13 Tiny Changes That Will Make Your Home Instantly Happier

Keep clutter minimal

The piles of mail! The tower of books in the corner! The tchotchkes crowding every surface! If this sounds like your home, you’re not alone. The first step to being truly happy in your space is to figure out what to keep—and what to let go. “A cluttered room is much more likely to produce, and contribute to, a cluttered mind,” says professional organizer Marie Kondo, creator of the KonMari method and author of the bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. “I believe that only in an uncluttered room, which enables an uncluttered mind, can you truly focus your attention and your energy on the matters in your life which are preventing you from reaching your truest happiness.” According to design psychologist Sally Augustin, PhD, the powerful mental effects of clutter have roots in our evolution. “In our early days as a species, our lives depended on continually surveying the environment and seeing if anything was coming that was going to eat us,” she says. “Today we continue to survey our environment, and too many things makes this subconscious reviewing more difficult, which is why the visual complexity of clutter is so stressful.” A study from Princeton University shows that too much disorganized stimuli simply overwhelms the brain. Don’t miss these other signs your home is stressing you out.

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