Your house always seems to be overrun with clutter. How can you get control of it? Take a look at these four ways to minimize it.
1. Purge the Mess
Sometimes, clutter is a sign that you’re hoarding too much stuff. So, if you want to minimize clutter, you should sort through the items in every room and find what to throw away.
How can you start this purge? If you’re not sure where to start, you can use the KonMari method—this is the method from famous home organizer Marie Kondo. A major element of the KonMari method is asking yourself if an item sparks joy in you. If it doesn’t, you should let it go.
Another decluttering method you could try is the four container method. This method wants you to go through your items and sort them into four containers. Each container represents what you intend to do with the items:
- Throw them in the garbage
- Sell them or donate them to charity
- Put them into storage
- Keep them where they are
2. Upgrade Your Furniture
Big, bulky furniture can take up a lot of floorspace and make your rooms feel cluttered and claustrophobic. If you want your rooms to feel neater, you should upgrade your furniture.
What should you get? Start by getting convertible items like the Transformer Table dining set. The dining set has adjustable panels that can help you expand the table to fit up to twelve dinner guests. When you’re not having a lot of company over for dinner, you can remove those panels and shrink down the table. It will take up as much space as you want it to!
3. Add More Storage
Clutter happens when your items don’t have proper storage spaces. Of course, you’ll have a pile of dirty clothes on the floor when you don’t have laundry hampers to shove it in. Of course, you’ll have piles of papers and books on your desk when you don’t have a proper bookshelf or filing cabinet in your home office. You can minimize clutter by implementing more storage spaces in your home.
How can you implement more storage opportunities?
- Put up floating shelves, ladder shelves and corner shelves.
- Add coat hooks to walls and doors.
- Use pegboards and pot racks to store kitchen tools.
- Use wicker baskets and cubbies to store blankets and throw pillows.
4. Create a Drop Zone
A lot of clutter happens when you first walk through the front door. You’ll grab mail from the mailbox when you first walk in and toss it onto the nearest coffee table. You’ll drop your bag onto the floor. Maybe you’ll empty your pockets and put a bunch of crumpled receipts, loose change and keys onto a countertop. All of this clutter can be avoided with a “drop zone.”
A drop zone is a designated spot in your entrance where you can take off and store your things. Here’s what should be in your drop zone:
- A shallow bowl for keys and loose change.
- A tray for mail that you will open later.
- A coat rack to hang your coats, bags and other accessories.
- A shoe rack to store your shoes and boots.
These tips will help you get control of clutter from this point forward. Follow them and enjoy your space!
