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Keep Out Clutter
To stop a vampire from getting in the house, movies tell us that you simply hang garlic above the door – but how do you stop that sneaky vampire clutter from entering your home and draining away your self-esteem, comfort and peace of mind?
I’m familiar with its dark and sinister ways, and let me tell you that there are some simple formulas and tricks that beat a sharpened stake when it comes to getting straight at the heart of clutter.
Monsters In Disguise
The first thing you have to recognise about clutter is that it comes in disguise – no-one goes to Woollies and says “please give me five bags of your finest clutter” so you know you brought those items into the house for a good reason.
But this is when the tough part starts – what was that reason? And how do you stop them becoming clutter?
The biggest culprits for most people are clothing, children’s toys and paperwork. These things are in daily use, and there’s normally a fairly regular intake of new ones, all of which can add up to trouble.
Kitchen items come a close fourth especially if you buy tempting looking gadgets and never get round to using them.
You may well have other bad guys but this week I’m going to look at these four and give you some tips on stopping them getting in the house and creating havoc – you should be able to transfer some of the ideas to your own personal bugbear.
Obviously you can’t get rid of all your children’s toys, bin every last stitch of clothing, and seal up the letterbox to stop any more paperwork coming in - but you can make sure that you don’t invite in more than you strictly need, and that once they’re in they don’t get a chance to become clutter.
Get A System
The best way to do this is to introduce systems, for example have a letter tray where post that needs to be kept or actioned (eg bills, official documents, personal correspondence) can safely rest before being dealt with. And keep a bin beside it for junk mail!
I strongly recommend you choose at least one day a week for dealing with filing and stick with it – mine’s Tuesday, yours might be Sunday evening or Friday night. But whatever works for you, make it a regular appointment, and stick with it until the letter tray is empty and everything is where it needs to be.
Obviously truly urgent mail will need to be dealt with the day it arrives, but for most mail once a week is enough and far better than never.
Teddy’s Bedtime…
Children’s toys are best dealt with by getting a big box, basket or under-bed store and making it part of the bed-time routine to pick up toys and put them safely “to bed.”
Children over the age of toddling can usually do some of this themselves, which gets them into a good habit for later life and stops you feeling too much like the maid.
Keep an eye on well-meaning relatives and friends who deal with their own kid’s clutter by giving it to you – it can be hard to refuse politely (and you’re normally doomed if your child has actually seen the “gift” already) but take a bit of time to plan out effective ways of saying “No!”
My suggestion is to leap for the moral high-ground by saying you don’t want little Fatima to be spoiled with too many toys, or that thank you but Timmy has plenty of lovely toys already – remember that doodad you gave us for Christmas Aunty? He won’t be parted from that! – and you read a super article about how Oxfam/your local children’s hospital are doing an appeal right now for toys. Anything else can look ungrateful and petty.
People don’t really have dark motives in trying to give you their kid’s outgrown stuff but be very clear that it holds the potential for ongoing misery and take the issue seriously. You are the one who decides what your child needs, not anyone else, and you are the one who will have to live with too much clutter if you cave in.
Clothing, Or Clutter?
Your own clothing is a more subtle challenge – I truly understand the temptation to have far more clothes than you need, so your key point on this one is to stop acquiring things that won’t be worn.
Stopping clothing clutter from even entering the house is a bit simpler than dealing with mail because you’re in charge, and good habits to get into include doing a quarterly wardrobe assessment to see what needs replacing or which new items from the season’s trends you would like.
The Bargain Trap
Never – and I really do mean never – buy clothing solely because it’s cheap, unless you love it. This applies to accessories as well.
How to assess this? If you see an item that appeals mainly because of its low price (be it £3.99, £39 or £399, we all have a personal take on what’s a bargain) ask yourself this crucial question: would you be prepared to pay five times that amount, including having to save or economise in other areas to afford that?
If you truly love the item enough to pay five times more, then go for it, because it’s a real bargain and unlikely to nourish the clutter monster. And remember an expensive classic which lasts can cost less per wear than a tatty sweatshop-produced item that falls apart or goes shapeless after one wash.
Another important point is to always try clothing on in stores – yes, I know changing rooms are mostly hellish, but this way you don’t risk bringing home something that looked great on the hanger and rotten on you.
This will save you from spending even more time returning unsuitable goods, or worse yet wasting the money on something you’ll never wear.
Which brings us to unused kitchen goods, often another triumph of hope over experience.
“…a good idea at the time.”
Bread makers. Ice cream makers. Toasted sandwich makers. Slow cookers. Juicers.
Each of those things is one person’s kitchen essential, in regular use and adding to the quality of their life, and another person’s guilt-inducing kitchen clutter.
Very few kitchens in the UK can be described as having too much work surface space, yet most clients I have worked with have had at least one electrical appliance in the kitchen which was a dust magnet and space-thief.
Hopefully you’ve already begun to declutter since last week and rehomed or disposed of items you don’t use.
The simple trick is to not buy an appliance for yourself unless you already do the task it’s designed for.
By this I mean, for example, don’t buy a bread maker unless and until you’ve proven that you love making, and eating, fresh bread regularly.
Never buy appliances hoping they’ll change your lifestyle by their very presence - if you don’t like cooking, juicing or baking already then that won’t change with a new purchase.
Just in brief, that extends to expensive home fitness equipment, a huge space gobbler and normally ugly as anything – if you have an existing regular fitness routine then go for it, but if not, no treadmill or exercycle is going to change your basic behaviour.
Summary
I hope you’ve found these two articles useful in cutting the clutter out of your life – if you’d like more in-depth support on this, why not contact me to discuss arranging some coaching, and if you’d like to get a feel for how I work, my new online course Your Organised Home gives you six weeks of detailed, effective and powerful support in creating and maintaining an organised home.
