10 Tips to Beat Clutter

1. The Two Minute Rule—Do any chore around the house that takes less than two minutes before you sit down at the computer, your TV, a good book, etc.  Go through the mail, throw out the junk, load dishes on the counter into the dishwasher, throw kids toys into a basket in the living room, stack up all the papers on your desk into one neat pile.

2.  Identify a place or person to whom you can give or sell things to that you no longer need – it’s much easier to get rid of unneeded stuff if you can envision someone else getting good use from them. Also, figure out a place to store those things until you hand them over. I have a box going in the basement I keep books in that I plan to sell to Half Price Books.

3. Be very cautious about letting yourself “store” something. Storing something means you don’t intend to use it much. Other than holiday decorations and seasonal clothes, you should strive to “store” as little as possible.  If you haven’t used something in 3 years, including holiday items, donate it, give it away, sell it, or throw it.

4.  Beware of freebies. Never accept anything free, unless you’re thrilled with it. A mug, a tote bag, a hand-me-down toy, the lamp from your cousin; if you don’t need it, don’t take it.

5. Get rid of things if they break. You’ll be surprised how many items you’ll find around your home just waiting to be fixed.  If you haven’t fixed it yet, you probably won’t get to it any time soon.  Toss it. 

6.  Don’t keep any piece of paper unless you know that you actually need it.  Joel and I, for years, have carefully filed away the stubs when we paid our gas, water, and electric bill. “Why?” I asked, myself, mystified. “I have no idea.” Along the same lines, don’t keep anything that would quickly become dated -- like travel information. Remember the Internet!  If you can easily find information online, you don’t need to keep a hard copy. 

7.  Hang up your coat. If you have a lot of trouble with this one, clean out your coat closet and buy a few extra hangers.  My biggest deterrent to hanging my coat is not enough space and not enough hangers.  Sell or donate coats you haven’t worn in 3 years. (I always say 3 years because we must take into consideration pregnancy and nursing years J ) Or, use a hook instead of a hanger.

8. Designate a shoe basket for each member of your household.  This has been a lifesaver for me and my 2 year old.  All I say is, “Put your shoes in your special basket.”  He loves it.  It’s been about 6 months now and he still likes his shoe basket.

9.  Do the 5 minute Blitz.  I learned this one from my German mother.  I didn’t know blitz was German for lightening until I was an adult.  My mother, Elizabeth, would set the oven timer for 5 minutes.  Then she would turn on some music and say “Let’s do a blitz!”.  Every member of the house would run around like crazy cleaning up everything they could for those 5 minutes.  When the buzzer went off, we were done.  I loved it.

10. Before you go to bed, take five minutes to do an “evening tidy-up.” Don’t tackle anything ambitious, but just stack up the magazines, put your shoes away, shove the chairs into place, etc. Just a few minutes of tidying can make your house look a lot better, and it’s a calming thing to do before going to sleep. Plus it makes the morning nicer.