While some homeowners have mastered the art of decluttering and organization, others still grapple with challenges in this area. Sure, you dream of a clean and beautiful home. But it’s also normal to feel like you don’t necessarily want to spend an entire weekend decluttering. This situation is a common dilemma for homeowners with clutter that have gotten out of hand.
If you’ve previously thought your home can never be as organized and clutter-free as those in home magazines and TV shows, you’ve come to the right place today. With commitment, you can apply a few organizational principles at home for a better sense of order.
It doesn’t even need anything significant or complicated to get things done. Keeping a clean, organized, and clutter-free home starts even with simple habits and changes in your home. Take hints from these suggestions below.
1. Hide Any Visual Obstructions
Clutter can be any visual obstruction or nuisance in your home, big or small. Small items, such as random household belongings not returned to their proper place, can quickly accumulate. Meanwhile, more noticeable items like heaters and water tanks can also contribute to the clutter.
While a visual nuisance, there’s also no denying that water tanks from The Water Tank Factory, among other companies, in particular, are almost always a must-have in homes. They serve a functional purpose. But, given their size, water tanks are considered an obstruction in the garden. When it sticks out awkwardly, water tanks can destroy the overall aesthetic of a garden. Hence, the need to keep it out of sight.
There’s nothing more organized, even as to the exterior, when it’s clean and free from visual distractions. Despite its size, there are many ways to hide water tanks creatively. If this can be done for something bigger, you can also do it with other minor visual obstructions inside and outside the home.
2. Stop The Inflow Of Clutter
Prevent the accumulation of clutter as early as now. No matter what sort of purging or major decluttering you do today, that’ll only be futile if you return to the same cycle of impulse spending or shopping.
Now that you’ve decided you want to have an organized and clutter-free home, it’s about time to make changes in your habit. If not, that organized home will last only for a few days (or weeks, at best) until you’re faced with the same problem again.
3. Live Within Your Means
‘Live within your means’ is a long-standing budgeting principle that can extend from the wallet to the home. It’s a good phrase to remember if you aim for a simpler life.
When it comes to your home, the idea is this: let your home’s size dictate how much stuff you have and own, and not the other way around. Once your house starts feeling cramped, take this as an indicator that, perhaps, you already own too many things.
Once you apply this tip, changes in your home and finances could start coming. You will have fewer things to sort through, and your budget will also begin feeling less tight, perhaps with more leeway to save.
4. Declutter And Organize Like Guests Are Coming
If cleaning and decluttering aren’t your cup of tea, a good motivation is when you receive a message that friends or family are coming to visit. There’s no better motivation than company on its way, especially those you’d want to impress. Set your timer for a few minutes, and speed through a fast declutter around your home.
Even if you may not have guests coming, at least think or pretend they are. You’ll be surprised by how much you can cover around your home, even with only a short time.
5. Only Keep What You Need
How much extra stuff do you have? Is it essential to have all those 20 towels? 50 plates? 15 serving dishes? That’s the beginning of the many duplicates or multiples that homeowners could have in their home ‘just because.’
Once you start purging, keep a trash bag or box near you to make it easier to let go of all those duplicates you haven’t even used in years. If you know it’s not something you need or something you’ll use every so often, then there’s no need to keep it.
The more you let go, the better. It’ll feel liberating to have less clutter. And, so many other institutions, like charity organizations, for instance, can use the things you let go of.
6. Purge Often
Don’t wait until next spring before you give your home another major purge. Aim for a shorter time frame between each purge, like a semi-annual or quarterly one, if possible. The more members in your household, the more often you should do this as well, as more people also equate to more things.
Believe it or not, things have a way of accumulating very fast. You may be satisfied with how clutter-free your home looks now. But in a few months, if you aren’t careful with your habits, you’ll be facing the same problem once more. Setting aside a few times a year for this can help you stay on top of the clutter, making your home feel lighter, better, and a lot more organized.
7. Stay On Top Of Paper Clutter
Households that are still paper-intensive will find that there’s just a lot of paper around their home. Add up to that too, having children, as that means lots of arts and crafts here and there. There’ll be paper on the kitchen island, in drawers, and all over the dining table. Add up to that also paper bills, receipts, school reports, and other documents you just haven’t gotten the time to sort through.
Stay on top of paper clutter to stop it from getting out of hand. As soon as paper clutter starts to accumulate, quickly assess if it must be kept or thrown away. If you think that some of these papers must be kept, have a file system ready and in place. This way, you’ll know exactly which folder to place each paper in. Not having any system doesn’t just make paper a top visual nuisance, but it also puts you at risk of accidentally throwing away what was otherwise an important document.
Final Thoughts
With the fast-paced lifestyle homeowners live these days, it’s expected that clutter will eventually get out of hand one way or another. This can be your situation right now, or it can be something you’ll have to face a few months from now if you don’t make any changes. From sentimental items to all those things you can’t get rid of, your home can feel smaller and tighter than it is because of all the clutter you’ve held on to. Take it a day at a time, a room at a time, and a change at a time.
