--- title: Eliminate Clutter and Tackle that Spring Clean-Up for Good description: Clearing clutter is usually done as a Spring cleaning. Imagine the freedom and ease if spaciousness, order, and ease were a lifestyle and daily choice. image: https://blog.heartmanity.com/hubfs/Messy-Closet-117148506_1497x2007.jpeg --- [![Heartmanity](https://heartmanity.com/wp-content/files/heartmanity-logo-web.png "Heartmanity")](https://heartmanity.com) [Schedule a Conversation](https://heartmanity.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=30172362) [Shop](https://heartmanity-services-products.myshopify.com/) [Join the Community](https://heartmanitycommunity.mn.co/) [Get In Touch](https://heartmanity.com/contact/) - [Home](https://heartmanity.com/) - [Our Focus and Expertise](https://heartmanity.com/our-focus-and-expertise/) - [BrainFitness](https://heartmanity.com/brain-fitness/) - [Emotional Intel](https://heartmanity.com/emotional-intel/) - [Habits for Health](https://heartmanity.com/habits-for-health/) - [Relationship Mastery](https://heartmanity.com/relationship-mastery/) - [About](https://heartmanity.com/about/) - [Individuals](https://heartmanity.com/individuals/) - [No-Nonsense Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/no-nonsense-coaching/) - [Return to Serenity](https://heartmanity.com/return-to-serenity/) - [One-Year Makeover](https://heartmanity.com/one-year-makeover/) - Couples - [Drama-Free Marriage](https://heartmanity.com/drama-free-marriage/) - [Marriage Tune-Up](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#tune-up) - [Couples Mentoring](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#mentoring) - [Premarital Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#coaching) - [Drama-Free Weddings](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/#weddings) - Parents - [HeartPrints® Parenting](https://heartmanity.com/heartprints-parenting/) - [Parent Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/#coaching) - [Family Coaching](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/#visits) - [WombPrints](https://heartmanity.com/heartprints-parenting/#wombprints) - [Professionals](https://heartmanity.com/professionals/) - [Heartmanity for Business](https://heartmanity.com/business/) - [Heartlead Business](https://heartmanity.com/heartmanity-for-business/) - [MomPreneurs](https://heartmanity.com/mompreneurs/) - [Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/) - [Heartlead Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartlead-resources/) - [Drama-Free Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/drama-free-resources/) - [HeartPrints® Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/heartprints-resources/) - [Personal Growth Resources](https://heartmanity.com/resources/personal-growth-resources/) - [Blog](https://blog.heartmanity.com/) - [Emotional Intelligence & Fitness](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/emotional-intelligence-fitness) - [Leadership and Business](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/leadership-and-business) - [Love, Marriage, and Relationships](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/love-marriage-and-relationships) - [Parents: Permission to Be Imperfect](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/parents-permission-to-be-imperfect) - [Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/brain-fitness-mindfulness-and-perspective) - [Communication & Interpersonal Skills](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/communication-interpersonal-skills) - [Habits for Health](https://blog.heartmanity.com/topic/habits-for-health) Heartmanity's Blog Search Search - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. Topics: Select a topic... All Emotional Intelligence & Fitness Leadership and Business Love, Marriage, and Relationships Parents: Permission to Be Imperfect Brain Fitness, Mindfulness and Perspective Communication & Interpersonal Skills Habits for Health Heartmanity Webinars, Classes, and Events Filters # [*Eliminate Clutter and Tackle that Spring Clean-Up for Good*](https://blog.heartmanity.com/eliminate-clutter-and-tackle-that-spring-clean-up-for-good) A clean house or office, free from clutter and perfectly organized—isn’t that the dream? There are thousands of resources out there with techniques for organizing, tips for decluttering, or a process for cleaning your closet. The list runs the gamut from “150+ Things to Throw Away Today” to “30 Ways to Instantly Declutter” and “The 4-Pile Strategy for Simplifying Your Closet.” ***I have another idea: clutter is a mindset.*** ![Decluttering and Spring cleaning are near](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/declutter-and-simplify-word-cloud-on-napkin-923473216_2125x1416.jpeg?width=2121&height=1414&name=declutter-and-simplify-word-cloud-on-napkin-923473216_2125x1416.jpeg)Organizing your Tupperware is nice; eliminating most of it might be better, but neither are really the root cause. It’s like changing your clothes because you cut yourself and they get bloody, but not bothering to bandage the bleeding. You’ll just end up changing again... Decluttering again... Fixing the peripheral side-effects without tackling the real issue. ![You're not a hoarder just because you have a mess](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Messy-Closet-117148506_1497x2007.jpeg?width=227&height=305&name=Messy-Closet-117148506_1497x2007.jpeg)Sure, we all accumulate things. Just because you do too does *not* mean there is some deep-rooted hoarder tendency inside you that needs to be squelched. Or that you need to become a minimalist. I think of it like this instead: I know that I want to live with integrity. Sometimes life makes that challenging. So, I practice thinking and acting with integrity with my personal values and it becomes easier; it becomes a *lifestyle*. (I wrote more about that here: [*Speaking Your Truth Even When it is Uncomfortable*](https://blog.heartmanity.com/speaking-your-truth-even-when-its-uncomfortable)). ## With practice, eliminating the chaos that comes with keeping too much can become more of a lifestyle and less of a springtime chore. It becomes more natural the more you implement it. Clutter can be similar. The *things* will naturally come and we’ll all be tempted to hold on to them. The dirt will naturally accumulate (as it does), and we’ll dislike dealing with it. If the cleaning side feels harder to keep up with than the decluttering itself, reading a [comprehensive Homeaglow review](https://theeverymom.com/homeaglow-cleaning-service-review/) can help you decide whether outside help would make your home feel easier to manage. If you live in a small space, you don’t have room to hold on to things so you don’t. When clutter is not an option it’s easier to eliminate. What if you had that mindset no matter how much space you actually have? It’ll be a practice, a decision to make with every t-shirt that fits just slightly wrong, every household manual that you might need some day and every cord that you somehow have two of. **It does get easier with time.** And of course, the more often you clean or organize, the less you have to do each time—funny how that works. I am *not* advocating constant cleaning! That is not the practice. It also sounds somewhat miserable. As Henry Ford said: #### "Improved productivity means less human sweat, not more.” Eliminating clutter and practicing a lifestyle where you don’t hold on to *things* will not only make you sweat less, declutter less, and clean less—it will give you back space in your life! Once you heal that metaphorical blood flow instead of just changing your clothes, **you save all that time and energy spent cleaning up.** In the article [How Clearing Clutter Made Me a Better Mom](http://findingjoy.net/how-clearing-clutter-made-me-a-better-mom/#.WrwRQ9MbPOY), the author writes about how she purged over 70 percent of what she owned, following the book called T[he Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up](http://amzn.to/2DkqIju): > *“For years I managed stuff. I didn’t think of it as managing, but it really was this complicated system of managing things and keeping it put away and sorted. There were boxes, labeled, and full of stuff that I might someday need. There were memory boxes, toys, books, kitchen gadgets, tools, gardening stuff and on and on and on. I didn’t think of it as clutter. But it was....* ***Instead of spending time on things I loved I was spending time, on what I thought was most important, managing the clutter so that everything was ordered.****”* Again, just because this mom found spaciousness and liberation in her choice to purge her belongings doesn't mean you have to take up the practice of minimalism. What I'm advocating is creating more space in your life according to your personal values and what makes you feel at home. ![Minimalist bedroom storage](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/3d-rendering-minimal-wood-walk-in-closet-with-wardrobe-643673538_2696x2000.jpeg?width=274&height=204&name=3d-rendering-minimal-wood-walk-in-closet-with-wardrobe-643673538_2696x2000.jpeg)This same idea of creating spaciousness in your life is what I wrote about in an earlier blog, [The Spaces in Between Are Just as Important](https://blog.heartmanity.com/the-spaces-in-between-are-just-as-important): > *“So often we spend our days rushing through space, whether that’s hurtling through traffic from point A to B in our car or hastening to complete the next bullet point on our never-ending to-do list….Whether it is a moment of pause between to-do list items, dawn breaking before the day starts, the rests between notes of music, or the transitions between yoga poses—****the pauses are there. Waiting for us to notice.*** *Not to fill, but to occupy and enjoy.”* We discuss emotional intelligence, communication between couples and strong parenting skills a lot here. **The discussions almost always lead us to two things: self-awareness and practice.** Cleaning your house is no different. Make it a practice of awareness to enrich your life! If you'd like personal support at getting underneath clutter and feeling stuck, [reach out to Heartmanity](https://heartmanity.com/contact/). Many times, there are emotional patterns underneath driving behavior. Learn how to stop fueling unwanted behavior. ### Like the article? Help us spread the word and share it! Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn **![Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/EnidRSpitz.jpeg?width=225&name=EnidRSpitz.jpeg)[Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor](https://blog.heartmanity.com/author/enid-r-spitz)** Enid Spitz is a writer, yoga instructor, and works at the popular Lululemon. She previously lived in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA, where she was a newspaper editor and researched yoga for Traumatic Brain Injury. Heartmanity combines Enid's passions for social well-being, neuroscience, and yoga. When not writing or on the yoga mat, she is an avid traveller, and loves being outdoors. ### You may also like: ![Why Pleasure Belongs in a Healthy Life—and Why We Often Leave It Out](https://blog.heartmanity.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Cherry%20Park%20pathway%20SM_Compressed.jpg?width=250&height=150&name=Cherry%20Park%20pathway%20SM_Compressed.jpg) [Why Pleasure Belongs in a Healthy Life—and Why We Often Leave It Out](https://blog.heartmanity.com/why-pleasure-belongs-in-a-healthy-life-and-why-we-often-leave-it-out) ![What Does Empathy Mean? 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[Sitemap](https://heartmanity.com/sitemap/) | [Privacy Policy](https://info.heartmanity.com/privacy-policy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : [ { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Enid R. Spitz / Heartmanity Contributor", "url" : "https://blog.heartmanity.com/author/enid-r-spitz" } ], "dateModified" : "2026-06-09T19:49:44", "datePublished" : "2018-04-12T20:55:00", "headline" : "Eliminate Clutter and Tackle that Spring Clean-Up for Good", "image" : [ "https://info.heartmanity.com/hubfs/Messy-Closet-117148506_1497x2007.jpeg" ] } ```