The Ultimate Clutter Cleanse – Part 2: The 4 Quadrant System

The 4 Quadrant System

A few years ago, I realized that there are 4 major areas or "Quadrants" in our home. No, this has nothing to do with the science of Feng Shui. What I use instead is a simple and effective system that anybody can customize to their needs.

Here are the basics:

Each room or space in our home needs to be brought back to only one of the following main purposes:

- Functionality and Utility
- Relationships with others
- Privacy
- Storage

When we decide which premier function a room needs to fulfil, we need to clear out the conflicts we face in that area.  Then everything in our life gets the space to shift.

Let me explain:

1. The Functionality Quadrant

There are spaces in our home that have to do certain things for us.

• The purpose of a kitchen is to prepare food.
• The purpose of a garage is to park the car.
• The purpose of the office is to get work done.

We can’t mix these main purposes with other functions without creating clutter.

Functionality rooms need to be ready to serve us, so the laptop can’t be on the kitchen table.  It needs a designated area that is only for work. Notice the conflicts that this reality brings up in you as you are trying to clear those spaces and allow yourself to function with ease!  Great topics to tap on!

Questions for the EFT practitioner:

• What is holding you back from functioning without compromise?
• How good are you at balancing your life and do you too often try to multitask?
• Which rooms in your home would you define as functionality or utility rooms?

2. The Relationship Quadrant

These rooms are for friends and family, relationships and pubic life. And you will find that conflicts that you feel with others are also causing conflicts in these areas.

Relationships begin at the front door and hallway.  Maybe stretch into the dining room, the living room, the playroom, the garden, porch or deck. When kids toys, clothes or other items take over those areas, your life is impacted. There will be times when this is perfectly OK with you, when you have small children, for example, and want to make sure that everything is perfect for your kids. But there are also times when you begin to feel disrespected by other people’s clutter, and it is important to look deeper into the relationships that you have.

These issues can be wonderfully addressed with EFT.

Questions for the EFT practitioner:

• Who or what is taking over your spaces and impacts how you can live?
• Why would you rather not have people over?
• Which conflicts would come up if you cleared the clutter from the relationship spaces? And which fears would need to be resolved?

3. The Privacy Quadrant

Privacy rooms are spaces that we don’t really share with others. Instead, their purpose is to serve us as a person, to help us feel relaxed, comfortable and safe. For some people this is a reading nook or a man cave, for others their hobby workshop. Or even just a bookshelf and chair in a special corner that is truly undisturbed. I have seen so many people cry when it came to this aspect of decluttering.  As they realized that their home is always serving others, and they have nothing truly to themselves.

Some deep soul searching on self worth, deservingness and setting boundaries might be necessary to help a client create this most important area of their lives.

Questions for the EFT practitioner:

• What beliefs and emotions do you have around deservingness, your need to relax, and to take care of yourself?
• Do you feel that you have to always be "on duty"?  That you should be doing something?  Or you should be effective or productive?
• Why is it so hard to claim time and space just for yourself?

4. The Storage Quadrant

Storage is a tricky issue, as there is a need to hold on to some things, even if they are seasonal or only used for very specific events. Christmas ornaments or camping gear would be a great example. This is where we really need to think things through and tap even more. We often hold onto items just because we invested money into them, not because we actually need them that much.  Or that we couldn’t get them again if needed, or wouldn’t even miss them if they were gone.

When we apply the skills we learned from the first three quadrants, we will find it easier to identify things. Which hobbies we actually want to spend time with? What clothes do we love? Which heirlooms kids toys are truly cherished and special? We learn to see if we want to go on that diet to wear our old clothes again, or if we’d rather go about our lives. We learn to identify if we have something because it was given to us by someone who didn’t have space for it, or because we love it ourselves.

Chances are: If you love it, it’s not in storage, it’s in your home somewhere. So get the right amount and size of bins and create the correct labels that work for your life.  Then you can take a deep look at the items you own, and put in there what works for you today.

Questions for the EFT practitioner:

• What are your priorities today and do these items serve that purpose?
• Which memories or conflicts might be stored in these items, and need to be resolved before you can let them go?
• If you are storing paper clutter: Is the information important enough to be scanned and stored electronically?
• Which decisions do you need to make for your life before you can let these papers go?

Clutter truly represents our inner conflicts, our life, what’s great about us and what we might want to work on.

The “4 Quadrant System” of the “Ultimate Clutter Cleanse Program” can give anybody an easy to follow roadmap to inner and outer freedom.

Ingrid Dinter
EFT Master Trainer and Clutter Cleansing Expert