7 Simple Ways to Control Clutter
If you could improve one area of your home right now, what would it be? If your answer is “clutter” I want you to know that you’re not alone. It is what most people say is a source of frustration and overwhelm in their home.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way.
And it’s important to remember that our home plays such an important role in how we feel and function every day.
I want to share 7 simple ways you can get the clutter in your home under control. These ideas have worked for me, as a busy working mum of four school-aged children. It is my hope that they will help you too.
1. Embrace the idea “My house, my rules”
Boundaries are important in so many areas of life. And your home is no exception. In fact, if you can’t establish clear boundaries in your own home, where can you? But it is one thing for you to know the rules you live by, but something else to communicate it with others in your family, and anyone who enters your space. Of course, this can be done with kindness and care. But it is still important. So if you don’t want shoes strewn near the front door, or if you don’t want children wandering around your home with food and leaving plates lying around, you need to express that, and establish some ground rules.
2. Be the gatekeeper
One of the rules I found helpful is to be a gatekeeper of what comes into our home. Because once it enters the home, it becomes your responsibility. It becomes something you have to clean, clear away and care for. Often, it is easier not to allow it into your home in the first place. Be careful about what you allow through your front door.
3. Embrace constraints
How many mugs do you need? How many pairs of shoes? How many towels? Often we keep adding to our collections rather than editing them as we go along. And this can create a problem. Before we know it our stuff starts to get out of control, and it feels overwhelming to tackle any of it. Set limits for what you need, and stick to them.
4. Create a hard reset
When your clutter starts to feel like it’s getting out of control, create a hard reset. This is when you make a commitment to take consistent action for a period of time. It doesn’t mean you have to spend every day for the rest of your life taking massive action. But it does mean you put in a concerted effort to make considerable progress in the short term.
5. Start small
When my children are feeling overwhelmed by the clutter creep in their rooms, I encourage them to start small. Start with your desk, I say. Or start with your sock drawer. Science shows that when we start to rack up small wins we increase our confidence, and are more likely to stay the course. If you’d like to see which system I use when decluttering the spaces in our home, you can get my process here.
6. Be the example
It is so easy to point the finger at other people in our family and complain about what they are not doing. But before you do, make sure that you have all of your clutter under control first. I always remind myself of this, and check my own desk before I comment on my husband’s.
7. Don’t solve clutter with more stuff
It’s so easy, and can feel so satisfying to rush out and buy storage containers or print off new labels when we’re in the mood to tidy and organise our spaces. But before you do, edit your collections first. First of all, it delays getting started. And secondly, you might not need all of those containers, after all.
