It would be easy to just say, “throw away stuff you don’t need” but therein lies the problem. Those with clutter issues generally cannot discern between what they need to keep and what they should get rid of.
Here are 3 tips to making a big impact on decreasing the clutter in your physical space:
1. Increase border control.
Don’t let anything through your door that isn’t an asset to your life. This means start by not even buying things you don’t absolutely need. Don’t go ‘shopping’ for things. Go ‘buying.’ That means you go for the items you need, with a list in hand, and nothing more. If you don’t let unnecessary items come into your home in the first place you will have less to deal with in the near and distant future. Not having the item around to begin with will stop the process of cluttering at the root.
This goes for not accepting things from others as well. If friends or family don’t want an item any longer, why do you need it?
2. Don’t buy more containers.
I see in my coaching practice that those who are trying to get organized instantly want to go out and acquire storage containers thinking that this will help them become organized. Actually, you want to first get rid of things and then, based on what is left and where the items will be kept, you can get appropriate containers. If you get dozens of plastic boxes first you will have more clutter that you had to begin with and chances are you won’t need all those containers either.
3. Delete dupes .
If you have a lot of things, and they have had ‘offspring,’ you can generally get rid of all but one (perhaps two) of the item and be just fine. Often the reason people have many of the same items is that they can’t locate it when needed, so they go out and purchase another only to find the original one days, weeks, or months later. This can happen over and over resulting in ridiculous amounts of something where one is sufficient.
Contributed by Coach Juli, CPC: Efficiency & ADHD Coach. Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com. Contact at jshulem@gmail.com 805-964-2389 or www.julishulem.com.