A cluttered house makes me feel tired and overwelmed and i am less likelu to tackle anything well – including taking care of my own health.

Decluttering my house like my weight seems like an endless impossible task.

I am now taking them both on simultaneaously a little at a time. For me the main issues are not being mindful and stress and lack of sleep. I see it as all related. And yes underneath it all unmet emotional needs. And a feeling of hiding and being kept safe.

They may both somewhat be symptoms of our current society’s state of trying to do too many things at once in less time and faster than we ever have before (having more and trying to accomplish more in a shorter period of time, without actually engaging in as much physical activity). But I don’t think one causes the other.

I’m 20 lbs over what I like to be at this moment, and I’m working, taking 2 classes, and in the middle of rural food canning/harvest season–a cluttered life. Either I can exercise or I can read news, you’s, and surf the net.

Some of it may be causal (if you have little money, and you’ve gained weight, you may keep the clothes that are too small because you fear you won’t be able to afford to replace them if you lose weight), but I suspect that we all know of people who fit one or two categories without being in the third. I’m a recovering clutterer, I’m overweight, and I’ve always been good with money.

I don’t believe that fat causes debt or clutter, or clutter causes debt or fat, or debt causes fat or clutter. However, I think that they can mutually reinforce each other. If you’re overweight, it’s harder to move around and remove the clutter. If your kitchen is cluttered, it’s harder to make healthy meals. If you go out to eat, the cheapest stuff is often the stuff laden with empty calories.

At that point, getting a handle on any one of the issues may help with the others. If they’re there.

As they begin to take control and feel more powerful, they do so in several areas of their lives, not just with their time and space. So if you ask me, YES people certainly can shed excess body weight as they shed physical and emotional clutter and chaos.

~Monica

I found an article on this relating to clutter in the kitchen and weight. I don’t think there is enough data to say if there is a correlation, but I could see why clutter in the kitchen would wreck havoc on a diet. I posted about it here a few months ago:

http://www.definingsomeday.com/?p=38

Good discussion, thanks Erin!

About eight months ago, I was diagnosed with an episode of severe depression for the second time in my life. I ‘m 23, and I know from past experience that most anti-depressants either don ‘t work for me, or leave me with side effects I can ‘t handle on my own, so go figure. A health care worker told me at the time that living in a cluttered environment can have an adverse effect on mood (common sense, really), and that regular exercise is considered one of the best, if not THE best way to conquer mild depression. So after a while, I took on both. I cleared out and eventually redecorated and reorganized my living space, and I went swimming three times a week. Also, hand in hand with the reorganization went a tighter daily schedule, which meant regular meals, and planning in advance for things like trips to the grocery store, hence, menus as well.

Yes, all of that helped a whole lot in shedding the ‘depressed’ label. It also made me loose a lot of weight.

I’m a very organized, uncluttered person and I’ve been shopping in the “Big Girls” department for years.

There are certainly people who have weight problems that don’t have clutter problems and vice versa. However there are definitely some cases where holding on to useless stuff and overeating stem from the same underlying problem (such as depression).

Problems can also come from a lack of knowledge of self-discipline or just because someone wasn’t taught how to take care of certain things. As Lynn C. said cleaning isn’t intuitive. I did learn a little about proper nutrition, cleaning, and how to balance a checkbook but these lessons were never reinforced at home. To this day I still don’t understand what people use an old toothbrush for when they save it to clean with. Not only did my parents not teach me how to clean, they did not teach me about proper nutrition.

I have found in my own life that if I tackle the clutter I certainly feel better about myself and in turn I watch what I eat and want to take better care of my body as well. When I’m depressed my clutter and my weight spiral out of control. Besides, all that clutter is blocking my treadmill and my pantry is cluttered with boxes of food I shouldn’t be eating. Imagine how much weight I’d lose if I uncluttered those two areas.

I don’t know what it is, really. You’d think in high school, you might get a class on life management. Eating well, how to clean, how to balance a checkbook, do your taxes, put money aside for retirement. These are important skills, and yet, they’re never taught to anyone. Everyone just assumes you know how to do it, or that you just “should know.”

I know, I know, someone’s out there rolling their eyes at me; “How can you not know how to clean a room?” But I didn’t. Cleaning was this huge big deal, took hours at a time to accomplish, and was just a mess again in 2-3 days. It’s not intuitive to me and I just couldn’t figure it out. Cleaning was a huge chore, not a 15 minute task, and so I avoided it until absolutely necessary.

Now, 8 months later, I’ve lost almost 50 pounds and my house, while not spotless, is certainly clean and mostly organized. Takes me 10-15 minutes to put a room in order and I’m never ashamed to have guests over at the drop of a hat.

I don’t think it’s mandatory that these things are related, but sometimes they can be symptomatic of other problems. Depression, feeling out of control, helplessness… I think both things are part of my taking control of my own life, changing the things I CAN change so I can feel better about the stuff I can’t control.

http://yinvsyang.com/

One rule for me is buying only ONE single serving pack of junk food when I’m craving it. The treat is nice and fresh, and there’s no leftovers cluttering up my kitchen begging to be eaten after the first craving has been fed.

I also try to spend one Saturday afternoon per month planning/pre-assembling meals so healthy home-made dinners go together faster on hectic work nights (otherwise “The Colonel” would be a regular dinner guest, if you know what I mean!).

I noticed that when I didn’t exercise, I felt sluggish and gained weight, which made me feel too sluggish to tackle much organizing.

When I was stressed, I eat more and sleep less. Unfinished work hangs over my head and although I am procrastinating about doing the work, I am feeling too guilty to tackle other tasks, such as cleaning house. I sit as if chained to the desk trying to do more than shuffle papers around when I should be taking a refreshing walk to clear my mind and just get it all done. It’s a perpetual cycle.

So, after losing 100 pounds, I did notice that I was spending more time being active and had given up television entirely. Exercise minus TV = burning more calories,, getting more done and not taking IN calories while watching TV!

This blog is helpful for both organizing and losing weight. I like having something to look forward to and this serves as a daily treat without calories. I enjoy the postings of others which stiulates my mind and banishes lonely feelings, making me less likely to use food for that purpose.