Stressed? Clean your home!

Filed in archive Stay Healthy on August 8, 2007

Even if we don't always notice, we are affected by everything around us.

Someones mood can make us tense, scared or stressed. But it´s not only the people around us that affects us, it's the position of things as well.

Imagine coming home after a long day at work and be greeted by a messy house. Paper on the floor, bills on the table, toys everywhere, shoes in the hallway, flowers that needs to be watered, etc. Each home has it's own ¨problems¨.

Of course this contributes to your daily doze of stress. Wouldn't it be better if you came home to an organized home and put your feet up on the table instead of having to deal with the mess?
Once I read a very good saying that went something like this: ¨A cluttered desk means a cluttered head¨. And I have noticed that if my desk or in this case my home, is cluttered and messy I will be too. I will be stressed because I have to clean my house and cannot concentrate on other things.

So how do you deal with this?
Here are some tips;
* Make sure that the whole family knows they have to help. The kids need to pick up their toys for example.
* Have a special ¨tidy up¨ day, get the whole family to help. There is something to do for everyone. During the rest of the week you only do the things you really need to do.
* Make a list of things to do on your special day, don´t forget to change the light bulb etc. small things that needs to be done.
* Get help. Having someone to help you these days are so common and surely you can find someone to come around to your house once or twice a week to help you deal with the mess. It doesn´t need to be expensive, maybe you can trade services?
* Learn to live with it. If you are constantly thinking about it you will stress more. So, there are toys everywhere, there are other more important things to care about. Pick up the toys later. Do something nice with your family first.

Once you start doing this you can see that cleaning your home is almost like therapy, your body relaxes and you can concentrate on other things. The FlyLady has helped many stressed moms.

Do you find that you get more stressed when your house is untidy?