How To Declutter and Organize Hotspots
Every home has its clutter hotspots – areas that always attract stuff. Here are some of the most common clutter-prone areas and how to declutter and organize them to declutter your life.
How To Declutter and Organize Clutter Hotspots
Clutter has a sneaky way of creeping up on us and like it or not, there are always a few areas in the home that tend to get more cluttered up than others. Whether you live in a big house or a small apartment, you’ll find that you too have either one (or maybe all) of these hotspots in your house that are in dire need of decluttering. Here are some tips how to declutter those areas.
Organizing The Dining Table
There is something about the dining table that draws clutter like a magnet. Keys, TV remotes, books, magazines, groceries, craft projects are all usually dumped on the dining table as soon as you walk into the house.
If the dining room is a magnet for clutter in your house, here’s how to deal with it:
- Pick up stuff and return to their rightful places each time you pass the table by.
- Have a clean-up routine each evening or morning.
- Keep small containers, like baskets, to hold items that generally get dumped on the table – change, keys, cellphones.
- Set the table for every meal before you start cooking. Since there would already be plates and cutlery on the table, chances are less that family members would dump their stuff on it.
Organizing The Table in the Hall
The table in the hall should only be for keeping your keys and not visiting cards, flyers, brochures from the travel agent and other random items. However, since it is in such a convenient location, it does become a clutter haven.
Here are some ways to keep the hall table organized and tidy:
- Keep a small table in the foyer. The smaller the surface, the more difficult would it be for clutter to pile up.
- Hang a mail organizer next to the table to put away your mail as soon as you skim through it.
- A trash basket under the table will be perfect for throwing away junk mail right away.
Organizing The Junk Drawer in the Kitchen
Considering that the junk drawer is supposed to store junk, one shouldn’t really bother with it, right? Actually, wrong. What really happens is that the junk drawer gets stuffed with so many things that don’t have a real “home” that when you need anything from there, it becomes difficult or next to impossible to find it.
So, while you should use a junk drawer for random items, try to keep it organized in the following manner:
- Use drawer organizers or shallow trays and small bowls to keep items organized and sorted.
- If something can be given a home, do that instead of stuffing it into the junk drawer. For instance, scissors can easily be stored along with other school or office supplies, that spool of ribbon can go into a box for gift wrapping items or put the restaurant menus into your home management binder.
- Have a monthly declutter and organize session for the junk drawer.
Keeping an organized home does not have to be a pain. Focusing on the hotspots will help you keep things in their place, making it easy for you to find them when you need them. So, declutter regularly and have systems in place to make it easy for everyone to keep clutter away.
Other ideas on how to declutter your home
Decluttering Your Life in 2019
