First Psychology blog

In a society filled with expensive technology, designer clothing and flash cars, you can see how tempting it is to want the best of everything. But do we want these things to make us feel good or is it ultimately to impress the people around us and post about it on social media? Sadly, much of the time, people crave belongings to increase their social status rather than to make themselves happy. Although our possessions might impress some people, generally, most of us are more impressed by how a person behaves. Imagine, if you were the only person to exist on the planet, would you really strive so hard to possess all the same unnecessary belongings? Would you still wear designer clothes, or would you opt for something more comfortable? What many of us don’t realise is that we also buy unnecessary things to fill a void within ourselves or to cheer ourselves up when we’re feeling down. However, these are just temporary fixes and even though you might feel good initially, the feel-good ...

From time to time, we might feel under the weather, but have you ever considered it could be your home that is getting you down? There are several reasons why your home might be affecting your wellbeing – is there too much clutter? Is it in need of a serious spring clean? Does it lack organisation? Whatever it is that’s making you feel out of sorts and a little uneasy, we have some top tips for organising your home and how it can benefit your wellbeing. Stop daydreaming, start decluttering! Before you can even think about sprucing up your home and achieving some kind of organisation, first you’ll need to take the plunge and declutter. You might be surprised to learn that studies undertaken by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) showed that a cluttered home can, in fact, cause stress. Sometimes, without us even noticing until it’s too late, we accumulate a wealth of ‘things’ that we don’t ever actually use or need. Before we know it, our homes are jam packed to the ra...