Four Tips to Clear the Clutter

No matter how beautifully you decorate your home, clutter is going to ruin the look that you hoped to achieve. You can’t have a cluttered house AND a beautiful house. Here are some tips to help you clear the clutter, and keep your home looking the way you want it: beautiful!

1. A Place For Every Thing
One cause of clutter is that people try to have more stuff than they do room. If you have "stuff" that doesn’t have a place, you should consider parting with it. If that isn’t an option, then renting a small storage unit, or tucking some items in boxes in the attic, might be the answer. If you have a small home, one possible solution is to add several wall shelves. You could even dedicate an entire wall to this. Adding shelving will provide lots of extra storage for books and knick knacks. The point is that everything must have a place, and must be in its place.

2. A "Stuff" Bucket
As you and your family go about their days, it’s inevitable that some of their "stuff" is going to be left throughout the house. Instead of you having to spend all day running around to every room in the house putting everyone’s stuff away, place a "stuff" bucket in some not-so-visible location in your home. Make it a rule that this bucket must be emptied each night before bed. Each member of the family must check the bucket and remove items that belong to them. Any items left in the bucket will be donated to charity or tossed away.

3. Touch it Only Once
Another big cause of clutter is paper. Endless junk mail, bills, receipts and letters….it seems that the flow of paper will never end. It’s easy for your desk or dining room table to quickly become covered in papers, and that looks just plain messy. A quick tip to avoid such messes is to plan to touch each piece of paper only one time. That means that when you open a letter, you read it and then it either gets filed or thrown away. You do NOT put it on the table to put it away "later". You plan to only touch it once. This will stop the clutter, and will also save you time as you won’t have to deal with the same papers over and over again. You read it and either file it or toss it.

4. Clear it as You Go
As you complete various tasks throughout the day, clear clutter as you go. If you walk by some shoes, toys or other items that family members have left laying around, toss them into your stuff bucket instead of leaving them there. If you see items that are out of place, put them away as you go about your day. This will keep your home clutter free even as you are busy during the day, and will cut down on your end of the day picking up as you’ll have kept up with it all day.

These tips are simple ways to get you started on the road to clutter free living. Start using them today and you’ll be on your way to a more beautiful home!

Jessica Ackerman writes for Wall Décor and Home Accents - visit for information on metal wall art , wall décorations and more.

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