Cut the Clutter with These Tips!

For most of us it is inevitable, the clutter accumulates unless you find a way to stay on top of it.  Clutter can make us less motivated, productive and can effect a person's mental health. Many of us set aside time each week to try and tidy up, but incorporating some clutter-clearing routines can help make that task even easier!

Recycling Remedy

Put the junk mail directly into your recycling bin. It doesn’t have to be an official (ugly) recycling bin, just a container you have designated for recyclables and emptied on recycling day.  In the event you need that pizza flyer you will also know where to find it!

Clear Your Countertops

Storing your appliances will give you back the counter space you didn’t realize you were missing.  Do you think it will be a pain pulling out the toaster every morning?  Keep it somewhere convenient to where you will be using it. In reality it is only a few seconds to put it away again versus the minutes lost due to lack of counter space when you are trying to prepare a meal that doesn’t involve toast.  

Do the Dirty

Dirty dishes have to be one of the biggest eyesores there are.  Put the coffee cup in the dishwasher right away.  Hand washing a few plates after each meal is much quicker than washing a day or twos worth.  The tastiest meals can be less appealing if you are surrounding by piles of dishes.    

Limit the Laundry 

This can be a challenge with kids and a spouse added into the mix and quickly add layers to the clutter in your home.  Piles on the bathroom floor, the corner of the bedroom and often wherever things land when they are removed.  Strategically placed laundry baskets or hampers help contain the piles and limit the layers you are seeing.  

Tame the Toys

Cloistering toys in the closet cuts clutter.  Use bookshelves, bins and hanging organizers in the closet to sort and stack. When there’s no room left in the closet it is time to cycle them out.  Every 4-6 months it’s a good idea to clear out the toys not being used, either store them to be brought out as something “new” to play with or donate them.  Typically, the things that have made their way to the back or corner of the closet are less noticed when they disappear!

Cumbersome Closets

Take 5 minutes and grab 5 pieces of clothing you rarely wear.  Keep a box in the closet to add to as you go through your closet.  If you try on something you haven’t worn in a while and decide you no longer like it put in the box instead of back on a hanger.  Once the box is full, donate it or give it away online. 

Make a habit of going through your closet every other month to organize it and get rid of a few more things you aren’t wearing, you will find the clothes you keep hang better and it is easier to find what you are looking for.

Half the Hominess

As time goes on we pick up souvenirs or are given knick-knacks and other decorative pieces as gifts.  Sometimes they are sentimental, sometimes they are just things that others thought would look nice in our homes. Grab a box and go through your home, anything that you don’t absolutely love or hold a special  meaning to you should be added to the box.  If you feel that some spaces are left with a void that bothers you, pick a piece or two from the box.  I like to keep a few things stored and when I get in the mood to switch up the décor I can cycle in some “new” pieces much like with the kids toys!

Suitable Storage 

We all love to snuggle under a pile of blankets, there are some days we can never have enough!  But the days we don’t need them we also don’t need them cluttering up a room or closet.  Look for practical ways to keep things like extra blankets at hand but out of site with furniture that incorporates storage features like the Haileybury Storage Bench or Snowdrift Bed from Canadian Home and Garden.     
                     

Gratify the Garbage Man 

Canadians in particular, have become very good at reducing waste.  The “Three Rs” have been drilled into us – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and typical weekly refuse is often under the “limits” many areas have.  Take advantage of the half-filled recycling box, thrown in some broken toys or that stack of old brochures from your office.  Some areas allow large item pick up any time of year, drag out that chair that has been sitting in the basement. 

At the end of the day, developing habits to address the clutter thorugh your home will have you feeling better and free up the time spent on weekends trying to deal with it!