How Clutter Sneaks Into Your Home
Clutter is sneaky. A simple freebie from the store or a hand-me-down from a friend can pile up around your home. Suddenly you're overwhelmed by the amount of things around your house.
The easiest way to declutter your home, is to stop it from entering through your front door. Here are some ways things sneak inside and how to stop it so your home stays organized:
1. Over Purchasing-It can be tempting to cash in on that 2 for 1 deal or buying in bulk from Costco. However, unless you know you will use it AND you have a permanent, designated space to store it, HALT! I recommend only buying what you need, and replenishing only as you need to.
2. Don’t Window Shop- this leads to buying unnecessary items, which will take up space in your home. If you’re one of those people who likes to window shop or thrift, follow the one in one out rule. For every one thing that comes into your home you need to let one other thing of equal or greater size go.
3.Gifts/hand me downs-Things like this can be tough because you don’t want to be rude and turn down a gift. You feel guilty getting rid of things that somebody spent money on for you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with giving away a gift or some hand me downs to someone in need. There are other people who are in great need of those things.
4. Mail/Packaging-I encourage you to create some new habits surrounding mail and packages. When the mail comes in, stop right when you get it. Pull out the things that you know you need to handle. Then take it out of the envelope and put it in the recycling bin along with the spam mail right there before it comes in your house. Same for packages. Open it right when it comes in your house (make sure you don’t need to send it back using the box for whatever reason) and take that box right back out to the recycling bin. Then you’re done you don’t have to worry about it again. Create a station for handling mail so that you can put things there until you are ready to handle it.
Kait Hilton is a Home and Business Organizer located in the Washington, DC Area. HARMONie helps takes the stress out of life through organization. Are you feeling overwhelmed? Click on our contact page to schedule your free consultation!
