Welcome to ‘Day 4’ in the month long series of articles cataloging
  Simple Organizing Solutions!  

 If you’ve been reading from the beginning, you’ve hopefully already gotten the right mindset and motivation needed to get organized, zeroed in on one small area to focus your efforts, and have begun narrowing down your belongings to what what you love, use and actually have the room to store. 

Now, it’s time to address the fact that even when you’ve moved out the excess, CLUTTER can and will still build up. 

  CLUTTER:  “to fill or cover with scattered or disordered things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness.”

What is the source of the problem of items ending up scattered and disorderly?

Belongings don’t have a ‘HOME’.

That’s right, each and every item in your spaces should have a specific place to ‘live’ or ‘land’ when not in active use.

Any ‘homeless’ items will almost certainly become clutter.  And, you know something else about clutter?  It has seemingly magnetic powers….where one ‘homeless’ item happens to land, others will surely follow.   First, small pockets of clutter will develop where items that don’t have a distinct place to belong – the most common?  Paper of all sorts, small toys, tool and/or remotes, office/school supplies.  Those small pockets slowly become piles over time, and more often than not, if not dealt with, those piles eventually either all get stuffed together in a box, closet, or even an entire room because you simply want to get it OUT.

Wouldn’t it be great if you stopped that build-up before it even began??

You would not have the stress about all that messy build-up staring you in the face, nor the dread of how to deal with it when it reaches an overwhelming state.

If you’re determined to CUT the CLUTTER in your home or office – start by observing which items do not have a specific place to ‘live’ within your space.  In the effort to KEEP IT SIMPLE, just begin with this observation step, for starters.  Make a bullet point list of any items that are laying around that don’t have a certain place they ‘ought’ to be.

Now, if you observe that your space is completely over-run by clutter, you’ll need to first sort through your items, grouping like things together in distinct areas/containers so you’ll have a better idea just how many ‘homes’ will eventually need to be created.

OR, you can call always on me for aid!   I’d be more than happy to coach and guide you through the whole process, cheering you on and keeping motivation and momentum up when the going gets tough. 

It’s also a good practice to begin considering to yourself, “Where will this item ‘live?”  Before even making a purchase or accepting a hand-me-down of any sort.