Tidy less, declutter more….

Do you feel like you spend hours working on your house, but the piles of clutter just never get any smaller?!

It’s possible you’re confusing “clutter” with what I’ll call “everyday mess.”

Now, if this sounds like a semantic argument, sure, it is, but it’s also hugely important for both prioritizing and mindset – both of which are, in turn, critical to your success at reducing the clutter that’s bothering you!

Today in Part I, we’re going to look specifically at how this affects our priorities as we look for time to declutter.

First, let’s define “everyday mess” and “clutter.”

Clutter: That pile at the end of the kitchen counter that’s been there for…days? Months? You’re only vaguely aware it’s even there, until you need to set down a pot and there’s no space. You have no idea what might be in that pile, and you probably wouldn’t think to look there for that very important paper that’s missing.

Everyday mess: That collection of 11 glasses (for 4 people…), a math textbook, 6 writing utensils, a stapler, a ball, and a half-finished bowl of cereal that are on the kitchen table – the same table that was more or less clear just this morning.

Clutter is any object living rent-free in your home that isn’t pulling its own weight, so to speak (the little jerk).

Everyday mess is the maintenance of life. It’s obnoxious at best, and demoralizing at worst – but it’s also a reminder that life is happening.

Okay, but how exactly does this help me with decluttering?

Let’s take laundry as an example. You are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of clothes you own, and you figure, as I do laundry, I will simply set aside any clothes that no longer serve me and get them out of my house.

(This is an awesome idea, by the way – don’t put clothes back into your drawers that aren’t serving you anymore! But I digress.)

A few weeks go by, you are diligently monitoring your laundry, but your drawers are still stuffed. Why?!

You’re only really dealing with clothes you have chosen to actually wear! Those clothes are really just part of the everyday mess of living. If you want to have fewer clothes, you need to take a hard look at what’s in your drawers before you try to put away the freshly washed clothes.

Though this might seem more obvious with clothes, it’s true throughout our homes. We might make an effort to clean up all the dishes every night after dinner – but that’s just the surface mess from living that day, so of course the pile of stuff that has taken up semi-permanent residence on the end of the island hasn’t decreased, despite the two hours of cleaning you did in the kitchen.

Solution: Tackle clutter first, before tidying the everyday mess

To fix this problem, tackle the clutter first.

By identifying what’s clutter and not just daily mess, you are able to prioritize those clutter traps and make the progress you’ve been looking for!

Whether it’s a shelf in a cabinet, a whole closet, or literally just a handful of pens – whether you have two minutes or two days – before you do any other tidying each day, dig into an area of clutter.

If you dig into the real clutter a little bit every day – really, every single day, even if it’s just a couple items – when you look back a year from now, you’ll be shocked at the difference you made. We don’t see the effects day to day any more than we can see children getting older each day. But if you take photos of your target space right now, and then look at them in a year – you’ll see the difference just as surely as you would see how much that child had grown.

You’ve got this!

Wishing you every success on your decluttering journey!

~ Danie