symbolic Pollution
Delphine Dion, Ouidade Sabre, and Valérie Guillard, professors at varying universities in Paris, studied the role of mundane and everyday tidying practices within a home. They found that clutter and disorder create what they call “symbolic pollution,” which is “whatever eludes or threatens order” and emerges when things are “out of place.” 2
Clutter both represents and physically creates contamination in the home. Tidying up a home goes a long way, and putting household items where they belong means more than simply placing items in a specific location: “Tidying substantiates cultural categories; it makes the concrete cultural meaning that organizes the world visible. It is a vital, tangible record of cultural meaning that is otherwise intangible.” 3 Untidiness, on the other hand, also creates intangible, cultural meaning and is linked to a poor quality of life, stress, and inefficiency. 4
Home Organization Benefits Day-to-Day Life and Overall Well-Being
Mental Health
Many studies show that one of the top benefits of an orderly space is improved mental health. 5 Living in an organized and clutter-free environment allows individuals to feel more in control of their lives, and with more control, many are likely to experience enhanced self-esteem and confidence. 6 By creating a calm and organized environment at home, professionals will be better equipped to handle stress and stay motivated and engaged in both their personal and professional lives.
To understand the effects of clutter on mental health, one must first understand how clutter is defined, which is “an overabundance of possessions that collectively create chaotic and disorderly living spaces.” 7 A study from the University of New Mexico found that clutter directly interferes with an individual’s ability to feel pleasure in a space. Furthermore, within the study, researchers defined “home” as a reflection of one’s need to identify with a physical environment, and clutter was found to have the “opposite effect of the normally positive benefits of home on subjective well-being”. 8
Living in a cluttered environment can negatively impact quality of life, as clutter complicates enjoyment at home as well as activities that promote mental and physical health.
Physical Health
A tidy home can significantly promote physical health, while clutter can easily do the opposite. Clutter can accumulate dust, mold, and other allergens, which contributes to poor air quality, leading to potential respiratory problems such as asthma, allergies, and other issues. Clutter also creates complications for individuals to move around their space, which can reduce physical activity levels, potentially leading to weight gain and other health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
Financial Savings
An orderly environment can, in many cases, increase financial savings. A systemized space helps to keep track of belongings within a home. If an individual knows where home items are, they will be less likely to buy duplicates of things they already have. This can be helpful to save money by reducing unnecessary spending on unneeded items. A tidy home can also increase the resale value of a house. Homes free of clutter present a more attractive and appealing space to potential buyers.
Home Organization Improves Work-Life Balance and Work Performance
Productivity and Time Management
For a working professional, effective productivity and time management make a substantial impact on overall career success. With an organized home comes fewer distractions by clutter or unfinished tasks, allowing professionals to stay focused on their work. Tidiness in the home also saves time. If all items have an established place to be, professionals are more efficient with their time, enabling them to get more done in less time.
A study by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology found that individuals who felt overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” in their homes were more likely to procrastinate. 9 Other research shows that a disarranged home environment triggers coping and avoidance strategies involving snacking on junk and watching TV. 10 Cluttered offices may produce employees who make “poor eating choices during breaks” and, therefore, spend less time actually working. 11
Reduced Stress
According to “51 Home Organizing Statistics,” three out of ten women have said that having an organized closet resulted in their mornings being overall less stressful. 12 Disarray and disorder easily leads to feelings of overwhelm and anxiety and the constant visual reminders of unfinished tasks and the chaos of clutter can cause a constant sense of unease. Orderly, categorized spaces provide a sense of calm and order, overall reducing stress. 13
Additional findings from the University of New Mexico study on clutter revealed that women who described their home in primarily negative terms had higher cortisol levels than those who felt good in their homes.14 These findings suggest that even if someone’s home is relatively clean, negative feelings about not being in control of their home space could still create daily stress. When polled about the clutter in their homes, over half of Americans reported to be overwhelmed by the clutter, a definite contributor of stress. 15
Professional Image
A maintained, tidy, and clutter-free living space reflects positively on an individual’s work ethic, self-discipline, attention to detail, and ability to manage multiple tasks. Such a space can reflect positively on their professional reputation, as the space suggests that the individual is likely to approach their work with the same level of care and organization. If an employer were to visit the home of an employee and found the living space to be clean and well-organized, the tidiness could communicate that the employee is responsible and reliable.
12% of Americans worry about how cluttered their home looks, which can be a huge issue when wanting to socialize at home.16 By creating a tidy and efficient living space, individuals can convey a sense of discipline, professionalism and make a positive impression on colleagues and clients.
How to Begin Organizing A Home
Take Everything Out of the Space
First and foremost, take all items out of the space to be organized. In this stage, the saying rings true: things gets worse before they get better. Spreading out all items allows each object to be seen and accounted for. This process is beneficial to also assess storage needs and make the most out of the space.
Declutter
Decluttering might be the most important part of the organizing process, as decluttering gets rid of the items not used or needed, which take up space. Individuals can choose to have either the items of clutter, or the free space, but not both. Only keep what is absolutely necessary!
Group “Like Items” Together and Corral
As the decluttering process continues, group similar items together to assess the quantity of all items. Often times, objects are discovered in certain areas that do not belong and can be moved to the appropriate area with other items of its same category. Separating items into categories brings ease to choosing proper bins to hold the items. A helpful tip is to use smaller containers within a larger bin to control clutter and ensure each item has a specific belonging spot.
Label Bins, Boxes or Containers
Labeling is for both functionality and beauty. Once all objects are decluttered, categorized, and binned, using a label maker keeps all titles uniform and gives a tidy look. Labeling the category ensures the items return back to their official, systemized home.
Conclusion
Overall, an organized home becomes a sanctuary away from stressful work life for working professionals. Having an orderly home system benefits day-to-day life, overall well-being, as well as improves work-lifebalance and work performance. A tidy home can be a positive and uplifting environment that promotes mental, physical, and emotional health for all professionals. Now is the best time for individuals to invest in organization, as the home organization industry is expected only to grow at a rate of 4.7% from 2022 to 2029. 17
From increased productivity to reduced stress, the benefits of an organized living space can extend far beyond personal life and assist in efficiency, effectiveness, and success in all careers. Taking the time to declutter and create an organized home promotes health wellness and consequently a more productive, successful career.
Notes:
“Marie Kondo Quotes,” Bookroo, Accessed March 1, 2023, https://bookroo.com/quotes/marie-kondo.
Delphine Dion, Ouidade Sabri, Valérie Guillard, “Home Sweet Messy Home: Managing Symbolic Pollution,” Journal of Consumer Research, no. 41, October 2014, https://doi.org/10.1086/676922.
Dion, Sabri, Guillard, “Home Sweet Messy Home.”
Dion, Sabri, Guillard, “Home Sweet Messy Home.”
Libby Sander, “The Case for Finally Cleaning Your Desk,” Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, March 25, 2019, https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=buh&AN=135652531&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Shelby Deering, “A Clean and Tidy Home Can Boost Your Mental Health-Here's Where to Start,” Real Simple, February 9, 2022, https://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/clean-home-mental-health-benefits.
Catherine A. Roster, Joseph R. Ferrari, M. Peter Jurkat, “The Dark Side of Home: Assessing Possession ‘Clutter’ on Subjective Well-Being,” Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 46, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.03.003.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494416300159).
Roster, Ferrari, Jurkat, “The Dark Side of a Home.”
Darby E. Saxbe, Rena Repetti, “No Place Like Home: Home Tours Correlate With Daily Patterns of Mood and Cortisol,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2010, 36(1), 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167209352864.
“What Does Clutter Do to Your Brain and Body?” NewsGP, accessed March 20, 2023, https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/what-does-clutter-do-to-your-brain-and-body.
Saxbe, Repetti, “No Place Like Home.”
Roman Peysakhovich, “51 Home Organizing Industry Statistics,” 51 Home Organizing Industry Statistics, August 13, 2022, https://www.getonedesk.com/home-organizing-statistics.
Baldwin, “5 Surprising Health Benefits of Being More Organized,” McKenzie Health System, January 13, 2023, https://www.mckenziehealth.org/news-blog/2023/january/5-surprising-health-benefits-of-being-more-organ/.
Roster, Ferrari, Jurkat, “The Dark Side of a Home.”
Roman Peysakhovich, “51 Home Organizing Industry Statistics.”
Roman Peysakhovich, “51 Home Organizing Industry Statistics.”
“Global Home Organization Products Market – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029,” Home Organization Products Market Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Analysis, & Forecast by 2029, accessed March 20, 2023, https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-home-organization-products-market#:~:text=The%20home%20organization%20products%20market,work%20in%20many%20different%20spaces.
Ginger Abbott, “How Organising Your Home Makes You Happier,” Psychreg, February 20, 2022, https://www.psychreg.org/how-organising-home-makes-happier/.
Brittany Harris, “Declutter Your Home, Destress Your Mind,” Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, March 18, 2022, https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2022/03/18/declutter-your-home-destress-yourmind/.
Brooke Glassberg, “Goodbye, Mess: Quick Ways to Organize Your Stuff,” Consumer Reports 87 (5): 30-35, 2022, https://lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=155878519&site=ehost-live&scope=site.