Clutter and the Small Business

One of the things that I love about my wife is her philosophy on cleaning. I grew up in a house with cooks who couldn't boil water without getting at least three pans dirty, so when Franki introduced me to the concept of Perpetual Cleaning, my heart took a little jump and I signed on for good.

The concept of Perpetual Cleaning is a simple one - pick up as you go along, and you'll take less time and effort than if you wait and do massive clean-ups.

You'd be surprised how much of a difference this makes in your daily life. Clutter around your house and your office affects you in many ways. It's harder to work efficiently, and it's harder to enjoy your leisure time when you have the burden of a large clean-up always on your mind.

Like paying bills and confessing your sins, cleaning up has a therapeutic affect on everything you do. Don't believe me? Read this entry on clutter ar Ariane Benefit's blog, Neat Living.

It still amazes me how much weight and stress is lifted from your shoulders when you clear clutter. How much more easily you can breathe when your to do list shrinks. And to be honest, because Alan & I cleared our clutter together, it felt kinda like we had a date! Seriously, we had a chance to connect, talk, and make decisions on things that affect our life together. And we had some fun too as we found things that made us laugh, took breaks to play with the cats, etc. In the hustle of everyday life, we don't get a chance to spend a whole day together very often. As our reward, we relaxed during the evening. As we cuddled up and enjoyed watching a couple shows we had Tivo'd on The DaVinci Code, we both marveled at how good we felt because we had accomplished so much. We could truly relax because stuff wasn't hanging over our heads anymore. So that got me thinking about all the ways clutter (defined by Webster as "disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectivenesss") affects you and you don't realize it till it's gone.

Adriane goes on to list 10 areas where clutter affects your perception, and thus the quality of your life.

As a small-business owner, the demands for my time have never been greater. From insurance bills to marketing to billable work, the demands of the business can easily lead to allowing clutter to build-up in my personal life.

Our perpetual cleaning philosophy allows us to focus on work until the work is done, and then fully relax when the time comes.