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When it comes to space there never seems to be enough of it.  Everywhere that you turn something seems to be there.  The shelves are full, the closets are jammed and you haven’t seen the basement floor in years.  Yep, the amount of stuff that one can collect over just a short period of time can be incredible.  Just ask anyone who has ever moved, they will certainly be able to tell you about all the junk that they collected and either had to pack or throw out.  It’s a simple fact, most people just have to much clutter.

Fixing your clutter problem is not easy, but it can be done!  Returning your home to a clutter free living space is a three part process.

Solving the Clutter Problem:

First, you need to understand what clutter is, only by defining it will you be able to see what it is and begin to understand how to correct it.  Then once you understand exactly what clutter is, it’s crucial to understand why so much of it continues to collect in your home, very often despite all attempts to correct the problem.  Then the last step in dealing with clutter is figuring out what to do with all that you have already accumulated.

So let’s begin; the dictionary tells us that clutter is “a crowded or confused mass or collection.”  I think that sums it up pretty well except something should be mentioned about clutter having a negative connotation.  The fact that one even refers to an overabundance of stuff as clutter signifies that they look upon it as negative and that it doesn’t belong in their home.  One other thing that needs to be mentioned here is that clutter is different for different people.  What bothers one person many be perfectly fine for another.

Obviously, the reason that clutter even exists is because we accumulate things that we do not know what to do with and probably should not have acquired in the first place.  Why we accumulate all this stuff varies from person to person, but one very common reason is over spending and simply buying more than we need.  Clutter also becomes a problem when something no longer has a purpose, yet we continue to hold on to it.

Clutter is Emotional:

The real reason for clutter however is emotional.  Why we accumulate and develop an attachment causing us to hold on to more things than we need is what needs to be addressed.  Although the reason varies from person to person, some common reasons include fear, guilt and depression as well as ADD and ADHD.  The trick to solving your clutter problem is to determine why you clutter.  Only once you begin to understand what clutter is and that it is a symptom of something that is much deeper on an emotional level can you begin to have an uncluttered home.

To actually rid your home of clutter begin setting goals.  Take a look around each of the rooms in your home and then spend some time making a list of what needs to be done. Does the closet need to be cleaned out?  Do the shelves need to be emptied out?  Spend some time picturing in your mind what the room will look like when you are done.  Also, don’t forget to have a realistic deadline to get the work done - you do not want to procrastinate either.

Next, taking one room at a time, designate three separate areas on the floor.  Call these areas things to throw out, things to save and things to donate. Then with your goals in hand, go through each cluttered area and carefully decide which group every item belongs to.   Once you have removed the groups to be donated and thrown out, it’s time to organize what is left.  Take the remaining items and store similar items together.  Additional shelving and closet organizers will work great for getting stuff up off the floor and out of the way.  Plastic storage bins also work well, just make sure that you don’t just throw everything into a bin and then clutter your space with bins.

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unclutter your home

One last thing, along with setting goals you will need to establish new habits.  Two very common habits of a person who accumulates more than they need are excess shopping and procrastination.  Take a long look inside; do you have any habits that may be contributing to this problem?  Remember that they are linked to your emotions, which once corrected will solve the habit and the clutter problem as well.

Conclusion:

It’s not easy to rid a home of clutter.  Having too much stuff is a much deeper problem than just needing to dispose of accumulated stuff.  Clutter is actually caused by an emotional problem which varies from person to person.  Only once the emotional problem is solved will the clutter habit end.

Do you have a story about how you got rid of or solved your unwanted clutter problem? We would love to hear it – just post away in the comments area.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm and is filed under maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.