How to Avoid Clutter In Your House
“Later is the best friend of clutter.”—Peter Walsh
1. Commit this to memory and practice it throughout the day: “Don’t put it down, put it away.”
2. Stop saying “later.” (e.g. “I’ll take the clothes out of the dryer but I’ll fold them later.”).
3. Understand and respect your space limits: If a closet holds 30 hangers for hanging stuff and you have 31 items of clothing, you have to let one go.
4. Install a good, sturdy shelving system in closets to utilize your vertical space and stop floor creep (once items start spreading across the floor it’s almost impossible to keep them under control).
5. When you buy a new item, employ the “one in, one out” rule. Buying a new pair of jeans? Donate an old one.
6. If you have kids, schedule a purge of toys and clothes before birthdays and holidays to keep their spaces from overflowing.
7. Label any box, bin or container that goes into the garage or basement so that items can be easily and quickly located (consider different colored labels for containers of like things—orange for Halloween decorations, for example).
8. Tend to paperwork daily. (Quick tip: junk mail should be torn up and tossed in the recycling bin immediately. If you put it down, it multiplies.)
9. Remember this mantra: flat surfaces are not for storage!
THE EXPERT:
Peter Walsh, an organizational design expert, and television and radio personality. He’s the author of numerous New York Times best-sellers including It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer, Fuller Life with Less Stuff and Let It Go: Downsizing Your Way to a Richer, Happier Life.
THE EXPLANATION:
Decisions delayed is what creates clutter (I’ll throw this mail on the kitchen counter but I’ll deal with it later. I’ll push the kids toys in the corner and I’ll put them away later. I’ll leave these dishes in the sink and I’ll wash them later). Practicing the art of putting stuff away is essential. Your shoes, for example. How much more time does it take to put them in the closet instead of just kicking them off on the floor? Less than 30 seconds. But a week later when you have seven pairs of shoes by the door that need to be dealt with, it's a bigger task (and one you're more likely to avoid). Having less stuff in general helps, too. We’ve been brought up in a society where more is better, that if one is good, two is great. There’s this idea that from stuff comes happiness and if we just buy the right thing, everything will be right in the world. Spoiler alert: It’s not true. The average family home has 300,000 items in it. People chronically underestimate how much stuff is in their house so we need to practice mindfulness at every turn. When purchasing, when dropping our stuff on the floor, when saying we’ll do things later. A little bit of effort and awareness can make a huge difference for our space.
BONUS:
Peter’s fork theory: If you went into someone’s house and walked in the front door and found a fork on the floor and they asked you to put it away, where would you put it? The utensil drawer in the kitchen, right? Easy. But how do you know that? Because that’s where it goes, because it has a home. The same place in everyone’s home! Everything in your home should have a home like that!