How To's How to Stop Clutter in Your Home 11/20/2019 Share Eliminating clutter in a home is such an ongoing battle. The mail get dropped off. Kids come home with a million papers from school. Purses, hats, jackets and shoes come off and on multiple times a day. And then the counters…..they are the ultimate hot spot for clutter! How do you stop the madness? We want to help you avoid the craziness of clutter, so we are sharing our tried and true methods that help stop the everyday clutter. Source: Studio McGee Organize the Drop Zones Where do you put your purse when you walk in the door? What about shoes? What about your keys? What about your kid’s backpacks and jackets? These areas are called drop zones and they are key to running a clutter-free home. Designating a spot for a drop zone isn’t enough, it needs to be organized with a specific place for everything. Have enough hooks to hang your purses, jackets and backpacks. A shoe rack, basket or tray for shoes is a must so shoes aren’t taking over the floor. Add a bowl, basket or tray for keys, phones and loose change. Take an inventory of everything that collects at the drop zones and make sure you have enough storage items, baskets and hooks to organize every single one or you will keep running into the same problem of clutter. When you have a specific place for everything when you walk in the door, it sets the tone for a clutter-free and organized home beyond that drop zone. $2,395 pottery barn Shop Now $33.99 target Shop Now $16.99 target Shop Now Source: Studio Munge Create a System for Filing Paperwork Managing paperwork is more than placing a stack of papers nice and neatly in a tray. It is about having a system of what you do with those papers that eliminates the clutter. All of the mail, bills, schoolwork, receipts that come home on a daily basis should be addressed at a specific time. Not everyone will have the same system, so do what is best for you but establishing a system is key. Pick a time that you will sort and file the papers. It could be done as soon as the papers come in the house, in the morning before work or school or at night before you go to bed. If you set aside a certain time of day to address papers, you will establish a habit of eliminating excessive paperwork. Also, make sure your filing system is easily accessible and labeled so it is convenient to file or sort. This is a major factor to help you stay on track on the clutter of paperwork. $27.95 crate & barrel Shop Now $16.19 target Shop Now $21.99 the container store Shop Now Source: Target Gather and Group Loose Items Everyday clutter is usually found on tabletops and countertops so our best tip is to keep those places as clear as possible. The best way to do this is by gathering loose items and grouping them together. You can group them together by placing them all on a decorative tray or in a box, bowl or basket. For an extra uncluttered look, group in boxes or baskets with lids to hide the stuff inside. Try and keep the grouping to no more than 3 items or else you will create an extra cluttering problem. Drop zones are a great place to group and gather keys, loose change, sunglasses, etc. Nightstands and dressers are another spot where you can group and gather loose jewelry, change, phones, candles, etc. Kitchen counters are another perfect place for this concept. $41.30 west elm Shop Now $45 one kings lane Shop Now Source: The Everygirl Get Rid of Stuff Marie Kondo taught the world this exact concept in her life changing book The Life- Changing Magic of Tidying Up and we 100% agree with her. Your home should be filled with items you love and keeping things you don’t love or absolutely need are just adding to the clutter of your home. Sometimes keeping things “just in case” can cause clutter because it just sits there not serving a purpose. The problem with this is that it usually it isn’t just 1 item that collected dust, it is a lot of little things throughout the home. Our biggest tip to avoid clutter is to donate, sell or throw away something the moment you realize you aren’t using it. Take a weekly or monthly inventory of your clothes, linens, old decor and kitchen items to see what you can get rid of. Doing this only once a year will end up being a large task and creating more everyday clutter, so try and get in the habit of noticing what needs to go sooner. There you go, our best secrets to stop the everyday clutter. But we have ONE MORE TIP…….create a habit of it. It is easy to implement these tips and then not follow through after a week or month. Create a habit of eliminating the clutter everyday by keeping up with these systems that you are implementing! This post may contain affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. All opinions and recommendations are our own.