What does a tidy, uncluttered home have to do with helping you achieve your best health? More than you might realize.

“There’s huge value in being organized,” says Peter Walsh, an organization expert and author of It’s All Too Much: An Easy Guide for Living a Richer Life With Less Stuff. “You can’t make your best choices [and] you can’t make your healthiest choices in a cluttered home. Good organization is the foundation to good health.”

If you have diabetes complications such as vision impairment, blindness, or neuropathy, clutter can be downright dangerous. “My mom, because of diabetes, had a lot of problems walking and seeing,” says Laura Leist, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers. “With stuff lying on the floor where it doesn’t belong, you can accidentally trip.”

You need not become a perfectionist to benefit from organizing your health care tools. “Organizing is really about creating systems and processes that work for that individual,” Leist says. “So there’s no right or wrong way.”

1. Ready, Set, Go!
Before you jump into an organizing project, devise a plan of attack. Decide whether to start with something small—so you’ll see results right away—or do a large area with small projects, says Leist. It’s easy to get sidetracked by objects that need to be put away in other areas of the house, but avoid jumping from room to room or you’ll be derailed.

Once you’ve narrowed your focus, gather a few key supplies: garbage bags, a recycling bag or bin, and a paper shredder. You’ll want to clear the clutter before you create an organizing system.

Next, sort items into two piles: the stuff that will stay and the junk that will be trashed, recycled, or donated. Can’t decide what to throw away? Leist suggests asking yourself whether an item serves a purpose (right now, not in some imagined future) or if it’s just taking up valuable space. If it’s the latter, let it go. “Decide what matters most to you in the world,” says Erin Rooney Doland, author of Unclutter Your Life in One Week: A Seven-Day Plan to Organize Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life. “Then get rid of those things that distract you from these important things.”

Or try what Walsh calls the “trash bag tango.” Grab a partner and two trash bags each—one for items that can be thrown out and the other for goods you plan to donate. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and fill both bags.

If you’re still stuck, give yourself some time to get used to the idea of living without certain items. “Put them in a box,” says Leist. “Put a six-month date on it. If you haven’t had an urge to go into the box [after six months], then that’s probably a sign you need to let things go.”

From there, it’s time to organize.

What are the other steps? Keep reading…
(Article: Tracey Neithercott, Source: Diabetes Forecast)