Nothing gets me more motivated to clean my surroundings than a new episode of Hoarders.  It gets the de-clutter gene activated and I go on a tidy spree.

Living in a cluttered house or working in a cluttered office sucks energy from you and prohibits forward motion.  Clutter is a reminder of the unfinished.  One can’t expect to be productive, creative or motivated while staring at your failure to keep on top of things.

If you find yourself moving stacks of paper from one spot to another or shopping for socks because you can’t find any clean ones, here are some ways to get you on the right track.

Mail

The key to handling the mail is to deal with it immediately.  When you open the mail put it in its rightful place. Toss the junk mail, put the bills in the “to be paid” folder and sort the ValPak coupons, enter the dental appointment reminders into your calendar and toss the reminder card.  It takes only a few minutes to sort the mail but it’s a giant step towards clutter-free living.

Statements and Paperwork

Have a file system for incoming statements or important documents.  As you don’t need to look at these on a daily or weekly basis, create a file for these documents and file them.  At the end of each year keep these statements with all of your annual receipts, tax returns and paperwork.  If you receive an annual statement of activity for any account, keep this and dump the monthly statements.

Laundry

When laundry is folded, put it away immediately.  Otherwise as family members begin to dig for items the nicely folded pile becomes a heap and you have to refold the items.   If you have loads of laundry to do,  spend an evening watching tv and folding.  Put the items away during the commercials.

Business Cards

My husband leaves business cards stacked all over his desk.  He understands his ‘system’ but often cards get misplaced or dropped behind the desk.    The information from a business card should be entered into your electronic storage of choice (Outlook contacts, Blackberry, etc.) but you should also save the physical card in the event you get your system cleared out by a virus or operator error.  A simple recipe card box is great to save business cards.  They are small and can be tucked away onto a shelf or in a cupboard.

The Drop Off Zone

All homes have one; the place where you ‘drop’ items upon coming in the house.  To make it easier to contain the drop off zone put a bowl or dish for keys and your cell phones.  A basket for the newspaper, etc.   The key to keeping a clean drop off zone is to sweep the area every day or so.  Stuff piles up.

Trust me, once you manage the clutter you’ll feel much better in your home. Good luck on containing any clutter in your world!

Now go run!

Keli 🙂