Avoiding clutter
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris
For some of you, you may have grown up in a cluttered home. A place where cupboards would not close, closets and dressers were overflowing with clothing, and stuff was shoved under the beds and into nooks and crannies. When guests came over it was a huge chore to clean the house and everyone had to help because it was such a big job. Does that sound all too familiar?
Most people don’t even notice that they have too much stuff. It is something that is overlooked. But day after day they are spending hours trying to get ahead of housecleaning and organizing. They are constantly making an excuse as to why their home is in disarray. The answer is very simple of what they need to do to help those issues….they need to declutter!
To understand the definition of declutter, we need to define what “clutter” is:
to fill up or possibly cover with dispersed or disordered items that obstruct movement as well as minimize effectiveness.
Therefore, declutter is the opposite action. It really is to sort items and get tidy. It means to order items, to put things in place where they belong.
Most peoples’ homes are full of things. We live in a land of “stuff.” Stuff that makes us feel good, stuff that we don’t want to get rid of, and stuff that takes over our lives.
It begins when we own too many things. When we have fewer items the easier it will be to keep clutter at a minimum.
The first and easiest ways to start decluttering is to remove the excessive possessions that are stealing our lives, times, and energy.
In your process of removing the excess, it can be helpful to define what it is that is causing your clutter. Usually it is defined in 3 ways:
- Too much stuff in too small of a space
- Anything that you no longer use or like
- Anything that leads to a feeling of disorganization
It is not good to have too many things in your room. A few well arranged items on top of your dresser make it much easier to keep order and will help you save time in caring for your room.
Questions to consider:
- How is your desk looking?
- Is it cluttered and untidy looking?
- Are there books that you don’t regularly use that are left out?
- Are there things on the top of the table that should be kept in drawers or boxes?
- What other places in your room may be in disorder and full of unnecessary things?
