Cluttered homes lead to cluttered minds, and no one wants to live in a place that doesn’t feel relaxing or supportive. Clutter has a nasty habit of seeming to pop up out of nowhere as time goes on. Even if you try to be clean, the little messes tend to pile up quicker than you can deal with them until you’re buried in the clutter. Because it’s so important that our homes be a place where we can feel safe and comfortable, we want you to know how to prevent clutter from building up in your home.
Schedule Regular Purges
Almost everyone is familiar with spring cleaning, but you can’t get by with only an annual deep clean. The clutter will get out of control by then. You need to schedule a few times throughout the month or year when you go through and get rid of what you don’t need. Whether you dump it all into trash bags or donate useful items to a place like the Purple Heart Pickup, it’s a good idea to do frequent purges.
Don’t Keep Things Without a Proper Place
One of the reasons that clutter starts to build up is because things come into your life, and you don’t have a place to live. When you get items like these, you tend just to throw them wherever they might fit. A good rule of thumb is that unless you know exactly where something will go in your house, you don’t need it. Don’t bring in new items if you can’t immediately think of a good place for them.
Go Paperless Wherever Possible
Drowning a bit in paper is fairly common nowadays, but it’s a pretty archaic way of dealing with things like bills and communication. One of the best ways to prevent clutter from building up in your home is to switch to paperless options wherever possible. Not only is it good for the environment, but you also won’t have to deal with mountains of paper that you’re afraid to throw away in case you somehow, someday need them.
Rethink Items Before Bringing Them In
The best way to tackle a problem is to stop it from becoming a problem in the first place. If you struggle with clutter popping up all over the place, be more cognizant of anything you bring inside your home. Everything that goes through your front door could turn into clutter if you’re not careful, so take some extra time to think about the items you want to bring in. You’ll often find that you don’t really need a lot of those items at all, and tossing them right away will save you some cleaning later on.
