Clear chaos fast by tossing what doesn’t spark joy

Every Saturday morning, Ellie glances at the stash of receipts, lip balm tubes, and tangled cables spilling from her desk drawer. She decides it’s time: thirty minutes and one drawer. With calm music at low volume and a scented candle flickering on the windowsill, she dumps the contents onto the table and sorts each item into three piles: keep, donate, and toss. As she handles each object, she asks herself, “Does this bring joy or do I need it today?” Her desk gradually becomes an orderly tray of supplies.

Ellie pauses, noticing a gentle shift: her chest feels lighter without the clutter staring back at her. She takes a deep breath and writes down a few nagging to-dos—return library books, call her parents—so her mind stops pinging with reminders. Tucking the list into her planner, she feels an unexpected calm settle in. The once overburdened drawer now looks inviting; she can close it and move on without a flicker of guilt.

Each week, she picks another zone: the coat closet, the kitchen drawer, her inbox. The ritual of physical clearing and mental dumping repeats. With every space she conquers, Ellie finds a sense of control and a decrease in anxious thoughts. She has more mental bandwidth to focus on writing her novel instead of hunting for the scissors buried in clutter.

Science tells us physical clutter competes for our attention and raises stress levels. Paired with a mental unload—jotting down your mental to-dos—you hack your mind’s reward centers and reclaim focus. Little by little, the world outside reflects the calm you cultivate within.

Pick one messy drawer or closet each week, and block thirty minutes to sort items into Keep, Donate, or Toss. Then jot any nagging thoughts on paper, tuck them away, and close the drawer—out of sight, out of mind. Practice this ritual each Saturday morning to clear both space and headspace.