Whether you realize it or not, clutter causes stress and can put a strain on your relationship with your spouse and children, relationship expert Dr. Michelle Callahan says. “Clutter robs your home of peaceful and romantic energy and instead fills it with disorganization and anxiety,” she says. Dr. Callahan offers advice on how to get rid of clutter in your home and relationships.
Your bedroom is meant to bring feelings of relaxation and romance, Dr. Callahan says. “If an item isn’t contributing to those feelings, move it or lose it,” she says. Make sure all items are in their necessary places and not creating a mess in your bedroom. “Keep the kids’ things in their own rooms, and use an organization system to keep your personal items stored out of sight,” Dr. Callahan says.
When you and your spouse create a vision for how you want your home to look, you are more likely to work toward achieving that ideal and less likely to accumulate clutter that’s not part of the vision, Dr. Callahan says. “The clutter won’t go away unless you both have a unified goal of a clutter-free home,” she says.
Regardless of who’s creating the clutter, it affects both spouses, Dr. Callahan says. “The items that become clutter are usually purchased with money that belongs to your family, and clutter takes up space that the two of you share,” she says. “Talk to your spouse about the clutter in your home. Try to understand where it came from and develop a considerate, relationship-promoting solution to getting rid of your clutter.”
Establish a budget that will help you limit the purchases that create clutter. “Sometimes clutter is disorganization; other times it is overspending,” Dr. Callahan says. “Creating a family budget will help you realize when you are buying things that you don’t need and can’t afford.” She says you can increase your motivation to stick to the budget by making a list of the benefits of spending less money on your clutter collection and ask yourself, “What can my spouse and I do with the money saved?”
