Conquer clutter in your daily life! I share my experiences as I make the journey from a cluttered pack rat who lives in fear of house-guests to a confident hostess with a tidy, welcoming home.
When my friend Dan sent me these pictures of what he’d been up to this weekend, I couldn’t wait to share them here! This post is pretty image-heavy because of this.
He was fed up with his cluttered apartment, and declared war on the clutter Saturday night.
Here’s what his home office looked like before:
The main room (before)
I encourage you to click the photos to visit the Flickr pages – Dan has left some interesting (and humorous) notes on the photos about what all that stuff is!
After some hard work (and, hopefully, a good night’s sleep), here’s how the office looks now:
The main room (after)
Wow, such a difference, isn’t it? Looks like Dan can get some actual work done in there now, not to mention being able to locate important documents when he needs them!
He could probably tame those tangles of cables with some black binder clips, though!
Thank you for sharing this with us, Dan!
If you’d like to share your own decluttering progress, feel free to let me know. I can’t promise to publish every single one (I have no idea what kind of response, if any, this will receive), but I’ll do my best! Perhaps this could become a regular feature in the blog.
As always, you can also add your own photos to the ClutterCubed Flickr pool! I’d love to see them!
I’m kind of behind the times when it comes to Peter Walsh, of Oprah fame (and, as I have been informed in the comments, I watched him on Clean Sweep for a few years and didn’t know who he was. Go me.). I haven’t read his books, and I’ve never seen him on TV. I don’t have cable, and I don’t live in the US so watching shows on Hulu is pretty much out of the question, so I hope you’ll forgive me in this case.
I found this video of Peter last night, and wanted to share it.
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
These are concepts that we should try to embrace in our quest to get rid of clutter. Why should we keep things that we neither use not like? We shouldn’t.
He also touches on two of the main types of clutter: memory clutter, things that you keep to remind you of past events, and “just in case” clutter (he calls it “I might need it someday” clutter, but mine is shorter ), things that you keep in case you might need them in the future.
I think that in general, keepsakes can be fine, but must be kept in moderation. Do you really need a ceramic mermaid to remind you of your trip to Florida?
This past summer I got rid of a lot of my memory clutter. Most of it was found in a box I hadn’t opened for years. Sure, it was kinda cool to go through it and remember everything on queue, but the items themselves were pretty useless. Some where broken, some where never very nice in the first place. They were not useful, and most were not anywhere close to beautiful. Since I’m still not as ruthless as perhaps I should be, I wrote down a list of all the items and what they reminded me of, then I got rid of the items. It was somewhat of a compromise, since I still own a list that doesn’t really have a proper place in my home, but it’s better than a box full of random trinkets.
My comments about “just in case” clutter turned into a whole post all on their own, so I’ll post them some other time.
Peter goes on to say that all your belongings should help you create the life you want to live, and that sometimes people confuse “more” with “better”, and they keep on acquiring clutter as they chase the life they want. Will your life really be better with 500 channels when you’re too busy to watch the 200 you have now? I think that more of us need to look around at the stuff in our homes and really ask ourselves if they actually enrich our lives, or if they are just cluttering up our lives.
After that it kinda turns into an ad for his book, but the main message of this little video, to strive to only keep items that let you (and actually help you) live the kind of life you want to live, is still sound. If you want a calm, serene, relaxing life, you can’t do it if you cram your house and schedule with everything you’ve wanted to own or do on a whim. You need to take the time to think about purchases before bringing them home, and consider how those objects will help you create the life you want to live.
Are any of you fans of Peter Walsh? Do you have a favourite quote or idea he popularized? I’d love to know!
PS – Would anyone be interested in watching if I recorded a little video post of my own? I’m not sure if people need to see my mug on the Internet any more than it’s already on this site.
I’ve recently taken an interest in personal finance. And by “recently”, I mean “about a year ago now”, but the interest is still going strong. I may as well try to clean up my finances as well as my house, right? On the plus side, decluttering my finances is going to be easy comparatively – there’s hardly anything there! Haha!
I’ve been reading all the personal finance books and blogs I can get my hands on. Blogs are free, and can provide wonderful information, but I have always loved books, and when I’m learning I love to get as many different viewpoints as possible.
I’m proud to say I haven’t bought any books. I’ve borrowed from family, friends and the library.
Ok, I lied a little bit, I bought a notebook from the dollar store to jot down notes while I read the finance books I’ve borrowed. Must be a holdover from school; I’ve always liked taking notes. I’m such a geek, but that’s awesome.
I love buying books, so this has actually been fairly difficult for me. I love the library, but I also love owning books. I love seeing them stacked neatly on my shelves, and (oops!) not so neatly once the shelves are filled up.
Every time I move I give away a huge box of books, but I always have more, more more.
When I daydream, my house always has one of those big libraries, with curving shelves that stretch from floor to ceiling and one of those nifty rolling ladders to reach the topmost tomes. *Swoon*
Since I don’t live in a place with a dedicated library, however, I’ve decided that I shouldn’t keep buying books as if I did. Since then, the public library has become my new best friend again. They have almost any book imaginable, and if they don’t have it it, odds are good that they can order it from another branch for you! Sometimes you do have to wait a few weeks if another patron has checked a book out, or if the library needs to order it for you, but it can be worth it for both the money you save and the fact that you’re not cluttering up your home with books you’ll likely only read once.
I’m still a fan of purchasing books when you know you’ll read them multiple times – reference material, old favourites, etc. For one-time reads, however, especially on subjects that I’m learning and taking notes on, I now (again) prefer to get them from the library.
If you regularly go to your local public library, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t visited your local library in a while, go check it out this week! I bet you can find at least one book that you want to read, and you’ll be able to do so without adding to the clutter in your home! If you go, I’d love to hear what books you checked out from the library!
PS – Oh, and check this out. Minimalist blogger Everett Bogue is offering his new ebook The Art of Being Minimalistfree to download for only 24 hours! I got a free copy, and I’m really looking forward to reading this one and will write a review of it once I’m done. You may want to give it a try too.
Last Summer, IKEA Canada held their “Any Space and be Beautiful” contest. People sent in photos of their boring, unlovely, or just plain icky spaces, and could get people to vote for them. The votes didn’t mean anything, though (sad!) as the winner was picked by random draw. The winner was announced back in September, but now some “after” photos have been released!
Congratulations to Tess of Calgary, Alberta!!
In all honesty, it’s really not that bad. Not as bad as some of the other entries for sure, but it’s kind of a bland mishmash with nothing to really tie the room together. I think I recognize that clock on the wall as being from IKEA already, though!
The room now looks much more put together, with a cohesive colour scheme and lots of nice greenery.
I really love the simplicity of the TV stand, which looks like it provides lots of storage for DVDs, tuners/players, and any gaming systems this family has. The shelf above it ads more sleek storage space, and a great way to display some new, peaceful art.
I’m not overly fond of the panelled walls, but maybe that’s just me. Those little blue glasses all across the back wall look really neat and add more pops of colour, but all I can think of is that they’d be a pain to dust.
What do you think of the makeover? Would you change anything if it was your place? What would you do with $15,000 to spend at IKEA?
This is a guest post by Ito and LM of Clutterbrained as part of a post swap. You can see my take on the subject over at their bloglater today now! -Caitlin
Hello ClutterCubed readers!
We at Clutterbrained are thrilled to visit and have the opportunity to do a guest post here. We are two friends, Ito and LM, new to the world of organizing, clutterbusting and simplifying and we can use all the help, support and company we can get.
When Caitlin suggested a blog post exchange, we thought we’d love to hear what she has to say about Putting Things Away. Which currently happens to be a great big struggle for us. Here’s what we both have to say. Please come visit us at to see what Caitlin says on this very same topic, and to see what we’re up to!
I really do think that this issue is at the core of my Clutter problems. I was recently reading this great book called It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys. I love this book. It often makes me cry because it really gets to the heart of this problem – it’s not so much about organizing systems and how to get your pantry in tip top shape, it’s more about what’s going on underneath. Which is so important to address and understand.
One chapter of the book is about simple household rules to share with one’s family: (at least they SEEM simple, right?)
If you take it out, put it back.
If you open it, close it.
If you throw it down, pick it up.
If you take it off, hang it up.
If you use it, clean it up.
These seem like things that SOME people know how to do automatically. They seem so straightforward. But when I read this list, it gave me the saddest, sickest feeling because I had to admit that I follow these principles, oh, maybe ten percent of the time. I don’t put stuff back. I leave my bureau drawers hanging open with socks falling out. I don’t even want to say what is on the floor. And as for the cleaning up part… well…
Clearly I have a LOT of work to do in this area. I am trying to understand why it is so difficult for me and why I seem to have a mental block. It’s sort of like trying to tell someone who eats at McDonalds 5x a day, who doesn’t exercise: “It’s simple to lose weight! Just eat less and exercise more!” It’s NOT that simple. The decades of bad habits are like a strong tide pulling me hard into a sea of clutter! And I have to use every ounce of consciousness to NOT do these things. Just the other day I rushed into the house. I pulled my coat off as I was running and – yes! Dropped it in the middle of my bedroom floor. I embarrassed myself. It only sat there for about five minutes before I picked it up (and hung it on the bedpost, not the closet – baby steps, right??). But the fact that I ever let it even touch the floor just saddens me. I’m going to print out that list of “principles for self-responsibility” and hang it all over the house. I’m going to talk about it with my (not at all with the program) family members and see what they have to say. I’m going to memorize that list and say it like a mantra under my breath. And maybe I can remind myself of what I really need and want to do. (to find out how this is going, come visit our blog Clutterbrained!)
LM says:
The thing is, I used to do it. I did! I used to have time when I came in the door and put things where they belong. My coat in the closet. My bills in the basket. My keys on the hook. I used to not just set things down on the nearest table, or the next nearest table. I don’t know when it shifted.
For the past few years, I walk in my house after a long day, and I’m tired. So I set stuff down. I swear I’ll come back to it, right after I eat something because I’m starving. Then I eat, and I’m tired, and I want to sit down and start getting ready for bed. Then I’ll wake up and have to get started on my day, not cleaning up from the night before.
I’ve been thinking about this and thought of a few things that have contributed to my lack of ‘putting things where they belong.’ First, I have so many projects I’m working on. I’ve also noticed, after having a roommate for a few years and now living again as a single woman, not having a partner makes a difference. I don’t have another pair of hands to share responsibilities of cleaning (scrubbing bathrooms or kitchens) or dishes, laundry. The scrubbing then becomes a priority, rather than cleaning out closets, or taking lots of time to really push through and clean out my files of useless papers from my MA thesis from 7 years ago. Then, those things that have sat for months (and years) are compounded when I drop the bills off on the floor next to the work desk, or take off my clothes and pile them on the chair in my bedroom because I’m in a hurry to change and be off to my next meeting.
It’s clear I need to do one big cleaning, while I’m doing the big declutter this year. It is my hope Ito and I can work together to support changing our patterns this year, one ‘pick up’ at a time. I’m gonna start with one thing a day. One thing, I can do it. I hung my keys up. Does that count?
Do you have any more tips for changing habits and remembering to put things away after each use? Please help us out by posting a comment!
), things that you keep in case you might need them in the future.
Twitter Updates
|
4 Comments
Posted February 8, 2010 in: Office Space