Cut the Clutter Clear out what's taking up space in your homeand your mind.

Clutter tends to sneak up on you. One minute, you have a coat closet full (but not too full) of coats. The next, it's bursting at the hinges with sports equipment, pet supplies, broken appliances, and, yeah, way too many puffers.

- ERICA FINAMORE

How does it happen? Pretty easily! First, blame the gazillions of items. available for two-day shipping. (Need a bathrobe for your dog? A pack of artificial lemons? Six dozen pink taper candles? They're all just a few clicks away!) Then there's the human instinct to feel attached to your things, which makes it harder to part with theme specially if you're the nostalgic type, says Carolyn Caldwell, a certified professional organizer based in Toronto who specializes in chronic disorganization. "People who are sentimental tend to assign equal importance to many, many things, and that makes it difficult for them to prioritize." Even if you're not emotionally invested in that ice cream machine, maybe you keep it around on the off chance you'll need it someday, or because you like the idea of being someone who makes their own ice cream. Finally, it takes more effort to combat clutter than to accumulate it. Do nothing and things just pile up.

If you're a woman and you're feeling seen, know this: Women are more likely than men to be told their excess stuff is clutter, says Joseph Ferrari, PhD, a deacon and a professor of psychology at DePaul University. "In our culture, women are instructed to declutter. Men are told, 'That must be your hobby' or 'Those are your toys." In short, we're trained to be a bit hard on ourselves. Whether it's clutter or not, if we think of it as such, there can be real side effects, Ferrari adds. "What we've found is that the more clutter there is, the less sense of home you have-the less satisfaction and the more indecision." We're not just talking about an icky feeling but a concrete effect on your life, he says. "When the living space is impacted, it causes people stress and impairs their functioning."