Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight (57 page)

Week Three

Fitness Activities

Walking frequency:
Go 4 days.

Duration:
Take a 15-minute walk around your block, the neighborhood, the park, or on a treadmill if you have one. Walking in place while watching TV or listening to music works as well. While you walk, plan out your decluttering strategy for the day (or the following day, if you're exercising in the evening).

In addition, perform the following movements on 2 or 3 nonconsecutive days after your muscles are nice and warm from walking or decluttering.

While cleaning out your closet, go into your bedroom and perform:

10
Kickbacks

10
Leg Raises—Front

10
Leg Raises—Side

10
Wall Pushups

10
Shoulder Raises
on each arm with a gallon jug of water or a duffel bag of clothes (whichever provides enough resistance)

10
Biceps Curls

10
Toe Raises

As this week draws to a close, you should find that your closet and your bathroom present an image of tidiness. As you lose weight and develop new attitudes over the course of this program, the image you show in public is likely to change as well. Now's a good time to reflect on the way you've carried yourself—and how you want to present yourself to the world as you start the second half of this program.

Chapter
12

WEEK FOUR: YOUR FINANCIAL HOUSE

I
n horror movies, the scariest place is usually the basement. The heroes can hear muffled noises down there, and they can sense that some unseen menace lurks just out of sight.

In real life, most Americans also share a common worry, but the scary whispers are coming from their purses and wallets.

In 2013, the average American felt a higher-than-healthy level of stress, according to a survey from the American Psychological Association. For most people, money played some type of role in their worries. About 70 percent said that money was a significant source of stress. Presumably they didn't have enough of it, or they had trouble managing the money they did have. About two-thirds were struggling with stress related to the thing they do to
get
money: work. And 61 percent were stressed-out about the economy at large.

Like the characters in scary movies, people don't always cope with financial problems in a way that actually leads to a solution. Instead, they're likely to make their problems worse (like the horror movie characters who trip over a root or don't check the gas gauge before they drive into the dark forest). For example, some evidence suggests that many Americans are managing their household finances in a way that
promotes
stress rather than relieves it (see the box
here).

If you try to manage your finances at a cluttered desk where you can't find a pen, let alone your bills, your home office space is not going to help you make well-reasoned financial decisions in a timely manner. In fact, a messy office area could literally cost you money every month.

It might even contribute to your weight! In a 2014 study, researchers looked at surveys that Australians filled out each year for 3 years. Those who said
they had financial stress during the first 2 years were 20 percent more likely to be obese in the third year compared to those with no financial stress.

I know that financial stress can come at you from many directions, including unemployment, stock market swings, and costly medical emergencies—and you often can't do a lot about these. But if some of your financial stress has grown out of your disorganized records and processes, you can most definitely do something about it now.

This week we're going to focus on the space where you conduct the “business” of your home: the place where you sort through your mail, pay your bills, and generally deal with the endless flow of paper into your home. I'd like for you to put your paperwork in order. I want you to confront the bills you try not to think about and start doing what you can to relieve any financial stress that you're carrying.

I want you to be the hero who walks out of the horror movie unscathed at the end.

Remember that stress affects your mood, your relationships, your general outlook on life, your job, your eating habits, and your overall health. If you're lugging around extra pounds, some of that weight may be due to stress. In addition, if you're feeling anxious, that anxiety may also encourage you to bring more clutter into your home.