De-Cluttering

Messy Table with Blank Note and Tools at workplace, Top view

There is an awful lot of talk going on about de-cluttering these days. We talk about freeing space, having less, doing more. Strangely enough advertisers use these buzz words to sell us more stuff.

What do we really mean?

De-cluttering is simply removing that which doesn’t belong in a space and either putting it where it does belong in your home, mind, life or removing it.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone (even the most organized person) can use some de-cluttering from time to time.

I have several places I stash stuff – well, maybe 3 (if I’m being honest).

One is my office. I have wonderful hiding places in my office. By that I mean, it looks really tidy and organized but beneath the surface (in some of the drawers, in the office closet, and on some of the shelves) there are many things which don’t belong. Sometimes these things bother me and when they do I take care of the little odds and ends that I’ve stashed out of sight.

The second place is on the desk in the kitchen. This desk came with the house. One day, I hope, I’ll remodel the kitchen and remove this built in desk. It is a great landing spot. The problem with it is that stuff accumulates there because that is where things land when I walk into my house. Magazines sit there, as well as other random items.

Right now, I have a couple of dog collars sitting on the desk. I ordered them and they arrived. Now they are waiting for me to switch out the old collars and replace them with the new ones. This is a task I have a challenging time completing. I have to take the tags off the old collars first, then put the tags on the new collars and fit the collars to the dogs. It’s time consuming and difficult for me to manage. It would be done in a flash if I asked a friend to do it for me. I simply have not made that a priority.

The third place is in a chest of drawers in the family room. This is a large chest of drawers. It has three small drawers across the top followed by three very long and deep drawers. I store my wrapping paper and ribbon in the large drawers. The three drawers at the top have a wide variety of things: scissors, tape, tags, small gift boxes, random gifts, and remnants of ribbon, wrapping paper, and bubble wrap. I never really know what I’m going to find in these drawers other than it is usually gift related.

I can easily conquer the organizing issues in these three spots. I can make my family room chest of drawers as neat and tidy on the inside as it is on the outside. I can schedule time with a friend to help me with the dog collars and recycle the magazines if I don’t want to read them. I can also spend 30 minutes or so tidying the little stash spots in my office. For me, it’s simply a matter of scheduling the time with myself and making these things a priority.

For others, decluttering is not so simple. In the coming weeks I’m going to be writing about different strategies to use to declutter different areas in your home. This is not to say that it will ever be a truly simple matter. However; employing one or more of the strategies may help make the decluttering and organizing process a little easier.

Do you have certain spots in your home that you KNOW are hot spots for clutter in your home?