“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” ~Benjamin Franklin

how to stop clutterClutter has a way of sneaking up on us. It creeps in on us while we’re sleeping and steals our peace. Things have a way of accumulating in our spaces while we attend to activities of daily living. With everything going on, you may not notice right away. Then one day, you begin to feel uneasy, more stressed than normal and you don’t know why. You may think that it’s your hectic schedule, pressures at work, or maybe challenges with your kids, and that may very well be the cause. Or it may be that you’re looking for something that you can’t find, and during your search, as you look around, you notice that you have stuff everywhere…clutter. Clutter causes stress. It can also add to the stress you may already have for the reasons mentioned above.

Clearing the clutter while you’re looking for that thing that revealed the revelation of your clutter is one option. Keep in mind that it will take some time to clear your clutter since it took some time for it to accumulate. Another option is to prevent it from accumulating in the first place. Below is a list of strategies and tips to incorporate into your daily routines to stop clutter before it starts. That is after you clear your spaces initially so you can breathe again!

• Before you buy something ask yourself these questions:

Do I really need this?

Do I already have something similar?

Will I use this?

Why do I want to buy this?

Do I have a place to put this?

It’s very easy to get caught up in the moment during a shopping trip and making
impulse buys. Making smart choices will prevent your purchase from ending up
as clutter later on.

• When you bring home a new item, assign it a home right away.

• If you replace an item, remove the item it’s replacing. This is the one in, one out rule. This concept is especially important for paperwork that you subscribe to, such as magazines or phone books that are delivered to your doorstep.

• Assign a home to everything that you have. Your cooking supplies – such as food, baking dishes, and utensils, for example, would live in your kitchen. This is grouping like items together.

• Label containers – containers can be anything that holds other things, such as a basket, trash can, shelves, rooms, closets and even your house! Your house has a number on it, so actually it’s labeled. You don’t need to go crazy with labels. The point of the label is so you know where it goes when you’re done with it.

• Make it a habit to put things back where they belong after you use them.