How to Stop making Clutter worse
Simple and functional ideas to help you stop creating more clutter in your home. Great tips for a clutter free home!
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Organizing is not fun to me. Once I realized I didn’t like organizing, nor was I very good at it, I totally felt free. Sounds crazy but let me explain a little.
The reason I have always been drawn to an organized home is because it feels peaceful. Things are usually placed neatly out of sight. While I am not a minimalist, I do prefer less.
Visual clutter is the most obvious frustration for many people. For me, having too much stuff, even if it was out of sight frustrated me just the same.
More ways to make home the best place to be! Less stuff was the answer.
Organizing versus Decluttering
Organizing and decluttering are not interchangeable. Each has its place and purpose.
Organizing means to arrange or order things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly. Decluttering or purging is the task of removing unnecessary items from your home. The more things we let go of, the less organization is required.
Light bulb moment!! Read this quote below and then read it again.
Everything in your home is inventory that you have to manage. You aren’t messy or unorganized. You just have too much inventory!
Dawn Madsen
In order to declutter, you need to decide what clutter actually is in your home. For us, it is anything we don’t love, need or use. If we can easily borrow it or get a new one, then we don’t need extras.
Before you start to declutter your home, you need to stop making it worse. You need to have a positive step forward before you start to declutter the sentimental items.
Silent to do list
I’ve always wanted a simple, tidy home. For the most part I did that. BUT I had many spaces that hide the clutter. The extra rooms, closets, attic, craft cabinets, drawers, etc.
The ‘out of sight out of mind’ mentality does not work when it comes to all the stuff (inventory) in our home. No matter what, it is always in the back of my mind. A mental to do list is such a heavy weight.
This silent to do list and it can be overwhelming.
I first heard this idea of the silent to do list from Dawn of The Minimal Mom. Same Dawn from the quote above. It’s exactly how I have felt most of my adult life but never heard it put so perfectly.
The silent to do list concept is from a book called Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki. I have not read the book but the quote and silent to do list concept really intrigued me.
Everything in our home is sending out a message. Is it the message we want to hear?
Wash me, water me, put me away, enjoy me, and so on. Clothes that no longer fit could be saying, when are you going to loose that weight or I was expensive you should wear me. Sounds crazy but it’s so true!!
We have decided that we don’t want things in our home that cause us to feel stressed.
Managing it all
There is really so much to unpack around that entire concept. So today I wanted to give you as easy place to start with decluttering.
When I start to feel chaotic it’s usually because my home is out of order. Not your everyday, people live here out of order. The out of order where we can’t find simple things we thought we had easy access to. Know what I mean?
If you are feeling overwhelmed at home it’s probably time to declutter. Most people, probably even yourself, have a home full of items you don’t even know are there.
Inventory taking up space that could be used for the things you actually need and love. Don’t let decluttering bring you down. Remove the negative connotation and you’ll be living in a clutter free home before you know it.
The most asked question I get about decluttering is where to start.
To start, you need to stop making clutter worse.
Use these ideas to stop the clutter from getting overwhelming
Years ago this is how I started my journey of reducing the stuff in our home. I stopped adding to my clutter.
- Stop buying extra gadgets and new cleaning supplies. A few simple items do the trick.
- Stop holding on to craft supplies and DIY stuff just in case.
- No more saving broken items you “plan to” fix.
- Stop pointing out your family members clutter and take a deep dive into your own.
- Saving extra things because I paid good money for them.
- Holding on to home decor year after year. Trends and styles change. Make room for new things.
- Telling yourself but it’s still good shape and should be used.
- Worrying about what should have done in the past and move forward.
- Throwing your hands up in the air because you are overwhelmed. I started acting instead of complaining.
- No more buying sale or thrifted items because it was a good deal.
Don’t miss tip!
To whoever is reading this, it starts with you. You can not control or force your family into this. You can however be an example, set boundaries for children and work to create an environment of peace and love.
The same goes for your spouse. Lead by example. It is much easier for us all to see someone else’s stuff as clutter and our stuff as important.
Start the declutter stage
This is an excellent blog that really highlights the root of the problem when the home feels overwhelming. Thank you for sharing this!