The first step to taking care of yourself and de-stressing is to make sure that your environment is in order. Seeing your house full of clutter¹ can affect your mood negatively and make your personal space seem like a place you want to escape from, rather than something to look forward to coming home to. Organize a "throwing out" day every month to make sure that you don't have clutter building up. Here are some things you should consider purging² from your home:

照顾好自己并减轻压力的第一步就是要确保你的环境处于有序状态。乱糟糟的屋子会让你的心情变遭，让你的个人空间看起来像是你想逃离的地方，而不是你期待回家的地方。每月安排一天“扔掉日”，以免你的杂物堆成山。下面的这几种东西，你该考虑一下，把它们从家中移走。

Old magazines

Get rid of old magazines you have lying around because chances are, you aren't going to read them again. Find places where you can donate your magazines to such as child care centers, doctor's offices, nail salons³, nursing homes, and libraries. If there's an article that really speaks to you, scan a digital image of it and keep it in your computer. Or keep a folder⁴ of magazine clippings if you like saving magazine articles.

Receipts, bills, and documents

Throw away receipts for items that you aren't planning on returning, and ones that you won't need to use come tax time. If you're wary⁵ of throwing away receipts, you can make a digital copy of them with a basic scanner, a pricey specialized⁶ receipt scanner, or a smartphone app.
 
Clothes

Use the two-year-rule for clothes -- get rid of apparel that you haven't worn in two years. Sell them to a thrift⁷ store or donate them to the needy⁸.

Books

Go through your bookshelf and gather together books you haven't touched in months and ones that you aren't planning on rereading. Be realistic and make sure you're ruthless. If you haven't touched it in a year, you're most likely not going to read it again.

Medicine and vitamins

Take a look at your medicine closet and clear out drugs that have expired, medicine that has sat on your shelf for too long, or ones that you no longer use. First, check to see what the proper disposal methods are for the medication, and if you can't find any, check to see if your community has a drug take-back program.

Makeup⁹ and perfume

Go through your beauty cabinet and get rid of makeup that's too old or that you don't use. There are programs out there that let you recycle your makeup, such as MAC, which has a program that lets you exchange six empty containers for a new eyeshadow, lip gloss¹⁰, or lipstick¹¹. Kiehl's also has a program that gives you products in exchange for Kiehl's containers. POPSUGAR Beauty has a neat list of when to throw away cosmetics¹².

Jewelry¹³

Go through your jewelry and dispose of the broken costume jewelry and make plans to sell ones that you don't wear. For fine jewelry, look up appraisers from the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers. Once you have a quoted price, shop around at auction¹⁴ houses, pawnshops, and jewelers to see if you can find a better deal.

Food

Go through your pantry and fridge and clear out items that need to be thrown out —the old, unused, and rotting. Do this weekly instead of monthly, just to make sure you don't have any unpleasant surprises!

Some memorabilia

Many organizing experts advise to be ruthless and throw away memorabilialike cards and gifts you don't use. I agree, but I think you can keep some of them by perhaps creating some sort of poster with old cards or designating a small shoe box for memorabilia. Resolve to throw away anything that can't fit into the box.

Notebooks

I don't know about you, but I have a ton of notebooks lying around. Take a look at them and throw out the ones that you no longer need. My notebooks are filled with notes from classes I take and notes from meetings.