Clutter Management-How to Avoid Creating Clutter
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How to Avoid Creating Clutter

The role of planning in clutter creation is important because you can take a very large bite out of your clutter problem if you zero in on bad planning assumptions.  Here's a list of key clutter creation factors and their solutions:

Factor One:  Too Much Stuff Overall

If you can’t fit any more clothes into drawers, shirts into closets, food onto the shelves, etc., then clutter will build up.  It has to.  You don’t have anywhere to put things.

Solutions Set a Goal for 15-25% Slack in All Storage Spaces Buy More Multi-Purpose Items Even if They Cost More Money

Factor Two:  Not Having Assigned Places for Things

If some days you open your mail and leave it on the kitchen counter and others leave it in the living room, you will have clutter.  If your children leave their coats out on the couch, you will have clutter.

Solutions Everything which comes into your home or which stays in your home should have an assigned place. Everyone in the family needs little routines for sorting the mail, putting away coats, and shoes, etc., and the routine should specify where things go.

Factor Three:  Buying Things without Deciding Where to Store Them

If you buy things without deciding on where to keep them, you will have clutter.  Typically, you will find a “temporary holding place”, also know as a “pile”, to store the new thing until you later find it a permanent home.  With that, you have instantly created clutter.  If instead you just put the new item into your existing storage, you will hurt the effectiveness of your existing storage.

Solutions Decide where to Keep a New Item before Acquiring It If the New Item Replaces an Old Item, Immediately Get Rid of the Old Item

Factor Four:  Not Putting Things Away When Finished With Them

If you don’t put things away immediately after you are finished with them, you will have clutter.

Solutions Put Stuff from the Old Project Away Before Starting the New One When you take the wrapper off a food item, strip of plastic off of cold cuts, etc., don't put them on the counter.  Put them in the trash, now

Factor Five:   Not Getting Rid of Things Routinely

If you wait for big clutter binges to deal with old, worn out, ill fitting, seldom used, or no longer needed items, you will have clutter.  If you buy something for a project, have leftovers, and save the leftovers for some unknown future project, you will have clutter.

Solutions Routinely Get Rid of Worn, Poorly Fitting, or Under-used Items If the New Item Replaces an Old Item, Immediately Get Rid of the Old Item Consider throwing away excess materials from projects

Factor Six:  Buying Excessively Large Quantities

If you buy the super duper 97 pack for every item in your home, Sam’s Club will love you, but, you will run out of storage and have clutter.  You may think you are saving money, but, there’s an offsetting cost to your peace of mind.

Solution Buy Smaller Quantities

In a nutshell, the way to avoid clutter is to first address the assumptions you have for running your home.  If you have some of the above patterns going on, then, yes, you have a behavior issue, but, an even more important problem is that you are starting out each day with the deck stacked against you.  Addressing some or all of the above factors can dramatically reduce the scope of your clutter challenges.  You'll be able to convince yourself that the amount of clutter in your home will stay the same or shrink over time.  With this prospect, your morale will improve and you'll probably find it much easier to work on any particular behaviors that have been creating clutter in your home.