In Feng Shui, What Affect Does Clutter Have On A Home?

Energy flow is central to feng shui. Clutter stifles energy, hindering and sometimes reversing the effects of feng shui. Clutter should be addressed as a first step when using feng shui in your home. If you have tried feng shui with little or no success, clutter may be the culprit. When energy is stuck or sluggish, feng shui is not working. If you want to improve a particular aspect of your life such as money or relationship issues, check that area of your house for clutter and get rid of it.

"If you are in a house that is small or doesn't have enough room and you can't find many places to store your stuff you end up cluttering all of your material objects in different places, energy gets stuck." For many people clutter accumulates due to simple lack of space. According to Linda, lack of space creates an opportunity to reevaluate and take control. She says, "If you have a small house, that it is a sign, you need to do with less. You are literally stifling the energy in your home by allowing clutter to build. This will cause your own energy to be stifled. You will be keeping yourself small in life. You will stop yourself from moving forward. New opportunities will not come your way. If you have a small space and you have too much stuff, it is actually an opportunity for you to really look hard at the things you have. Do you know what items you are keeping and why you are keeping them? Why can't you let go of them? If you have a small space, I think it is a sign that you need to be letting go of more stuff. If you are reluctant to doing that you are letting your emotions get in the way."

Clutter can become an emotional issue. For many people, choosing what to keep and what to get rid of can be painful and difficult. Even with the help of a feng shui practitioner like Linda, clutter must be addressed by the individual. "I cannot go to someone and just say, 'Well you have too much stuff just get rid of it.' It is not that easy because of the significant emotional attachment." She says that our clutter can sometimes tell us more about ourselves, "If you look at something and say, 'Okay, I do not use it. I do not need it; I do not love it, but I cannot let it go.' That is telling you something deeper is going on. If you cannot let it go, then, there is some kind of attachment there with some resistance to having it go. Most often, it is to do with fear or trying to hang onto the past in some way. But you have to realize that it is a deeper emotional issue and just be aware of that. Look at how you could deal with this issue, so that you do not really have to keep these objects anymore. It is such a deeply emotional thing that it has to be dealt with very carefully." According to Linda this can be a tricky situation because clutter often carries a stigma, "People feel bad. There is a lot of judgment around it. They think they are bad people because they have all this stuff. They know they need to do something about it, but they feel powerless to do anything about it. It kind of takes over. If you have a small space and you do not have enough storage for things, it is a sign that you need to let things go from your life."

Hiding clutter under beds and in closets will not solve the problem. Energy will still get stuck in these areas and create problems. The only real solution to freeing up energy is to get rid of the clutter all together. This may take time, but it can be done.