Clutter Tolerance: 3 Ways to Know When You Have Too Much, According to a Pro
Inside: Learn how to identify your clutter tolerance level and ways to prevent reaching your clutter threshold in your home.
Have you ever walked into someone else’s space that felt cluttered and overwhelming to you – but they didn’t seem to mind at all?
You likely have different levels of clutter tolerance.
As a professional declutterer, I’ve worked with a variety of people and noticed that we all have different levels of clutter tolerance. Some people need their homes to be completely immaculate at all times – not a thing out of place.
On the other end of the spectrum are the folks who embrace the maximalist lifestyle, filling their homes with anything and everything they love and living in a space that appears chaotic to others.
Most of us? We’re somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. We can tolerate some clutter – our clutter tolerance – but when we reach or surpass our limit, it becomes too much.
It’s a good idea to understand your clutter tolerance – the threshold you need to stay within before your stuff drives you crazy and begins to have a negative impact on your life.
By recognizing your limits and taking action to address the situation before you’re pushed over the edge, you can keep your home a peaceful, relaxing, organized space – and keep stress at bay.
3 Ways to Know When You’ve Reached Your Clutter Threshold
So… how do you start to understand your clutter tolerance? How do you know when you’ve reached your clutter threshold?
It isn’t black and white. In most cases, clutter isn’t quantifiable – not in the sense that it contributes to your clutter tolerance, anyway.
Instead, it’s more about the feeling you get when you’re in your home in its varying states. And it’s important to remember that your clutter tolerance level is unique to you. Other members in your household will likely have a different clutter threshold.
Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to better understand your clutter tolerance:
1. Are you struggling to keep track of all of your stuff?
When your stuff is at a manageable level, it’s easy to navigate your space and find whatever you need.
However, running into situations where you can’t seem to track down something you want – the television remote, a piece of mail, your favorite dress – can be a clear sign you’re at (or past) your clutter threshold.
If you continually find duplicates of items because you’re replacing items you can’t locate, odds are good you’ve exceeded your clutter tolerance level.
Taken to the extreme, having many items still in their original packaging and clothes with tags on them along with excessive spending and debt can be a sign that you have a shopping problem in addition to too much clutter.
2. Are you feeling overly stressed and overwhelmed?
Our homes should be a source of calm and peace – a place where we can feel comfortable and relaxed at the end of a long day.
When you’re surrounded by too much stuff, that sense of tranquility is replaced with stress and overwhelm.
Excessive clutter can have real and lasting effects on your physical and mental health – which is why it’s key to identify your clutter tolerance and stay well within your comfort zone.
When your space is cluttered, studies have shown it increases your cortisol levels leaving you agitated, stressed, and anxious. Clutter can fuel anxiety and depression. When your space is out of control it can make it feel as though your life is too.
Some signs that your space looks cluttered are: having items overflowing from their designated space, having so much that there is no space to put it, and having the function of your space impaired by the number of items being stored.
3. Are you getting less done than usual?
Not only can clutter cause feelings of stress and anxiety, but it can have a limiting effect on our ability to think creatively, stay focused, and get things done.
In some cases, clutter stifles productivity by preventing you from thinking clearly; in others, you might be so distracted that you can’t keep yourself from tidying up, derailing your former plans.
Decluttering can help boost your productivity as well as your mood.
No more bouncing from one task to the next wasting your time and increasing your level of distraction simultaneously.
Once you clear the clutter you can regain your focus and complete the necessary tasks, you will feel more accomplished and can free up your mind to focus on the things that matter most.
4 Ways to Stay Under Your Clutter Tolerance Level
If you don’t want to deal with the stress that comes along with reaching your clutter threshold, it’s smart to take steps to manage your clutter along the way.
Instead of reaching your breaking point, leverage these tips to stay on top of your clutter:
1. Clean and declutter regularly.
The easiest way to stay below your clutter threshold is to clean and declutter often. By incorporating decluttering habits into your life, you’ll never lose sight of the amount of stuff in your house, and you’ll prevent yourself from ever reaching your limits.
The best way to declutter on a regular basis is the one that works with your schedule. Some people spend ten minutes at the end of each day resetting their home by tidying up and getting organized.
Others prefer to dedicate an hour or two each weekend to focus on cleaning and decluttering their space.
If your clutter tolerance is high, you might even go as long as a month without really rolling up your sleeves and dealing with your mess, dedicating a day to the task.
However, someone in your household will likely be overly frustrated by the mess before you get to that point so being more proactive is helpful. Plus trying to deal with a month’s worth of mess can feel too daunting and overwhelming.
2. Curb your shopping habits.
Another great way to control your clutter? Curb your spending habits.
Clutter only increases when we bring new things into our homes. And aside from the occasional gift, most of that stuff entering your home is stuff you’ve elected to buy.
By taking a more thoughtful and intentional approach to shopping, you can avoid unnecessary purchases and keep your space clutter-free.
Not sure how to make it happen? You could…
- Set a budget. Creating a budget that accommodates your must-haves – without lots of extra money to spend on superfluous things – is an easy way to cut down on purchases that amount to clutter.
- Implement the 48-hour rule. Find something you want to buy? Wait at least 48 hours before committing to that purchase. Chances are, the urge to make that impulse purchase will have passed. And if it didn’t? Ask yourself these questions before buying it.
- Avoid temptation. Can’t walk through your favorite store without splurging on something you don’t need? Avoid it? Can’t resist the temptation or convenience of online shopping? Block the websites where you spend the most money.
Once you’ve decluttered, it’s essential to get your spending habits under control to avoid re-cluttering your space.
3. Embrace systems that make it easy to stay organized.
Implementing systems and solutions to help you get and stay organized is another highly effective way to stay within your clutter tolerance.
It’s hard to keep clutter away when you don’t have enough room to store the stuff you actually need to keep.
By making the most of your existing space and ensuring everything has a “home,” you can minimize the amount of stuff that lands on countertops, tables, and other surfaces, contributing to that cluttered feeling in a big way.
In some cases, it’s as simple as adding some dividers or storage bins to your drawers. In others, it means considering new room organization ideas to revamp your space.
Finding the right organization solution for your home can help you optimize your space and keep clutter at bay.
4. Communicate with family members
A crucial way to stay under your clutter tolerance level is to communicate with family members. That includes both the people you live with as well as extended family.
Most couples have different tolerance levels when it comes to clutter. One person may even be clutter blind in some cases.
There are two types of people in the world. One who loves stuff and one who loathes it. And they marry each other.
Ok so that isn’t completely true as there is a lot of middle ground but I’ve often found that people who want to keep things just in case or collect items because they love them are married to people who prefer to live more simply and don’t want as much stuff.
And if that’s your situation there are some things you can do even if your spouse doesn’t want to declutter. Communication and compromise are key to finding a balance in your home.
Additionally, talking with extended family about preferences with gifts is a helpful step to accumulating less clutter in your home. Focus on experiences over stuff and let them know about your desire to live more simply.
You can receive and give better gifts when friends and family are open and honest with each other. By communicating your desires ahead of time you can find ways to care for each other while respecting each other’s boundaries and wishes.
What does your clutter tolerance look like & how do you know once you’ve reached your clutter threshold? Leave a comment and let me know!
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I love your advice,, helps me to keep focused and simple.
I’m so glad the posts are helpful for you!
Concrete signposts to deal with challenges presented by “too much!” Appreciate the tools, methods to overcome the frustration; and channel energy into a mode of life that simplifies each day…days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, months into years….and freedom to be, do and appreciate time becomes pure gift!!!
I love this article. It is me. I have very little clutter tolerance.
Too much clutter and I get confused in loose things.
And then there is mental illness, hoarding, and lack of organizational skills.
What do you do when you have multiple deceased family members estate to deal with, have had a fluctuating weight problem your whole life, so getting rid of clothes seems wasteful bc you fit into them every six months, and just can’t mentally get it together to finish everything?
I spent two days cleaning a small master bathroom. I am still not done. I am about to drop $300 on cabinet storage and tackle the insides of my bathroom drawers (5) and a 3 tiered bathroom cart.
Pretty sure that bathroom hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned in over three years. I moved out of state and my husband didn’t bother doing much at all after I left. It was gross.🤮 But, it did feel good throwing so much expired product and empty bottles away. I have three floors still to go in my home and sometimes I just want to burn it to the ground.
i know I have clutter issues, it doesn’t bother me as much as when I go to fam member for visit- they have less clutter but it annoys me more 😱
I think we get used to what we’re surrounded by so sometimes it is easier to notice clutter in other’s spaces.
I am finding these articles so helpful thanks! Did a major clearance of my own wardrobe recently, and find myself opening the doors just to admire the new spaciousness. Each little job I undertake gives my spirits a wee lift!
That’s wonderful! And I’m glad they’re helpful for you 🙂
Thank you so much!! This was really great and so wise. I appreciate you, and especially the support for those of us who are married and one likes things tidy and neat and the other who loves tons of stuff all over the place.
Thanks, Margaret. That’s very kind of you to say. I’m glad the post was helpful and I can completely relate to that particular scenario ;).
The term ‘clutter threshold’ sums it up perfectly! I am doing a major reorganization of my sewing room since there are ten years of accumulation in here. The upside of having lots of fabric, trims, and tools is that I can usually make anything needful without shopping for much else–just thread or contrast (for collar and cuffs, buttons, or such small specifics). The downside is that it allows me to save too much. It is not easy to change a lifelong habit but I must let go of some of this.–Anne
I have to learn to wear blinders so I can live in my home. Otherwise, I get so stressed and irritable. It feel like when it’s really loud or bright and there is too much stimulation. I have to leave the area. My home is not restful to me.