How Simplifying Your Home Can Improve Clarity

By Shelina Jokhiya, professional declutterer and founder of DeCluttr Me

Ever walked into a messy room and instantly felt your mood dip without quite knowing why? Our surroundings have a powerful effect on our mental state, and the clutter we live with every day could be quietly clouding our focus, energy, and emotional wellbeing.

From overflowing drawers to digital chaos on our phones, the buildup of “stuff” creates more than just visual distraction, it adds to our mental load. In this feature, Shelina Jokhiya explains why simplifying your space can help clear your mind, reduce stress, and bring a greater sense of calm and control to everyday life.

As a professional declutterer, I am constantly reminded how filling our homes with too many possessions can negatively affect our mental health and productivity.

Why? Because when you’re surrounded by clutter, it can feel like your brain is being constantly bombarded with visual noise. Every item in the pile represents a decision waiting to be made— where to put it, what to keep, and what to let go of. This sense of unfinished business creates mental stress because our brains naturally associate clutter with incomplete tasks. Over time, that can weigh heavier than we realise. Even if that pile is hidden, deep down, we know it’s there.

I often describe it as a clutter cloud hanging over your head, disrupting clarity and peace of mind.

There are many reasons why someone might accumulate too many things in the first place. They may have become over-attached and struggle to part with items that represent a specific phase of their life, after a divorce or a death in the family, for example. They may hate the thought of throwing things away because they were always taught to avoid waste and make things last when they were growing up. Or people might love the rush of shopping even when they know it’s unnecessary, and then hide purchases away out of guilt.

The emotional impact of clutter is complex. It can trigger feelings of shame, especially when people feel they’ve lost control of their space. And this gets compounded by all the social media images we see of pristine, minimal homes. Clutter might also reflect underlying struggles, such as anxiety, depression, grief, or conditions like ADHD, which can make organisation seem like an uphill battle. In these cases, the physical mess is only part of the issue—the mental load of figuring out how to tackle it is what often feels so overwhelming.

And it’s not just physical clutter that creates problems. Digital disorganisation is a massive problem that most of us choose to ignore. Endless apps filling your phone, unread messages piling up, or thousands of photos eating away at your storage may seem harmless, but they quietly slow you down and create pressure.

Research shows that working in a disordered space has a negative effect on our brains and bodies by increasing cortisol levels, which can also wreak havoc on our productivity. Add to that the fact that a lot of us work from home, at least part of the time, and the mess can quickly feel inescapable.

That’s why I always recommend starting small to minimise the sense of overwhelm and help you feel more confident. Instead of trying to tackle an entire room or house, focus on a single drawer, a shelf, or one corner of the space. Spend just 15–20 minutes on a mini-declutter session. It’s amazing how much progress you can make in that time, and those small wins add up quickly. The next day, move onto another manageable area in the same room. If you commit to doing that every day you will have decluttered an entire room in a week. Once you have removed items, sort the remaining items in each area into broad categories and organise a space for them.

Moving forward, follow the “Buy 1, Get Rid of 2” rule: when you buy something new, get into the habit of clearing out two existing items (preferably in the same bracket as what you have purchased). So, if you buy one dress, declutter two dresses from your wardrobe. If that feels a bit extreme, keep a bag in your wardrobe and every time you find something you don’t like, use, wear, or can’t fit into, put it in the bag. Once the bag is full, take the items to the donation bin or charity shop. If you do this regularly, you cover the “Buy 1, Get Rid of 2” rule without thinking about it.

By taking things step by step and reframing decluttering as a manageable task, you can gradually clear away both the physical clutter and the mental fog that comes with it. And as that clutter cloud starts to lift, you’ll likely notice your energy levels, mood, and overall sense of calm improving too.