How to Control Clutter

by Brian Simkins

Is clutter taking over your house? There have been a rash of reality television shows recently about home organization. They often show organizational experts walking through homes that just have small trails for walking and negotiating the mountains of clutter that have accumulated over the years. While you may not yet find yourself needing a roadmap to get through your own living room, you should get it under control before the mess reaches those proportions. With a little time, investment, and some good planning you can begin to wade through your past and start working towards your future.

Getting Started

The first step in any project that involves organization is deciding what stays and what goes. If you are combating clutter problems, then there is a pretty good chance that you may be a bit of a pack rat. It can be hard to let go of things that have sentimental value, but there many things that we hold on too that we simply don’t need. When was the last time that you pulled out the payment stub from a water bill you paid in March of 1984? Exactly, you don’t need that stuff. For some reason though, many folks have trouble letting stuff like that go. The best way to start weeding things out is to make three piles.

The first pile is for trash. These are things that you haven’t used for at least a year and that you can’t honestly say that you’ll use within the next 6 months.

The second pile is what I like to call the “eBay pile.” This pile is for items that are still in good and workable condition but that you will never use again. Instead of trashing them, you might as well sell them and make a few extra bucks. You can even use that money to buy the organizational tools that you’ll use in some later steps. Won’t it feel good to know that your trash paid for its own clean up?

The last pile is the keeper pile. This is stuff that you really need in order to function. The goal is to get the keeper pile down to a manageable size. The first time that you sort through everything you will most likely find that the keeper pile is by far the largest. You didn’t get into this predicament because you like to throw things away. After the first time through, make a conscious effort to go through the keeper pile again and cut it in half. Now you’re starting to make a dent in the junk that’s been cluttering up your life.

Solutions

Now is a better time than ever for pack rats to begin getting organized. If you watch television at all, then you’ve seen the commercials and know that the major home improvement retailers are in the middle of home storage solutions war. They are trying frantically trying to out do each other in pricing points and product selection. This war is good for you as a consumer. It means that you can get better home organization supplies for less money than ever before. Now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity.

As you wander the aisles looking for the best solution, don’t just buy what seems like it’s cheap. Take the time to think about the functional qualities that you need from your storage solution. Are you going to need to store books, shoes, hang up clothes, paper files, and collectible knacks? Each of these things requires a different type of system. Don’t just settle for buying a shelf. You will just end up stacking more junk on it and be right back where you started in no time. Buy storage solutions that meet your specific needs so that you feel like using them correctly. That is how you begin to think and act like an organized person.

The Big Day

Well, you’ve sorted out all your stuff and made a trip to the dump. You’ve taken all of those old business files that you don’t use everyday and put them into a self-storage facility so that you don’t have to look at them, and you’ve made a nice little chunk of change selling some of your old stuff. Now you just to set aside a day and attack your house with a vengeance. Here’s how to get it done.

First, make sure that you have all of the supplies that you could possibly need on hand before you begin. All of the tools necessary to assemble your storage solutions should be accessible and all necessary hardware should be accounted for. You don’t want to have to break your rhythm once you get started.

The second point, and this is vital, it to not stop. Once you get going just keep pushing on until you are done. If you quit and promise to come back to it later, it is very likely that you will clutter up the unfinished areas before you have a chance to get back to it. If that happens, then you are just going to re-build Mount Trashmore. Plus, once you stop, it’s hard to get going again. Maybe you should consider having a friend join you for the day and to help. Even if they don’t know how you want stuff put away its great to have someone there to lend moral support.

Before you know it, you will begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. You will suddenly realize that you are able to breathe and that you remember where you put things. The bottom line is that nothing makes you want to keep a clean house as much as having a house that is already clean.

You may also be surprised to find how much clearer your own head is once you get your home organized. Many psychologists mark a direct correlation between the clutter in people’s homes and how it mirrors the clutter in their minds. Maybe the best thing for your mental well being is to simplify the place that you live. Getting organized and getting a grip on your past is a great way to get started.

Brian Simkins is a freelance writer living in Chicago. He enjoys using his 14 years of home improvement experience to educate and equip new home owners.