Cluttered House, Cluttered Mind

I've read enough about simplifying and minimalism and living with less to have heard the "a cluttered house means a cluttered mind" message many times.  It always made sense to me but since our house generally stays relatively clean (or relatively uncluttered at least...I've found plenty of hidden dusty spots as we've been moving furniture lately), I never gave it much thought.

Then, our house got really messy.

I know I've mentioned it many times lately but it is very much at the forefront my mind.  Our bathroom is the only room of our house that is not storing extra furniture or without furniture, due to floor and painting projects.  We've lived through semi-major home projects before but I've never noticed it's affect on my concentration and focus like I have in the past two weeks.

Time management and more mindful living is something I've been working over the last year or two and I think being more aware of that and my own mind space has made this project especially jarring for me.  My concentration levels have greatly decreased.  I get distracted much easier.  I can tell it's all messing with my head a little. 

Our basement workout area:

Matt's desk, major garage sale pile, and even a swing (going outside eventually).  I usually go down first thing in the morning and get my workout done but lately there has been a lot of phone checking and general procrastination.

My Office:

Storing a lot of furniture from our front room.  I can get to my desk and the file cabinet and even to the coat closet if I move a big piece of furniture.  And luckily I can mostly ignore the mess since it's behind me.

My front porch reading area:

More front room furniture, my craft shelves.  It's been taking me a lot longer than usual to get through my 50 quiet time pages in a book.  

The other half of the porch:

Pretty much usable besides Luke's desk and getting to the jogging stroller for runs.

I hope nobody's house is regularly as much of a mess as ours is right now.  I cannot imagine living in this state for an extended period of time.  (Pretty much counting down the hours until everything can go back to normal.)

Lesson learned: I need clean spaces to concentrate, or at least concentrate better.  Cluttered house = cluttered mind.  I get the message loud and clear.  That's why I am a little frantic when getting home from running errands and having bags, coats, receipts, etc. all over the place.  That's why I have to unpack as soon as we get home from trips.  That's why I'm semi-obsessive about cleaning up clutter throughout the day.  I need pretty clear counters, desk, and floors.  I feel like I'm operating at half-speed right now!

I've heard that moving houses makes you realize all the extra stuff that you own and that leads to purging.  I think the same could be said about clearing out two whole rooms of your house.  I expect plenty of purging to happen as we put it all back together and I'm strangely (or not so strangely, this is something I generally enjoy) looking forward to it.

Besides getting beautiful floors, it looks like we'll also be getting some more closet and cupboard space.  And I'm really excited about all of it.