Prioritize the maximization of unused horizontal surface space.
Have you ever noticed that restaurants and bars often decorate their walls with stuff that would easily be considered clutter on the floor? Apparently “clutter” is a highly relative descriptor, and the visual-spatial bias behind it privileges horizontal surface space. You can leverage that knowledge to quickly de-clutter spaces without investing in lots of new storage furniture and organization systems. It’s by far the cheapest trick I know.
Simply move and reorient items from horizontal surfaces (like table tops, floors, chair seats, etc) to vertical ones (like shelves, hanging storage, cabinets, upright bins, baskets and boxes that can sit on top of cabinets, wall-mounted dispensers, etc). Even just stacking stuff can make a space look less cluttered.
Once you start getting creative with this concept, you can build it into the layout of your living spaces. For example, you might figure out what stuff can live in wall-mounted dispensers instead of occupying the space of a counter/vanity/floor. Similarly, you might find visually appealing ways to store “clutter” out in the open, such as a ceiling-mounted pot rack or a stainless steel prep table used as kitchen island storage.
I have the exact same problem, this is what I’ve been trying these last weeks and I’m already seeing some improvement.
I started by setting up three easy daily tasks:
- pick up all dirty clothes for laundry
- sweep all the floors
- clean the dishes
I don’t do very thorough sweep, just so it looks clean but since I have to do it every day something gets tickled in my brain that tries to find something to sweep because the broom is not picking anything, so I just recently realised that I’ve been moving out the way or completely removing stuff that impeded me from sweeping small corners that I didn’t sweep the day before.
I’m so happy with how it is working that I’m about to add dusting into the routine. If the same logic applies, I’ll be throwing away lots of stuff that make dusting harder.
I started doing it to learn to adopt habits and clean more often, the decluttering part was unexpected but welcomed. I still have a long way to go but I feel optimist.
Take pics of sentimental things of little value. Then throw out the thing and keep the pic
Make an album with the pics. Once that album is full, take a pic of the album and throw it away.
Invite a judgemental friend or relative over for dinner. Best way to force you to clean and declutter your space.
Abdication is both quick and brutal.
Take a weekend to thoroughly clean your home. At the end, take a mental snapshot of each room and each surface.
Going forward, at the end of each night before bed, reset each space back to that mental snapshot you have of how that space should look when it’s “clean”.
Doing this every day ensures that mess never gets out of hand.
Thinking of it as a “room reset” rather than cleaning” helps my perfectionism from jumping in and having me end up cleaning the baseboards every night.
Buy a small box (should be about the size of a cat; not too big and not too small) you can put in a place where you’ll see it frequently but it’s not in the way.
This box is your “physical inbox”. Any clutter you find or anything in your space that is out of place or doesn’t have a good ‘home’ goes in this box.
Once a week (or more often if you’d like), go through the inbox and resolve or find a new proper home for each item (even if get home is the trash).
I don’t use a box but I do the same thing. I call it a junk pile. If it topples over or I have nothing else to do, then I just start working on the junk pile. That means cleaning it or adding to it. Sure that one spot will never be clean but now at least the rest of the house is.
best tip - stop buying shit you don’t need and throw\give shit away you don’t use.
Moving to another continent with just two suitcases
When’s the last time you actually used the item, whether it’s clothing, an appliance, dishes, etc? Some things only have a special purpose (holiday decorations, seasonal clothing), but if the item has no special purpose and you haven’t used it in the past 5 years and holds no sentimental value, you should toss or donate it.
A note on sentimental value: If you are tying sentimental value to EVERYTHING or dozens of things of the same type (I don’t mean a collection, I’m talking like “My dad died 10 years ago and instead of keeping 1 or 2 shirts he really liked, I’m keeping his entire wardrobe in 10 crappy old carboard boxes in my living room and they’re all full of clothes moths now, but I won’t throw them away because they have sentimental value to me” kind of behavior), this is an unhealthy coping mechanism that you should address with yourself or with help from a therapist.
Once you have your stuff narrowed down, find a place for each item, and then that’s where that thing lives. The place they live must be reasonable and logical. Clean clothes live in the closet/dresser, they do not live on the floor, draped across furniture, or in the hamper after you’ve washed/dried them.
Appliances live in one spot on your kitchen counter, or in a cabinet/cupboard. Books live on the bookshelf unless you’re actively reading them. Knick knacks live on the shelf, not the floor or in a box on the floor because you plan to some day put them on the shelf and just haven’t gotten around to it. If you’re not gonna put them on the shelf within the next month, box that shit up and put the box in a closet/garage/attic, etc. Storage is an acceptable place for a thing to live, provided you have the room and you’re not just accumulating crap and storing it like a squirrel with nuts that are then forgotten about a month later.
FOOD GETS STORED IN THE KITCHEN. Do not store the half-eaten box of crackers on your nightstand or on the floor next to the couch. Do you want ants? That’s how you get ants.
The food one is very good.
Spend a few weeks camping or hostelling. Then you’ll see how many of your possessions you really need.
Break your project down into bite size goals. With rewards.
Start with cleaning the bathroom. Take a nice long bath after.
Focus on the rubbish in your bedroom, go for a small walk to the variety store. (Consider having a monster drink)
When you come home focus on loose clothing on the floor. Put them in the wash.
Carry on this routine. If you trust yourself not to be too distracted play some old DVDs in the background.
Carry on with this pattern, doesn’t need to be all in the same day.
Did you do the dishes yet?
Break your project down into bite size goals.
Start with cleaning the bathroom.
What sorts of clutter items do you have?
Think really hard before you ditch something. I got rid of a ton of stuff when I moved abroad and I regret far too much of it.
Old stuff goes on the local buy&sell or eBay if it’s worth enough used. Otherwise it’s on the front boulevard with a spray painted FREE sign next to whatever I want gone. It’s very rare whatever I dump out there isn’t taken within minutes. Don’t hoard.
Shit tons of shelves and cabinets. Get stuff off the surfaces you use all the time, or would if it wasn’t covered in shit. Now you can dust the home and vacuum easily too!
No impulse purchases. Do you really want it, let alone need it? Discipline.
Get a filing cabinet if you don’t have one already for a job you do. Just a two drawer is enough.
I’ve thus far avoided feeling the need to host my own garage or yard sale, but that might be a good place to start if it’s feasible.
step one, if I get rid of this will someone else want it? Do I still want it.
get a good box, like an apple box or a fruit box
keep it someplace and put the first thing you LIKE but yeah maybe its just clutter, into it
treat all the things as something that you want, something you like but could live without, trash
once that box fills up, give it to a non-profit charity for donation
once that box fills up, give it to a non-profit charity for donation
Wrong, seal up that box and start on the next box. Stacking the new one on top of the previous box.
hey hey encourage this guy slowly, they already have issues with hoarding
