Controlling clutter in your home

Clutter seems to have a life of its own. It starts with one small piece and then it multiplies. It can happen slowly or it can take months or even years but suddenly one morning you wake up and realize that you are buried under mounds of clutter. It can be quite an overwhelming task to control the clutter in your home but once you have, the most important thing to learn is how to avoid the clutter in the future.

You will need to assess what your particular weaknesses are. Everyone has them, what is important is to identify the areas that tend to overwhelm you with clutter. Look at each of your rooms, are some more cluttered than others? What is the source of the clutter? Now you need to come up with a plan to contain the clutter.

Contain is the perfect word for dealing with clutter because often containers can help to minimize the amount of clutter that is visible in your home and also help you to find a permanent solution.

Kitchen Clutter

Kitchen clutter can come from many sources; it can be the mail which accumulates on the counter or the table. It can be children’s school papers which come home in huge amounts on a daily basis; it can be food items that area not replaced in the pantry. A good policy for the entire house is that everything has a home and when not in actual use, it needs to be in its home. If the children make a bowl of cereal, they replace the cereal in the pantry immediately. If you use a utensil, it goes into the dishwasher then back into its home.

Mail is a huge issue and needs to be dealt with immediately. As soon as it comes in the door, divide it into keep and throw out piles  and shred any throw outs that might have sensitive information. Be very selective about what you keep. If at all possible go paperless on your bills and that will cut down immensely on the mail clutter. You can also sign up to opt out of most junk mail.

Entrance

Have a place for all items entering the home. A closet or coat rack near the entrance can take care of outer garments and footwear. If you have children with backpacks etc., t is a good idea to have a place near the door to deposit these items. They can be brought into the home when the items inside need to be dealt with but stored near the door so in the morning everyone knows exactly where their stuff is.

Clothes

Clothes, both clean and dirty are a major source of clutter in many homes. It isn’t just the teens who have piles of clothing littering their floors. Every bedroom should have a place to store clean clothing and a hamper of some sort for dirty laundry. It may require some retraining but it is not a good idea to live out of a laundry basket. Put things away, it will make your life much less cluttered.

Toys

When you have children, toy clutter can be a big issue. The only cure for this is to confine the clutter and this can mean that there is a no toys rule in certain rooms. If this seems too harsh then it is necessary to enforce a play and pickup rule and to have a container for the toys in any room where the children will be using them. It may be necessary to confiscate some toys until the children learn that when they are through with a toy it needs to be put away but most kids are fast learners and will get with the program if they know you are serious.

Controlling clutter in your home is a huge undertaking but it can be done and life will be much less stressful once it is accomplished not to mention, that your house will be a lot neater.