The clutter/fitness connection (guest post).

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Please to welcome Susan & her new blog.

I enjoy them both & know you will as well.

I’m certainly not the first person to point out the many connections between weight loss/fitness and decluttering/organizing, but it’s been hitting me on such a personal level lately.

A year ago, I was diagnosed with type2 Diabetes and made the decision to lose weight and get fit and healthy. I’ve come a long way and feel good about that (you can read about it all on my blog ).

But then I woke up, all fit and healthy, and looked around my house. I was aghast! At all the clutter and piles and MESS.

I was determined to tackle this issue with the same determination that I did with my health. I started a new blog, http://www.clutterbrained.wordpress.com, in the hopes of finding a decluttering community.

It took me a very long while for my healthy bodily habits to become ingrained and “automatic.” And I am suspecting it will take an equally long while (if not longer) to become an “automatically” organized person. If ever.

Here are a few things I’ve observed that are true in both cases.

Procrastination is the devil.

How many times did I used to say, “I’ll go to the Farmers’ Market… later,” or “I’ll go to the gym… later,” or whatever? And “later” stretched into never. I realize that I am the same way about picking up random crap in my house.

I always tell myself, “I’ll do it LATER.” But later, the pile always grows, it always gets bigger, stuff gets lost more easily, and it’s just a hundred times more awful and messy to deal with it later. Same with being overweight. The longer you wait, the more there is to deal with.

Under/overestimating messes us up.

They say that people consistently overestimate the amount of activity/exercise they do, and they consistently underestimate the amount of food they eat. No surprise!

And the same is true with clutter, especially the invisible kind of clutter (time). When I didn’t “count” what Weight Watchers calls BLTs (“bites, licks and tastes”), I was surprised when I gained weight. When I don’t put down EVERYthing on my calendar/planner, I am constantly shocked when I run out of time to do the things I want to. I used to keep a calendar with daily appointments, and a To-Do list on the side, but (duh) I NEVER scheduled TIME to DO those things on the list. So I was constantly dismayed when they didn’t get done. Because I was going to do them on some parallel plane, right?

Magical thinking is dangerous.

With both weight loss and decluttering, it is so easy to say “I wish…” without a plan. But without a real plan, and some sense of accountability, you’re doomed to have your wishes evaporate like a wisp of smoke.

Doing too much too fast leads to burnout.

Just like with crash dieting, crash decluttering can lead to burnout.

I had a great time organizing my office on New Years’ Day. I felt so accomplished! I could see the floor! Before I was finished, the dining room table caught my eye and I leaped over there. But I didn’t finish that either. Then I attacked this huge pile of paper on the kitchen counter. I ended up feeling exhausted and frustrated because I didn’t complete any ONE project. I would have been so much better off if I’d worked on, say, ONE drawer, or one small corner, or a shelf, and not three entire rooms.

I was doomed because I took on so much. So much the same with people who immediately want to “cleanse” their system so they stop eating food. Or they sign up for a marathon when they can’t even run a mile.

Baby steps, people! Baby steps! I know it’s so easy to feel impatient when you finally DECIDE to do something good for yourself. You want it to happen overnight. I know I do.

Buddies help. A LOT.

I am amazed at how true this is with both weight/health endeavors AND with decluttering, how much better/easier/more fun/motivating it is to do with friends. But how counterintuitive that can be at first, because the initial behavior is so embarrassing we don’t want to tell anyone about it. We’re ashamed at how we got so overweight/disorganized in the first place, we don’t want to share it.

But that’s been my new revelation this year with FoodFoodBodyBody. The more I wrote about the things that deeply pained me, the more friends came to support and rally around me. I am hoping the same will be true for my Clutterbrained efforts.

I already have a RL buddy who is blogging with me. We go to each others’ homes. We’ve taken each other on the Tour of Shame.

I can’t tell you how big this was, to open up my closet and to look at someone else’s. It’s big. But I think it’s the thing that’s going to get us where we want to be.

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Comments

  2. Wow! This is an awesome post! I have such a problem with clutter and I never thought about how similar the problem was to my weight issues. I am ‘earmarking’ this article for reference. Thank you so much!

  4. Dad 77…me 42…
    Dad always says, don’t put off till tomorrow, what you can do today.
    Dad 77 organised…me 42…still struggeling to get it right.

    I can get myself to the gym, but can’t seem put my tax papers together and bring them to my accountant.

    Thanks for the post…going to get my papers together NOW 😉

    Marc

  6. Talk about “Perfect Timing” This Post spoke straight to me!!! I am The Queen of “Procrastination” I think I haven’t changed because I loved the “Thrill” of “Making the shot at the Buzzer” But the thrill is fading!!! I’m ready to “Declutter My Life” I am turning to you for HELP!!!
    Love Ya Lots, Susan!!!
    Dr. Mo

  7. Great analogy! The nice thing about it is that once we’ve tackled one of these things (eg. learned how to lose weight and then become a healthy weight), it’s easier to do the next thing (declutter) because we already have the TOOLS for how to do it. We know what to do and how we can accomplish it. I think that’s true for most things in life… we just need to learn how to apply these tools correctly!

  8. I totally do that – start cleaning/organizing one thing, then end up hopping around all over the house and never getting anything completely done. I know it would be better to just stay put and get one thing finished, but somehow it rarely happens.

  9. First off, congrats on taking control of your type 2. That’s awesome. Second, I find that if my home is cluttered I can’t think straight. I’m more anxious. A clean and organized house gives me peace. And that lets me get other things done.

    (Your tip about focusing on one thing and not trying to tackle a bunch at once is so true!)

  10. I love how you made the connection between clutter and a healthy lifestyle! It sounds ridiculous but I literally feel so much lighter and better when my kitchen is not only clean but cletter free (which it so isn’t right now!). Thanks for sharing your insights!

  11. There is a connection. I also blogged about that last month. I think it’s great you’ve made your body a priority. If you only have time to de-clutter one thing, de-clutter your body first (I’m speaking to myself now).

    I’ve noticed this with myself, friends and neighbors (many, not all): their homes are pristine, but they are a mess. They spend so much time cleaning and decorating – making their home “healthy”- but not much time on their own health. It can be a challenge to have balance.

    It is important to de-clutter – get rid of the junk and make room for things that are important.
    Great post.

  12. Thanks everyone! (this is Susan, aka Foodie McBody) I can’t believe this connection never occurred to me before, well, but some of us are slow learners. (ha)

    I love being part of MizFit’s blog today – she rocks my world.

  13. I belong to a website that addresses exactly these issues, and yes, many of us are struggling with weight loss, too.

    Excellent insight.

  14. This is a GREAT guest post! All too often with my clients, I see the link between weight loss/weight gain with clutter.

    I Susan’s nuggets of wisdom on losing weight and decluttering, especially:

    – Putting things off/procrastination “The longer you wait, the more there is to deal with.” Yup.

    – “I NEVER scheduled TIME to DO those things on the list. So I was constantly dismayed when they didn’t get done.” Yup.

    – You need “a plan & accountability” Yup.

    – “Just like with crash dieting, crash decluttering can lead to burnout.” Big Yup.

    – “Buddies help a LOT” Oh yeah! And I’m with you along the way to help & support you as much as I can 🙂

  16. Clutter is one of my really bad things. I am VERY bad at getting rid of it YET I do stay healthy & fit. I guess for me, it is my priority to be fit vs. the clutter. Where the clutter hurts me is mentally. You have some excellent points.. now if I can follow thru! YIKES!

    THX to you & Miz for having you here!

  17. Great post…..thank you! It is so true; I am noticing while I am trying to get healthier I am also trying to organize and clean. They really do have a deep connection. I love your point about overestimating….I am very guilty of this and its punishment of burnout.

  18. Wonderful post, Susan! I’ll definitely check out the blog. I have to admit that I really enjoy decluttering, it is such a cathartic feeling to get rid of junk! (Makes me want to run home and clear out those three boxes sitting on my bedroom floor….)

  19. I agree having a workout buddy is key…I am lucky I have a twin sister to motivate me ; )

    I find when I clean and get rid of things, I feel so much lighter and happier!

  21. Hi everybody– someone asked if there is a club, actually YES! I am the creator of The Clutter Diet®, a program online where you get affordable access to our team of Certified Professional Organizers for unlimited consultation in our member message boards. I also have hours of multimedia tutorials and audio, hundreds of searchable articles, and I have a book called The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life, available in all major bookstores! We’re happy to help! Carla, thanks for letting me know about the post! 🙂

    – Lorie Marrero, CPO®

  22. Love the post!! I subscribed to your blog!! You hit some major points. Getting fit and cleaning up relate in som many ways. It shows a lot about a person. It also shows what we can do to fix it 🙂

  25. Great post.

    Before I started my health journey, we did a major declutter of the entire house. Hubby had a week off work, and we did every single room in the house. Donated van loads of stuff, filled a dumster twice–all within a week. I’m not a baby stepper in organization, I’m actually very skilled at organizing. I had just inherited a lot of stuff from my dad and we had lived here 10 years plus all that stuff–it was time.

    I really feel that clearing made way for my health clearning. Got the house organized, energies/space cleared, now what? Clear/cleanse me. That I did take in small steps. (I refuse to use the term baby steps as I’m a grown woman, not a baby. lol)

    I absolutely get the point of this by Susan. We are a whole package and it all goes hand in hand.

  26. This was a great post!

    And yes.. decluttering all at once is so frustrating that I gave up a few times. Now, I am doing slow decluttering, trying not to hang on to things. It will be while for a reasonable declutter, but I will get there.

  27. The thing is, I really do think you need to take a week off work in order to get this DONE. Because the 15-minutes of spare time a day just is barely enough to do minor maintenance. Good for you to making a project of it, Jo!

  28. I love this!

    The deeper I get in this journey the more I realize it’s all connected and it’s all the same. The process of change (decluttering, finances, health, etc.) is the same – we make a decision, we flounder and flop a bit while we figure out what our ‘new normal’ is going to look like and then take the baby steps (omg the baby steps! The slow, agonizing, but infinatley important baby steps!) to make it a reality.

    I started out with FlyLady to get control of my home, who introduced me to LeAnne Ely to get control of my eating, then Jonathan Roche to get myself movin and grooving.

    Thanks for sharing the connections!!!

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