11 Quick Tips For Keeping Your Home Uncluttered

When you're feeling blue or overwhelmed, it's tempting to try to pick yourself up by indulging in a "treat." Unfortunately, a guilty pleasure is often just that - an ice-cream sundae, a cigarette, an extra glass of wine, an expensive splurge, and other treats give a short-term boost, but then just deepen your blues as guilt and remorse set in.

I realized that one of my personal "treats" is the decision not to pick up after myself. Instead of trying to tidy as I go, as I usually do, I let small tasks mount up. "I can't possibly be expected to do something like that," I tell myself. "I'm too busy/too frazzled/too upset/too rushed. I deserve a break."

The problem is that, in the end, the mess makes me feel worse. Maybe I enjoy a tiny buzz from flinging my coat onto the hall floor, but the disorder just makes my bad mood deepen. (Plus it's not nice for anyone else, either.) On the other hand, serene, orderly surroundings make me feel better. Outer order brings inner calm.

Now, instead of "treating" myself to a mess, I make a special effort to keep things tidy when I'm feeling low.

Here are my tips for quick, easy steps to keep your surroundings uncluttered. Practically all of them are simple enough to be followed even when you're feeling extremely overwhelmed:

1. Make your bed.

2. Put your dirty clothes in the hamper.

3. Hang up your towel.

4. Keep magazines out of sight (people disagree with me on this one, but I find it impossible to keep stacks of magazines from looking messy).

5. Shut all drawers, cabinet doors, and closet doors as you go.

6. Pick up the mail, immediately sort it, throw away junk mail, and put real mail in the proper place (I have drawer for bills and a file for invitations).

7. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, or failing that, the sink.

8. Deal with the recycling. It differs a lot from place to place, but you know what you're supposed to do.

9. Put books away in the proper place: back on the shelf, in the library-return pile, or in the donation pile. Speaking of that...

10. Keep a bag of things you want to give away. As soon as you decide you don't want or need something anymore, put it in the bag. Every so often, drop off the bags at a thrift store.

11. Hang up your coat. My epiphany: I never hung up my coat - why? - because I didn't like dealing with hangers. Eureka! I decided to start using a hook. Problem solved.

"Treating" myself to overlooking these steps feels illicit and fun for a moment (yes, I realize how boring my life must be if throwing my coat on the floor feels illicit), but in the end, I just end up feeling worse. If I follow these de-cluttering steps, even if I don't do anything else to keep my apartment in order, the chaos stays at an acceptable level.

What have I missed? Are there other quick steps to take to keep your home uncluttered?

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Comments

[piratebattleship]

agreed. though i break about half the rules! > having music playing when i'm cleaning is a big motivator. > when it comes to storage boxes don't be scared to spend good money. It'll be durable and easier on the eye. > 'resetting' a table, vanity or whatever as if you were house sitting. > my only comment on storage alot under the bed? bad feng shui. careful not sleep on 'baggage' [piratebattleship.blogspot.com]

[piratebattleship]

agreed. though i break about half the rules! > having music playing when i'm cleaning is a big motivator. > when it comes to storage boxes don't be scared to spend good money. It'll be durable and easier on the eye. > 'resetting' a table, vanity or whatever as if you were house sitting. > my only comment on storage alot under the bed? bad feng shui. careful not sleep on 'baggage'

[babybelle]

Buy some bed risers... you'll have a whole new area to store things.

[Promise]

. After many years of living chaotically I finally realized that I feel much better in a reasonably ordered environment. I live in a very small space and have to keep things picked up in order not to go crazy. I have y made a lot of progress and do most of the things you suggest. I have enforced the rule of putting things away immediately after using them . Keys are on a plastic ring that I put immediately on the door knob.

I don't like dealing with hangers either and if you could see my one, tiny, closet you would cry. My solution was to buy a hat rack/ Now that the weather is snowy here I don't want to hang wet coats up in the closet anyway. I love the hat rack--it has several hooks for hats and scarves and it is really quite cute..

I keep my charity bag in my car, just to save space in the house and drop things off when I'm in that area. I also keep a mixed paper bag tucked behind the frig so now, immediately after reading mail, I toss it there and will haul that to recyling along with the stacks of papers that accumulate. I donate magazines to a library that has an exchange pile. I pick up my mail at the po and I sort through it there and drop off the unwanted stuff in their trash pail -- don't even bring it into the house.

[tabatha]

good advice

i also like to keep the kitchen counter clutter-free....just hate the look of stuff out...we even keep the coffee grinder and beans in a cabinet...

same goes for the bathroom....keep toothbrushes and so forth in drawers or the undercabs

[carrieanna]

I also find that having a tidy house makes me more likely to be active. I guess when there's chores to be done, I feel more depressed and just watch tv to avoid doing them. But when the house is clean, I'm happier and want to get outside for a walk or hang out with friends.

[princessk]

Make it a priority to keep the kitchen and bathroom tidy and your clothes picked up. They're the most time-consuming parts of the house to clean and straighten. This from a very lazy housekeeper.

[Krootie]

A former employer had a great comment on clutter. "It takes just as much energy to put an item in its proper place as the wrong place. But you'll find it when you need it - saving yourself unnecesssary frustrations in life."

[Opt1musPr1me]

We do all of this out our house and we can't seem to get rid of the clutter feeling. Maybe it's the kids!!

[HeresHoping]

Trust me -- it's the kids.

[reader39]

I have a drawer or a basket in my bathroom for makeup, hair products, toothpaste, etc. I can quickly drop everything back in place after I'm finished using it and the bathroom counter stays clear.

[JScott]

I tend to keep the kitchen clutter free and dirty dishes to the dishwasher, if only to keep the ants away.

[naschkatze]

Empty the waste baskets frequently if not daily.

[DennyCrane]

Excellent advice. I do this as well. No one enjoys big cleaning projects. Picking up after yourself leaves less work later on. It's good to periodically "trim the fat" around your house. Look at everything you own, no matter how big or small, and ask whether you really need it. Most of us accumulate tons of junk over the years. After a while, it becomes invisible to us, despite being in plain sight. I like to keep all my counters and surfaces clear. People accuse me of having OCD or living a very spartan lifestyle, but it makes things so much simpler and stress-free. Now when someone comes over, I don't have to spend a lot of time cleaning.

[jamesinsf]

I use every one of your clutter-prevention actions and they actually work. One thing I do is to allow myself a small stack of books at my bedside and one small stack on my computer desk of materials: that is IT for stacks. Anytime I see other stacks building, I usually just recycle the magazines and remind myself to buy fewer printed items, to save our trees.

- I also like the idea of tossing belongings that are simply not used or donating them to friends or charity, a technique known as "purging".
- Another my favorite rapid responses to clutter is to set a timer for 15 minutes and start clearing surfaces. At the end of the 15 minutes, I am usually so into the work that I continue!
-There are also substantial resources online and the "getting things done" or GTD techniques that actually work very well and that are great for organizing time, decluttering and maintaining a clutter-free living space, and being creatively productive with real world results.

Thanks for a great article and Merry Xmas!

James
Jimboland Jots >>> http://www.jimboland.com
The world from a freethinker, gay, green, radical, and American progressive worldview

[robynr]

seasonally & economically related - stop exchanging gifts with people. make it clear that what you appreciate as gifts are things that get used up. wine, food, flowers. most of the purge of belongings i did last summer were gifts i never wanted, weren't to my taste, etc. don't let the crap in your house to begin with. i'll bet your friends will love to participate in the unconsumerising of the world. in the words of my grandmother - "what do you need it for?"

[jp5472]

I've been following this for the last three years. Tell people to save the money or go purchase something for themselves that they really need or want. This commercialization of everything has ballooned into ridiculousness. Christmas is for children, but even that needs to be ramped down about 30 notches in this over-commercialized country.

We have bought more crap out there because "you're supposed to". How much stuff do we all have that we will never use, never wanted, and constantly push around during the latest reorganization of the basement/closets? ...or as my own grandparents used to say when we'd bring the pile of gifts - "what could I possibly need"?

[waldeneast]

I love this idea-- my family did it, and the homemade jam, cookies, etc were a real hit. People love receiving something with a personal touch.

[MightyMeno]

My husband and I are just a family of two, so it's easy for us to keep Christmas simple and actually pleasant. We don't exchange gifts, just cards. I put up a little tree, some window lights and the Nativity scene. We sleep in on Christmas morning, sip eggnog, listen to carols, have a nice dinner ... and that's it. No fuss, no muss, no stress ... no bills! I feel for people with kids, who have to deal with all the commercialism and pressure, but I love the suggestions mentioned here.