The One Thing Standing IN Your Way For A Clutter-Free Home

I think the main reason most people get hung up when it comes to decluttering their homes is because of storage. Many people try to keep too much of the same kinds of things, so they will buy extra hutches, drawers, totes, baskets, etc., to hold all their stuff - they have no limit to the amount of stuff they choose to keep....

 Let me explain. 

 If you have an office, you have paper clutter. Most people have at least one filing cabinet and a desk, but still have too much paper. So, they will buy another filing cabinet and in a few years, still have too much paper clutter....

The same thing with our closets and dressers. We all usually have one of each. We fill them full and overflowing. Then we have clothes in baskets, sitting on chairs, lying on the floor, and our drawers and shelves are running over.... most of us go buy storage containers... we fill them with seasonal clothes, or too big, or too small clothes, or clothes that we used to love, but are out of style, etc. And in the end, we still have too many clothes.

The same can be said about dishes.... We have kitchen cupboards full of dishes. we buy a china hutch to keep our nice dishes in. We keep plastic cups from ball games, dishes that Great Aunt Bertha gave to you, dishes that were gifts, old dishes, ugly dishes, and dishes that are too good to use because we don't want them to get broken. Some people start putting dishes in other closets and cupboards, and some people go out and buy another china hutch to store their dishes in.

The same could be said about every other area of stuff in our homes and lives....

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There is a solution....

We all know that every item needs to have a home. But do you know that each home is a boundary itself?

Lets take the paper clutter in the office. The home for the paper and office supplies is the desk and the one filing cabinet. No more. So when you go through your papers, you keep the most important papers and put them in their home. When the desk and filing cabinet is full - the rest gets tossed. It's that simple. The home for that item is full. There is no more room. The desk and filing cabinet is the boundary. 

With the clothes in the closet, the dresser and closet is the clothes home and the boundary. Start by saving your most favorite clothes and when the dresser and closet is full. You have reached the limit. Donate the rest. Don't second guess yourself, you already have your most favorite clothes in their home. Be ruthless. You're clothes have a home and the home is full. 

Before we started decluttering our life, I had a large closet and a large dresser full of clothes, I had three storage containers under the bed, and two extra large totes full of clothes in my closet. I also had the entire shelf in my closet full of clothes. I always had clothes on the floor of my closet and laying on my bedroom chair.... I simply had TOO MANY CLOTHES!

 I now share a dresser with my husband, which I have one drawer of clothes. I do not have any clothes in totes, none. I do not have clothes on my closet shelf. And I no longer have clothes laying on the closet floor, or hung over the bedroom chair. My clothes have a home and stay within the boundaries of that home and that is freeing to me. My closet and bedroom stay clean, I wear and love all the clothes I have, and there is no more clothes clutter.

Now, to the dishes.... do you have Twenty Seven Special Dishes?  Take all your dishes out of the cupboards and china hutch and any where else that you keep them. Get rid of all the plastic, mismatched dishes. Decide that your cupboards (and maybe a china hutch) will be your boundary. Start by keeping the dishes that you use and love. I personally have to have my dishes stack nicely too - odds and ends get donated. Get rid of the ugly everyday dishes and keep the dishes that make you happy. Get rid of all the fancy china that you never use. Let go of Great Aunt Bertha's dishes that you are holding onto out of guilt. Donate it all. When the cupboards are full - the boundaries have been met... everything else goes.

Pick one drawer, one box, one dresser, one desk, etc. - make it fit. Start by keeping what you love the most... when the drawer is full, the rest gets donated. It really is that simple!

You don’t have to do it perfectly for it to be better.