House all in a clutter?

Clutter means different things for different people

The definition of clutter, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a crowded or confused mass or collection. It is a collection of things lying around in an untidy mess.

www.becomingminimalist.com defines clutter as; a) too much stuff in too small a space; b) anything that we no longer used or loved; or c) anything that led to a feeling of disorganization.

If you walk into your house and your first thoughts are about how untidy your home is, or if you feel embarrassed to have people over, then your home is cluttered.

Haven or Hell?

Our houses should be welcoming havens, not causing us extra stress.

Clutter that causes stress can be as simple as a pile of previously read newspapers, to that broken appliance gathering dust while waiting to either be fixed or recycled.

Walking through my house is just one stress bomb after another. I have tried with an equal mixture of success and failure to declutter my home.

Finances play a vital role in the decluttering process. For me, it is my lounge suite. I love it. It is huge and comfortable and, I feel, irreplaceable. It is also old and torn.

I fluctuate between wanting to recover and having slipcovers made.  It is so bad that I still haven’t got a quote for either option and my beautiful furniture sits covered with bed sheets( much to my mother’s unhappiness!)

What has old furniture got to do with clutter? The sorry state of my furniture has eroded my pride in my lounge/sitting room. In turn, this has led to the lounge becoming a dumping ground and storage area. The clutter has now spilt over into all areas of my house.

On Repeat

I have on more than one occasion managed to declutter my lounge and home office; this usually lasts about 2 or 3 months and then reverts. http://kasheringyourlife.co.za/cutting-clutter/

Part of the issue is that not every member of the house is on board. With everyone in different directions and working, it does become difficult to coordinate the cleanup effort.

Clutter is an accumulation of excess; it is one of the symptoms of a hoarder.

To a certain extent, we all have clutter in our homes; whether it is sentimental items such as drawings and projects that our children have done from nursery school up to items that one has inherited through family.

Where is your clutter?

It could be photographs that are in boxes in cupboards. You know those photographs you keep meaning to put into an album or scan to your computer.

Hidden clutter is all the clothes you haven’t been able to get rid of but no longer wear.

The toys your children no longer play with, but you are keeping for your grandchildren.

One day you decide you want to sort your home, you go out and buy storage containers and begin to organise your home. Then you realise you need more containers, so you go and buy more. Now your home is overflowing with containers which are themselves now overflowing.

Keeping it contained

The definition of the word container is ‘one that holds or contains’, this means that if you have labeled a container for a specific purpose and it gets full, it is time to sort through the contents of that container and remove old items before putting new stuff in. It does not mean you must go out and buy more containers to contain the overflow.

Clutter makes even a clean house look messy. You can dust and polish and pack your cupboards neatly but if there is too much stuff, then it is going to look untidy.

It won’t matter if you have domestic help or do it yourself, a cluttered home always looks a mess and people equate mess with dirt.

One of the very first things I ever learned about decluttering is that you don’t do it all at once.

Scheduled

Set up a schedule, divide each room into sections and tackle one section at a time. It might take six weeks to declutter the room but it is also possible to get the room done in a day. Only you know how much time and energy you have available.

So are you ready to declutter? Let’s journey together, I will share my progress, and I ask that you do the same.