Overwhelmed at Home? Organize Your Space to Decrease Stress Levels with an Expert Trauma Therapist in Atlanta
Finding time to manage household tasks can seem insurmountable when juggling work, social, home and family, and community responsibilites. Keeping up with chores often drops to the bottom of the to-do list. However, maintaining an organized and clean living space can be crucial for our well-being and productivity.
If you missed my last blog with tips on how to reduce chaos created by a busy life you can read it here. This week’s blog is full of tips on how to reduce stress levels at home to find more peace and hold less tension in your body created by messy living spaces.
The effects of unfinished household tasks
Remember the emotional tension you felt the last time you came home to a pile of dishes, laundry or mess that you didn’t have time to deal with before you left? Now you’ve just walked through the door at the end of a busy day, and you don’t have the energy left to deal with them. Other, less obvious household tasks don’t get addressed either, and before long, you start to feel the emotional toll of everything that has gone undone. You struggle to sleep at night and you have started telling yourself you’re not enough because your living space is unmanaged. If left unaddressed it can start to have negative implications on your mental and physical health.
Include the family in household tasks.
Unless you live alone, involving others in household tasks can help you lighten the load for yourself. Believe it or not, even toddlers can help with chores including making their bed, putting away their clothes and toys, and feeding and watering a pet. Older children can help with vacuuming, taking out the trash, cleaning bathrooms, meal prep, and doing dishes and laundry.
Get children involved.
Some say I want my kids to be able to focus on being kids. I don’t want them doing chores around the house. Part of teaching children how to be successful adults means teaching them proper balance and that everyone contributes to the management of the house. By doing a small and simple chore around the house, children start learning how to balance time spent working with time spent learning and exploring. Allowing them to contribute to the home by helping can also help to give them greater confidence and self-esteem, making the transition into adulthood easier. The best time to set them up for success in adulthood is by learning these valuable lessons while they are still young.
Enlist your spouse's or partner’s help too.
Get your partner or spouse involved too! You could make a quick list of all the things that need to get done or decide to work on separate areas, and the two of you could go at it. If it helps, you can set a time of day for the two of you to work on small tasks, such as right after dinner or before going to bed, to help maintain your home. Some people find that listening to their favorite music helps them complete tasks faster. Give it a try and see how it works for you!
Divide up household chores for each day of the week.
While I was growing up, it seemed Saturday mornings were the days the house got cleaned. When I became an adult, I found that leaving everything for Saturday meant living with messes the rest of the week. It also killed my energy after I spent all morning cleaning, and I felt drained once it was all done. I needed something more manageable that would divide household chores into smaller tasks and spread them across the week.
If you are currently doing all the household cleaning in one day and that works for you, keep it up! But if you find that you need it spread out over the week, then consider assigning tasks or zones to certain days of the week. Monday you clean the bathrooms, Tuesday is for laundry, and so on.
Sell or donate what you don’t need or use anymore.
How many times have you had to move something in your home that you don’t use anymore to get to something else you need? Then you have to put it back after you are done with the things you need. What if you could use your energy for other things than trying to keep a house clean that has lots of stuff you don’t need anymore? Clothes that don’t fit—get rid of them. Cleaners you don’t use—toss them out. Toys, makeup, or supplies for a hobby you no longer enjoy doing—sell or donate them.
Consider hiring help.
If you still feel it's all too much for you, consider hiring some help to get it all done. This could be a professional cleaning service, a neighborhood teen, preteen, or adult to help with laundry, dishes, bathrooms, vacuuming, and dusting. The point is to find a way to get it done so you can have the peace of a home that you are not overwhelmed by.
FAQ
What should I do if I struggle with a lack of motivation?
Consider rewarding yourself once you have completed a list of tasks or after a certain amount of reasonable time.
If you feel you could use some help in applying these steps, then reach out. I would be happy to hear about what is happening and share with you how I can help. You can request a free 15-minute phone consultation by calling (678) 744-5369 or by clicking here. I specialize in helping trauma survivors feel calm; overwhelmed, and depressed women to find peace amid the chaos and sadness; anxious people feel safe and worry less; toxic relationship survivors feel more confident; and parents raising a traumatized child feel less traumatized themselves.
