4 clutter-buster hacks (for the clutterbugs in your home)featured
Live with a clutterbug? Messy Bessie? Person who, quite literally, leaves a trail of breadcrumb-like clutter throughout your home? (Me too.)
Listen, I’m no marriage counselor, but I think it’s safe to say that IT IS AN IRREFUTABLE FACT THAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE SOMEONE.
That said, you also don’t have to live in a pigsty to keep the peace.
Some people- ahem, some people- legitimately don’t see clutter. (And if when they do see it, they really don’t mind. It boggles some of us.)
So, in the interest of saving your favorite relationships, here are four tried n’ true actions to encourage household-wide harmony.
Or at least discourage rats’ nests.
Use “up n’ down” baskets
This term was coined by my 4 year-old when he was a newly walking, talking, mobilizing force to be reckoned with. When he required carting or just general picking up, he would politely demand “UpANDdown,” which a) covers all bases if you really think about it, and b) sounds vaguely German. Place these baskets by stairwells, front and back doors, and anywhere gear gets flung. Ideally, this is where odds and ends will reside until the boxes/baskets get filled and then redistributed to their actual homes. (I said “ideally.”)
Everything has a home
If it’s terribly important, it gets a home. ONE home. If it’s not in its home when you desperately need it, well then, it probably will be next time, amiright? Backpacks live on their hooks, work folders live inside those backpacks. And say it with me in your best Mom Voice: Umbrella not returned to the umbrella spot in the coat closet? Ah well, you’re gonna get wet.
Another biggie in our home: Keys go in a key basket in the cabinet next to our door. Always. As soon as we open the door, the keys go home to their little basket. Forever. Until the next time. (Be an absolute jerk about this one. Ain’t no one got time to look for an adult’s keychain in a laundry basket.)
Zero tolerance for counter clutter
You know the whole “choose your battles” thing? Choose this as your battle. Regardless of what’s going on with unmade beds, orphaned shoes, or that smell coming from the washing machine, make this one a priority. Get all hands on deck to clear belongings, paper scraps, kitchen accoutrements, and ponytail holders from the countertops (multiple times a day, if needed). Because guess what? When the counter’s clear, it sends a nice li’l love note to the brain that everything’s a-ok. And clean counters beget clean entryways and clean…everything else in the house. (And even if not, it’s a nice little hack to make it look like your kitchen’s clean, regardless of how sticky your floors are.)
No, it’s not brain-washing, it’s a GENTLE REMINDER.
Use a secret weapon
My nomination for the most helpful household ally ever, ever, ever– is the Tile Mate. It’s a bluetooth sensor that goes on your wallet, your keychain, your left shoe…and, when activated by your phone’s app, plays a cheerful “get it together, kid” tune on the missing object. I almost bought an entire family pack of these (for P.J. alone).
Think of it like a personal assistant in the morning, helping get everyone out the door with (roughly) everything they need for the day. Think of it as your buddy in the trenches, whispering up to you “Yes, I agree that was a terrible place to momentarily deposit a wallet- what were they thinking? Shh. Shh.”
And think of it as the ultimate secret weapon in staving off the mental clutter of losing your shiz so early in the day.
Are you now, or have you ever been, a clutterbug?
Comment below!
