How To Organize Your Clutter
We've all had the experience of walking into a home (ours or someone else's) and feeling like chaos reigns. This is often accompanied by shrieking or crying children, barking dogs, frustrated and yelling adults. Sound like home?
When is "clutter" not "clutter?" When it's organized.
The scenario is the same - all over the world. A home with children and pets is often a chaotic, clutter-zone. It doesn't seem to matter how old the kids are - teenagers can be more work than toddlers. As one who is a veteran in this department, I can attest to the fact that this is a war without end.
While my children now appear to be responsible homeowner's and parents, I smile when I hear my grandkids giving them fits because toys are left all over, nobody wants to clean the cat litter box, and things get misplaced or lost.
How to Declutter Kids Toys
Kids are the ultimate clutter machine. They'll attach themselves to the grimiest, tackiest toy in the box and refuse to give it up even if it's falling apart.
I've seen kids' rooms that are so cluttered and messy, there's scarcely room to walk. Clutter like that is hazardous to your health - and theirs.
When it's too painful to yank old toys out from under the kid's nose, try the "out of sight, out of mind" method.
Gather them up and put them in a box. Leave the box in the hallway for a couple of days, next to an exit door. Then, if they haven't been retrieved, move the box into the garage. Leave it there for a week or two. When the coast is clear, you can then recycle the toys. Kind of sneaky? Yes. Sometimes parents just have to be. Just don't advertise it.
Keep Like Items Together
In my home, the dog rules. Even though the cat is clearly smarter, the dog is king. For one thing, he's louder and more demanding.
A favorite doggie pastime is retrieving slippers from the bedroom and then dropping them in the living room. He then "protects" them from intruders until he tires of the game and wanders off, without putting the slippers back.
Then he begs obnoxiously for a doggie biscuit and, when successful with the starving dog routine, takes and hides the darned thing behind the couch. He'll repeat that action until his human wises up and discovers there are ten doggie biscuits stashed around the room. Combined with a couple pairs of slippers, a half dozen squeaky toys, and a paper bag he's ripped up, the living room is full of clutter and looks like a disaster area.
A rule of thumb for clutter organizing is to keep like items together. So, whether it's dog toys, cat toys, or kid toys, keep them separate as far as ownership is concerned, put dog toys with dog toys, and kid toys with kid toys. And don't worry about the cat's toys. They never stay long in the same place.
Organized Chaos = Organized Clutter
We can't say it often enough: A place for everything and everything in its place.
If it's out of place, whether it's your watch, your retainer, or your favorite magazine and not where it belongs, it's clutter.
Obviously, these are valuable and useable items and you aren't going to trash them. But you can keep them organized by keeping them where they belong. You are the one who determines that.
Organizing your clutter transforms it from being useless junk into it's proper role in your life. Watches and rings are not like empty cans of soda. They should be thrown away or taken to a recycling station. Your jewelry needs to be consistently returned to a proper place where you can find it when you want it. But if it's laying on an end table next to the empty soda can, it's all clutter.
