When it comes to the organization of our homes, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. A drawer that you occasionally throw loose items into becomes a drawer that’s been collecting junk for ten years. Closets become so packed that some are better left unopened, and the mere act of getting dressed in the morning seems like an insurmountable task. Living rooms – especially after children – become so cluttered that they more closely resemble the aftermath of a tsunami than a scene from Good Housekeeping.
We all know that the secret to happiness, at least in our homes, is very closely related to being as clutter free as possible. But where do we start?
Gretchen Rubin, the bestselling author of The Happiness Project, spent a year trying to be happier. A big portion of her time was spent de-cluttering her home, and she suggests these three simple strategies for tackling your own clutter.
Find a Home for Everything
Resist the urge to keep a junk drawer for everything you’re not quite sure what to do with. If you have items that you have no logical home, then get rid of them! Knowing exactly where everything is will remove a major source of frustration and add a sense of orderliness to your home.
The One-Minute Clean Up
If you can do something in one minute – throwing away junk mail, hanging up your coat – don’t procrastinate. Little things add up, so do one-minute tasks immediately.
Organize Shelf By Shelf
Instead of looking at your home and wondering how to tackle everything, start with one shelf. The next time you have some time, look at one shelf or surface, and decide what to keep, throw away, or relocate to a better area. Having one shelf on your to-do list is always going to be more a manageable task than your entire house.
Keep One Empty Shelf
Once you’ve found a permanent home for everything you own, try to keep one shelf empty. Don’t buy random items to place there and don’t let junk pile up there. Just keep one shelf blissfully empty. Think of it as a physical representation of the space you’ve created in your brain by getting rid of junk!
As Gretchen Rubin wrote in The Happiness Project, “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” The key to finally becoming clutter free is to do these small tasks every day!