Is clutter bad for your mental health?

The survey of 2,000 homeowners with garages looked at how they deal with clutter and found that nearly a third of respondents struggle to keep their homes organised. Nearly half of those surveyed said the organization of their home has an impact on their mental health, and 80% feel more motivated when their home is uncluttered. Similarly, 73% expressed feelings of being overwhelmed when their home is messy.

Many struggle to get ahead of this feeling, as 35% of respondents even claim to be “very” satisfied with the organization, although a quarter feel the exact opposite.

A lot of things

One in seven homeowners admit their home is currently disorganized. On average, homeowners have 25 things out of place in their homes, often in their bathrooms. Of these respondents, half delay finding the right place for those items, sometimes indefinitely.

According to respondents, the most difficult areas of home storage to organize are the garage, closet and drawers.

It can be difficult to dispose of items, especially if they have sentimental value. The top items currently taking up the most space in Americans’ storage spaces are home and holiday decor, old documents, and clothing or shoes.

With the abundance of “junk” in their home, 46% would feel embarrassed if guests saw the current state of these areas. At 52%, the garage ranks as the most common place to store “trash,” such as old kitchen appliances that need cleaning. It’s a close race for second – 34% say drawers, 32% put things in their closets.

Thirty-five percent said it’s been at least a few months since they organized the “trash” areas inside their home, and another 23% say they tried to organize their garage at least a year ago.

“For many homeowners, the garage—like other classic ‘storage areas’—can be an afterthought,” says Gretchen Ganc, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Analytics at The Container Store.

“There’s a world of potential within these spaces that might surprise you in terms of how useful they can be. While ideally you would take care of organizing the storage areas in your home before they reach the point of clutter that will only overwhelm you more, sometimes you need to address a space in your home where clutter already has occupied.”

Garage needs some TLC

From car storage to an indoor golf simulator, garages are an extremely useful place in our homes. There’s something about the garage though – maybe it’s all that open space? — that just makes it a great place to dump all your unused stuff. 37% of respondents to The Container Store survey say their garage currently looks like a nightmare. Another 21% of homeowners admit to avoiding entering their garage altogether, just to avoid clutter.

Even the semi-organized war, 60% claim they use their garage as storage for essentials, while 58% admit it’s full of random stuff. 43% say that the storage system in their garage does not meet all their needs.

“Garages are not ‘one size fits all,’ which is why we offer custom spaces and complementary organization solutions that meet your specific needs,” explains Ganc. “To help figure out what kind of organizational system will work best for you, we suggest outlining your goals for the space: what you need to keep, what you hope to do with the space you free up, and how you can maximize space with which one should you work on?”

Storage solutions can make a big difference in your garage and your entire home. Decluttering any room can have tremendous benefits for your mental health, as research has shown that people are less irritated, less distracted and more productive in an organized home. A room as important and large as the garage can really free up space for other items that are more important and really take a mental load off.

This article was produced by Media Decision and published by Wealth of Geeks.