Home should be a place that feels comfortable, relaxing and calm. Even the cosiest of spaces can get filled with clutter, changing the way we feel about them.
Like life, the things in our home are always on the move. Some clutter is inevitable, but with these tips you’ll be able to keep a clutter free home.
1. Only buy what you need
It may sound simple, but it’s a remarkably hard habit to form and stick with. If you can get used to only buying what you need, when you need it, your home will soon feel less cluttered. There are fewer boxes entering your home, less packaging to dispose of and fewer items to find a home for within yours.
There’s plenty of other benefits to this other than a clutter free home, too. You may discover a healthier bank balance or be tempted to make changes in other areas of your life, like finances, food or fashion. There are lots of benefits to decluttering regularly.
2. Have a place for everything
Unless it’s truly disposable, everything you bring into your home needs a place to live or be stored. Our homes only have so much space in them, so once you’re out of hidden storage space it’s no surprise your visible surfaces can become cluttered.
Take a look around your home and look for areas where there’s visible clutter. Tackle these rooms first, and pull out items from your cupboards or other storage areas so you can see everything at a glance. Declutter, then find a suitable home for each and every object. If there isn’t one, evaluate whether it’s something you need. If it is, it may be that you need to invest in your storage options. But make that a last resort.
3. Keep things close to where you need them
If you have to travel halfway around your home to find something or return it back, chances are sometimes it’ll only make it halfway there. I know in our home a lot of the clutter is made up of kids toys that live upstairs, or paperwork that hasn’t made it to the file storage in the other room.
To make things easier and help create a clutter free home, find ways to group items together by task and keep them close to where you’ll need them. Keep all your laundry necessities together, and do the same for other clutter problem areas like paperwork, toys, games and toiletries.
4. Put things away when you’re finished with them
Lots of people are great at this, but it doesn’t always come naturally. Most of the clutter around our homes can be attributed to items that just haven’t made it back to their place yet.
Get into the habit of putting things away after you’ve used them. If you live with others, encourage them to do the same. This is especially great for kids, as they’ll grow up with this habit that’ll help them keep their future homes clutter-free.
5. Take care of paperwork as it arrives
It’s tempting to put off dealing with paperwork – especially bills – until the last minute, but try to take care of it as soon as possible. Not only will you be able to rest knowing you’ve taken care of everything before due dates, but it means less paperwork on your surfaces and more clutter free home.
If you can’t take care of paperwork straight away, give it a useful home. Create an ‘in tray’ or a paperwork file that you look at on a regular basis. Weekly is great, so you can make sure you don’t miss any important deadlines for financial, legal or school paperwork.
6. Dedicate time to decluttering regularly
A clutter free home often starts with one big moment (or small decluttering steps) but it works best if done regularly. We’re all bringing new things into our homes on a daily or weekly basis, so over a month or two it can start to add up.
Create a decluttering routine that works for you and stick to it as best as you can. You don’t need to get formal with this, but aim to tackle an area or two of your home every month to stay on top of things.
7. Let friends and family know you’re aiming for a clutter free home
For even the most minimal among us, there’s a few times a year where our homes become overfilled with items, gifts, cards and decorations. The holidays are wonderful, but they can come with a lot of ‘stuff’.
A good way to try and keep a clutter free home even over the holidays is to let friends and family know you’re on a minimalism journey. If they ask for gift ideas, suggest experiences or a day out with them as a top present idea. If you find your home overwhelmed by gifts over the holidays or your family loves to pass things on to you, don’t feel bad about finding a new, loving home for them after some time.
8. Dispose of recycling as soon as possible
It feels like companies are making steps to reduce packaging more than ever, but most items still come with some packaging, padding or stuffing that needs disposing of. If you’re buying for a birthday, holiday or to furnish a new home then you can quickly end up overwhelmed with recycling.
To help your home stay clutter-free and maintain your hard-earned habits, move recycling and rubbish out of your home as soon as you can. It doesn’t always make sense to do this right away, but when you get a chance to pop things in the recycling box then take it. If you’ve ended up with a build up, see if you can get someone in to take everything away at once.
9. Create a ‘junk drawer’ for miscellaneous items
If you find your home cluttered with tiny objects and miscellaneous items, it might be time to create (or better use) your junk drawer. You don’t want to get to the point where it’s hard to close, but having a place to store small items that don’t fit anywhere else can really help you keep surfaces tidy.
If you’re like us and your kitchen doesn’t have a junk drawer, try creating a junk box instead. Find a box designed for paperwork storage, or a clear organisation box, and pop your little things in there instead. Keep this in your kitchen or in another area of your home, wherever makes sense for the items inside.
10. Have a daily tidy up routine
No matter how tidy and organised you are, there’s no escaping the fact that every day we use things and our home environment is dynamic. It’s a lived-in home, not a show home. This means there’s always something to tidy up or put away from an activity, game or daily life. Keep the daily clutter at bay with a daily tidy up routine.
For some people, this works best in the evening before you wind down for the night. You can put everything away and know that it’ll be clear and tidy for you to start the next day fresh. For others, a morning tidy up works best. Try both and see which fits into your routine smoothly.
Stay dedicated to your clutter free home
Next time your home feels overtaken by clutter or you know it’s time to have a refresh, keep these tips in mind. They’ll help you stay focused on the end goal and help you create positive habits that keep your home clutter-free.
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