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October 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Controlling Clutter Will Nip Stress in the Bud
Haven’t most of us dealt with clutter long enough? If your answer is yes—keep reading.
Begin by stopping clutter at the front door or for some of us the back door. The point is not to bring it in the house. And when we do, it’s important that we recognize it and not let it grow to unyielding proportions. It’s best to have a routine time each day, week or whatever time frame works for you to look at the mail or magazines or piles you’ve created. Nip it in the bud.
Many people say they are messy and can’t control things from being everywhere. They say that they just aren’t organized, which isn’t quite the case. The real problem is that they don’t have enough space or designated places to put their things. Without a system, it’s difficult to find what you are looking for later. The other villain is time. Some days it just doesn’t seem like there is enough time to get to everything read or organized or filed.
Here are some ideas to help you:
Install cubbies, bins or hooks for each member of the family. Design this area to fit your décor. This is a great way to deal with mail, newspapers, clothing and dog leashes. You’ll also know where to go when you can’t find something. Be sure to include a wastebasket to immediately throw out mail of other items before they get into the house.
When you have a place for everything, you won’t loose precious time and endure stress looking for things. Have you considered using an attractive bowl placed near the exit door for everyone’s keys?
Your closets can be better organized with see-through boxes with covers to keep the dust out. They can hold shoes, scarves, belts, small purses, sewing needles and threads.
Everyone complains that they don’t have enough storage. Many people build storage space. Rather, look at what you are storing and decide if you really need it and if it is worth saving. It might be less expensive to replace the occasional item you may need down the road, rather than use valuable space and money to create the space. Think of the fun it could be buying new when you need it. And chances are, what you would buy now is different from what you bought before.
It’s interesting to hear people talk about the seasons in terms of cleaning up their act. Spring cleaning, getting things out of storage in the fall, using the winter months to go through their things, and summer time to get rid of things they haven’t used.
Since de-cluttering is such a chore and avoidance a way of dealing with it, wouldn’t it be important to start this very minute and not let anymore stuff accumulate? Be sure and allow a certain amount of time everyday or weekend or evening to be spent going through one pile, one drawer or one closet?
You will breathe easier, move about more freely and enjoy the space around you. Your rooms won’t care what you keep or get rid of but you will, because rooms have no feelings, YOU do.
Thanks for all your questions and comments. If I use your question or comment on this blog I will send you a free, autographed copy of my book “The Bajaro Method: Rooms Have No Feelings, YOU Do!”
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