Live smaller to fight clutter & cleaning issues
October 20, 2008 by Jennifer Chait
Filed under Home & Living
Uncluttered lives tend to be simpler than cluttered lives. Uncluttered lives also tend to be full of smaller things – smaller rooms, smaller collections, smaller items in exchange for big ones. Why? Smaller is just easier to clean, organize, and keep clutter-free. It’s not hard and fast, we’ve all seen people living in small rooms, who have overwhelming clutter, but in most cases learning to live small can help you stay clutter-free and buy you more life hours – hours you won’t be spending organizing and cleaning.
Small living rules:
Keep small collections: Set limits. Allow yourself one shelf of books. If it overflows, send some books packing before you get more. Own only the shoes than will fit in your shoe holder. Have only 10 (or choose another number) frames of pictures on shelves at any given time – switch out pictures rather than gathering more frames to dust and organize.
Live in a smaller house: Small room = easier to organize, clean, and less easy to fill with junk.
Own actual smaller items: DVDs take up less room than video (purge the old VHS movies). A smaller couch or shelf system means less to clean and dust. Tennis shoes are the ultimate small in exercise equipment – try walking outside instead of owning a treadmill. A smaller desk or file cabinet is less likely to get covered with junk and paper piles, because you’ll only have so much room to work with.
Forget bulk anything: I used to be into bulk, for the money savings. Now, I’d rather my house be less cluttered than have extra toilet paper. Seriously, unless you live in the way far out boonies, you’ll never have a serious lack of toilet paper, milk, or printer paper issue. Bulk is ok, but not if your goal is to live smaller. Also read, The Case Against Deep Storage.
Living small, living with less, living without everything you think you want is a tough transition for many. It’s a process. But the gains, once you start living smaller are huge. More time, less clutter, less to clean, and you’ll feel better. A bonus is you may end up with more cash in your saving account as well.
Need help getting started…
- Organizing by Simplifying
- Need a Bigger House, or Just Smaller Ego?
- Scaling Down Your House and Life
- How To Live Small
- You won’t go to Hades for tossing that (fill in the blank) out
For parents with stuff loving kids:
- As a parent, do you understand the impact of the need for stuff?
- Kids & Shopping – How Kids Can Be Smart Consumers
AND in case you think I’m a major hypocrite for showing products on this blog, while I go on and on about too much stuff being bad, you can read this post: If you’re so against having stuff, then why show all these products on this blog? – I wrote this for another blog, but the sentiments are the same. I’m not pro-have nothing EVER, just pro-have what you need to make your life easy or beautiful, but not in excess. Stuff doesn’t have to own you, but sadly, it does own many people.
I live in a small apt because it is what I can afford; but I can NEVER see limiting myself to -1- shelf of books! That is insane! Booklovers can simply get creative with how to store the books they have – make a stack of coffee table books into an end table, use window sills to house books, etc. I have an IKEA bookcase that takes up an entire dining room wall, which was filled to capacity within a day of it being built; so I have limited myself to book purchases, but would never stop buying books entirely. Pfft.
Great post!!
I have done some decluttering but I have to keep at it. Once I stopped, it’s so easy to lose the momentum and struggle not to be overwhelmed.
@Gina actually, by shelf, I meant a bookcase. I always just call my bookcase a “shelf” I suppose I could have clarified. I don’t think I could have one shelf (as in on row) of books either. Some people can have many bookcases of books, and have no issue, but for some people multiple bookcases create too much clutter, especially if they’re holding onto books they don’t care for, read, etc.
@Lisa it is easy to stop when you break from decluttering, but that’s how most people have to do it. Unless you have a week or so to just go crazy with the decluttering. Small steps over time work as well.
Even for an Interior Decorator clutter can be a problem. I have to purge every few months from personal items and ones for clients. It can be overwhelming if you don’t keep up with it on a regular basis.
It is tough to declutter if you dont know how to start..
You can visit for more info
http://www.declutteryourhouse.com/clean_house/
we’ve been minimalizing/decluttering for a few months now. one of the best decisions we ever made. but you are definitely right, it takes time, effort, and persistence. but so worth it!
We have just started to de-clutter. We are currently going through baby clothes that are no longer being used. Lots of laundry and folding, but their everywhere, so more space when we are done.
thanks to everyone for their comments; sorry I haven’t been around to reply – darn computer issues. But, it sounds like you’re all in the process of decluttering, which is great!