Clutter Hotspots…doesn’t happen overnight.
Interior Designer Jeanette Knudsen has invited me to create blog posts around her beautiful graphics, which will feature a series of organizing tips over the next few months. Visit her website at www.designforalife.yourmarketingcoachonline.com for more tips and great design ideas from this amazing designer. Her company, Design for a Lifespan specializes in redesigning and remodeling projects to help the senior population “age in place.” Call 480-695-1360 for more information.
Some people claim that clutter happens overnight, but normally that is not really the case. In fact, clutter creeps in slowly, but often at a consistent pace. It is kind of like gaining weight – ten pounds does not appear overnight, but instead comes on a little bit at a time.
In working with my organizing clients these are the things some potential clutter hotspots:
Entryway – shoes, jackets, backpacks, schoolwork
Kitchen counter – mail, magazines and catalogs, circulars, junk mail, paperwork, homework
Coffee table – remote controls, magazines, toys, electronics
Closet floor– shoes, purses, clothes (some worn, some not worn), hats, out of season clothing
Desk – bills, mail, filing, important documents, magazines, periodicals, printouts from the web
Kids’ rooms – dirty clothes, outgrown clothes, toys and games, school work, sports equipment
Garage – sports equipment, broken items, unwanted or overflow items from the house, camping and outdoors equipment, rags, holiday décor, boxes of miscellaneous junk
How to Eliminate or Reduce the Clutter Hotspots:
1) Identify life flow habits. If you consistently walk in with the mail and drop it on the kitchen counter, change your habits and create a temporary holding bin/basket to “contain” the paperwork
2) If shoes get kicked off immediately and there is no hope of getting all the way to the bedroom closet with them, create a shoe station just outside the door (not inside the house). Think mudroom concept. Walking in to a space full of shoes is unwelcoming, unsightly, and sometimes stinky. The only lasting way to make this problem go away is to adopt good habits.
3) Process piles each day, or at least once per week
4) Place a plant or decoration in the “dump zone”
5) Place a decorative wooden box on coffee table to hold remote or consider a coffee table with drawers or slots for bins underneath
6) Be diligent and consistent about purging and processing piles
If you need help setting up organizational systems that support you, your family, or your business, contact Andrea Brundage, Professional Organizer & Bringer of Calm. Visit www.ProfessionalOrganizerAZ.com for a free gift. Simple Organized Solutions offers virtual and group coaching as well as in-person hands-on organizing. For more information, call (480) 382-1085.