If a home doesn’t make sense, nothing does. – Henrietta Ripperger

As I’m writing this sitting in the living room, I have a hard time to concentrate. Every corner of the room reminds we of a site where a little tornado has passed and left a chaotic vortex of random things behind. Chaotic and random. Messy. Unorganised. As my thoughts are at this moment.

And I know for a fact, that messy house, dirty dishes, chaos in wardrobes and pantries impact our life greatly. When we wake up and the first thing we see is chaos – it seamlessly pushes our mood off the cliff. It draws our attention away pinning it down to all the things that are misplaced and drains our energy.

It makes me cranky and moody. But most importantly I didn’t understand a simple mechanism that stood behind that mess…

Why is My House Messy?

Why am I doing this so frantically?

I came down to a simple conclusion: My house is messy when I don’t think that I deserve to live in a clean and well organised one.

My house is cluttered because I think that all the things from the past (that bring no value as a matter of fact and I don’t use them) somehow bring me something sentimental and meaningful. And that’s the worst. To let go of the things that somehow remind you of your past and times you were particularly happy. I see things like that as anchors that keep me in a sleepy bay away from present moments and focusing on them.

My house is messy and cluttered when am being hopeful that certain things might be useful in the future and that if I give it to charity then I will need to buy a new one, again. And new things cost money, so hey, let’s clutter my living space with “WHAT IFS & ONE DAYS”.

This reminds me of my mum who owns dresses and things sitting there silently in a dusty closet that older than me and my brother combined together (!)

You Deserve Better

I have trouble adjusting to this simple idea as sometimes my self-confidence and self-worth shies away and leaves me high and dry.

Think about it for a minute: why is your home cluttered and messy so often?

That’s because for some reason subconsciously you set yourself to believe that it’s ok to live in a messy house and that you deserve to live that way. When guests are coming to visit us, what do we do? We get things clean and organised to impress our guests. But why on Earth do we tend to forget our self-worth and that WE DESERVE to live in a nice and clean house, therefore, we need to keep it tidy for our own good and enjoyment? Why do we think that guests are the only ones who deserve to see our house in an immaculate condition?

We do too. No, this shall begin with us. We should be the ones who enjoy our home’s great organisation, functionality and minimalism!

And now, every time I am about to slip into the automatic lazy state when I refuse to wash a spoon… I just take a few breaths and repeat to myself: YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THAT. Clean it now and let it out of your mind.

Ditch the Dust-collectors…

I had plenty of those. Old cameras, old cd-players, old cd, old clothes since high-school and many more I’m too embarrassed to list.

My mind was bombarded with tonnes of suggestions where in the future I might use that thing or two. But in reality, those things were sitting in the drawers pushing away the things that I used to pile on the floor, in the corners of the room.

I got fed up with that. Why on earth should those dust collectors invade my living space bringing no value and only polluting my air in the house?! Off they went.

I took a giant plastic bag and gathered together all the things that weren’t touched in ages. I gave them all to charity. I thanked all the things for the nice work they did and wished them to find new homes and serve them as much as possible.

By creating more space in your house, you create more space in your thoughts.

Messy House Equals Messy Mind

And I didn’t like the idea. So in order to get new results I had to do something I have never done before: get real, tap myself into awareness and create the kind of home that I think I deserve. 

I know that it is a process and it takes time. But once you’ve realised that things are things and that you live now and that you deserve the best home and life possible – that’s when changes appear in your life.

In the posts to follow, we will talk more about ideas for organising our houses and turning them into homes by loving ourselves and giving ourselves the best things we deserve.