AT reader and organizing specialist Denise Foley of Denise De-Clutter Bug sent us this wonderfully useful top ten tips list of ways to start off 2009 with less of a mess and a whole lot more room (and order) within the walls of your home. Check out some tips of how to wrangle in your files, photos, junk drawers, closets, cables and more below...
10 Best Ways to Declutter for 2009
Advice from an Expert
Denise De-Clutter Bug’s Top Ten Hot Tips List:
These tips are not quick or easy to set up but once you take these actions, your access to living your life will be quick, easy and functional!
Functional Filing Cabinets: Every adult (18+) MUST have and use a functionally operating filing cabinet. Starting this process at or before age 18 (or now if you haven’t done so already), use hanging files, arrange alphabetical tabs in addition to important categories (ie. medical, insurance, car, etc.). Then use manila file folders to further clarify categories and store inside the hanging folders (ie. A-airlines, B- banks, C- cats, etc.). Keep all your files current, holding onto important bills and documents for up to 7 years, implementing a clearing out/ shredding process every 2-3 years.
Photographs: All photos are to be arranged by event, people, time period, etc in photos albums (vs. a bunch of miscellaneous photos thrown randomly in drawers, boxes, scattered about, etc.). First, collect all photos to one location, separate and divide into said categories. If the category is finite (ie. summer camp, high school, etc.), second, throw away any unwanted shots and put pix into some sort of order (chronological is a good standard). Third, count the photos for that category, purchase an album to house them accordingly and finally, name/ label it. With ongoing categories (ie. family holiday shots, etc.), use the same process, purchasing a bigger album with room to grow or label (ie. 1,2,3… or I, II, III… etc.).
Functionalize all junk drawers: If you don’t need it, throw, donate or give it away. House like items in their own spot (ie. Office Supplies: staples, paperclips, pens markers; Restaurant delivery/ to go menus can be housed in file cabinet or its own drawer; Kitchen Silverware and Cuttlery can be sorted thru and organized into trays, as well as plasticware, straws (ketchup, mustard, hot sauce packets too-either decline them when getting fast food, throw them away if you don’t use them or organize them if you are keeping them for later). Drawer organizers can be found at Office Depot, Staples, The Container Store or check online for other possibilities.
Hang and House Items Up and Off the Floor: It makes your space feel light vs. bottom heavy. Utilities can be hung up (Osh, Home Depot and The Container Store all sell racks to hold brooms, mops, etc.) in your cabinet, closet or even on the wall (rather than tossed on the bottom with other items piling on top). Make all items convenient to reach and easy to see/ find. Use heavy duty hooks in your garage for active wear and supplies (ie. bikes, helmits, surfboards, etc). Get it all up, easy to grab, yet out of your way.
Closets: Figure out what the closet is being used for (ie. clothing, lines, utilities, etc.), then organize it accordingly. Customize your closet to fit and house your needs by adding extra shelving between shelves (lots of shelves have too much space to the ceiling or in between one another). Store infrequently used items (ie. empty shoe/ boot boxes, kitty/ doggie crates, empty suitcases, etc) on top shelves and just like Mommy Dearest says, “no more wire hangers ever”, throw those away kids (or give them back to your local dry cleaner). Purchase matching hangers (ie. wooden, plastic, same color/ style, etc.), it makes a big visual difference. Purge (donate, give or throw away if its not in useable condition) all clothes you don’t wear (guideline: if you haven’t worn it in over a year, if it doesn’t fit or if you don’t feel/ look amazing wearing it then, what the heck? PURGE IT). Figure out a system for hanging clothes and stick with it. For example, make categories (ie. suits, long sleeves, blouses, sweatshirts, short sleeves, sleeveless, skirts, etc.) then arrange by color or season, etc. Make sure you also have functional shoe racks and laundry baskets in your closets (vs. throwing/ piling items on floor), try to maintain a clean, empty floor space.
Cables, Wires, Extension Cords: Keep all extras neatly wrapped and stored all together in one location for easy access.
Tool Boxes/ Crafts/ Hobbies/ Make-Up Cases, Etc: Store all like items in a neat and orderly fashion using small container units to house (ie. screws, nuts, bolts, beads, sewing items, thread, nail files, etc).
Jewelry: Hang and separate all necklaces on hooks for easy access and easy wear (vs. in a pile where they are tangle-prone and unwearable in a quick pinch). Arrange rings in display cases and hang earrings on netting. That way everything is seen at a glace and prêt-à-porter (ready to wear). Fancy jewelry cabinets can be custom made, smaller ones can be bought and never fear, you can be organized on little to no budget and still be cute and functional by counting all items to be hung, then hammering in nails or hooks on a wall (behind a door or inside a closet). There are lots of choices and variations in between to make your jewelry look beautiful, accessible and functional.
Moving/ Storage/ Packing/ Unpacking: Please people, AVOID storage units- they end up costing so much money but if you have to use one make sure to throw or give away as much as you can . Do not hold onto things thinking that you will “deal with it later” if you don’t want to deal with it now, chances are good that you’re not going to want to deal with it later either. So think of now as later and pack responsibly: put like items together and label boxes with stickers or thick permanent markers on ALL 4 SIDES of the box. On the label/ sticker, list the room (ie. bed room, bath, kitchen, etc.) then list all the rest of the contents inside the box (ie. CDs, toiletries, dishes, pots, pans, specific appliances, etc). That way at least you know, in one quick glance, what you’ve got and where it belongs. Lastly, PLEASE, once moved, unpack ALL boxes with in the first weekend (dragging it out into a month or longer is just that, a drag because we all know that the longer items sit, the harder it is to want to unpack them) and certainly do not just keep unpacked boxes sitting on some shelf for years looking ugly and taking up space, like these…
Furniture and Space Arrangement: Make spaces clear to identify at a glance (ie “oh, that’s an office, bedroom, dining room, kids play area, etc). Do not block windows or behind doorways with furniture or stuff. Also keep in mind that furniture, rooms and space are often born to live in specific ways, so try to accommodate them. You can be flexible and innovative in this area but there is a difference between creativity and junkie.
Comments (37)
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WOW those photographs show an extreme situation....
view Daniel Poitiers's profile
The only way I could truly declutter my house would be to get rid of the spouse who creates the clutter.
view williamsweyr's profile
the picture on the right still looks wayyy too cluttered for me. perhaps i have a problem?
view red.door.read.'s profile
I am so happy that my house doesn't look like any of the "before" shots! I am such a clutter-phobic person though, I am always editing our stuff. Too bad hubby is a bit of a collector. :)
view AimeeRoo's profile
Note on jewelry: if you have cats, please do NOT use netting. They LOVE to play with it. Store your earrings on an earring tree instead (check antique and vintage stores).
I have to agree with red.door.read. - still too cluttered, and my entire family has severe pack rat tendencies.
view Stiletto's profile
lol @ williamsweyr. i feel your pain.
view lostinprojection's profile
Pix 1 & 3 - Disaster area
Pix 2 & 4 - Clutter.
(How can anyone cook w/ the petfood bowls underfoot?)
view bepsf's profile
My rules are easy.
1. Don't keep what you don't "need" (or at least "love").
2. Have an "away" for everything. (This is harder to do than say, but it is what organizing tools are for...)
3. Put everything away unless you are actively using it or about to.
(My partner has a lot of trouble with the latter, but if you make the places where things go convenient and logical, after a while of always being able to find what you want reinforces the behavior!) (This might mean that large tools go in the garage and hammers and screwdrivers go in the kitchen, but if it works you can adapt.)
Finding storage that makes this work might be tricky, but it can be done. I am planning to put an armoire in the (small) guest bedroom to hold craft supplies even though in a strictly aesthetic decor sense, it's too much furniture. I craft nearly every day (usually) but we only have guests a few times a year. I want the room to be ready on a moment's notice (since that's usually all I get) but reasonablly functional for me, too. That's the compromise.
view SherryBinNH's profile
good grief, even the after photos make me break out in hives..
view animalhouze's profile
My rules:
* don't buy stuff
* actively give away or sell possessions until they number 100 or fewer
Impossible, but a worthy lifelong project.
view VLADCOLE's profile
There was a mirror over the stove. That's as obscene as a tv tray in front of the toilet (saw it once).
view joey_brill's profile
I agree that the "after" pictures of the kitchen are still too cluttered for beauty, but as a professional organizer myself, I have defend the pictures above: it is a rare client who allows us to create a perfectly visually appealing space. For most people in need of our services, their "stuff" is more important than the peace that a well-ordered area can bring. Add to that a reluctance to spend money on organizing supplies or a physical disability, and we are further hobbled. I think the P.O above has created a pretty good compromise given all the potential constraints. It is a rare person outside of the AT community who has a carefully constructed "philosophy of possessions."
view ClaraE's profile
I was wondering when those photos of Michael Stipe's kitchen were going to surface.
view Seaside's profile
She forgot one lesson: join the 21st century and store your documents on a computer the size of a coffee table book.
Seriously. Appliance instruction manuals are invariably online now. Old non-digital photos can be scanned. A lot of paperwork is replicated online (eg bank statements). As long as you conscientiously back up your data, it's a lot more efficient than keeping paper copies.
view Blandwagon's profile
Clutter is so scary! And so hard (for me) to keep on top of... Thanks for the very effective visual reminder to persevere!
view H1113's profile
NOOOOOO!!!! I need a "junky" junk drawer! That is how the universe works - things disapper into the junk drawer and go into a parallel universe. I see new things in my junk drawer every week that must have come from another universe because I have no memory of purchasing many of these things (and a few of these items are actually useful). If you don't use it or even know what "it" is - then you put it back into the junk drawer so it can go to the other universe and hopefully you can get from something in exchange from that universe at a later time.
Sometimes, I even make a wish for what I need before I rifle through the junk drawer and it often comes true and I find what I need!
view KWorld's profile
The "before" shots look like in-between pictures from a reorganizing project. That is, someone tore everything out of storage and left it everywhere then put a lot of it back in a tidy fashion. I can't imagine anyone lives with stuff everywhere like that. In other words, the worst looks like it was staged to look as bad as possible to make the best look better. There's still far too much junk in the after shots.
view Orchid64's profile
I was so shell-shocked by the photos I almost couldn't read the tips, but they are GOOD TIPS!
I completely agree that every adult should have a filing system. I also 100% agree with having things up off the floor. The only things that should be touching the floor are rugs and feet... and I'm working on getting there. ;-)
view tam-tbag's profile
o.O The before pictures aren't clutter, they're a health hazard. Now, the after pictures? THAT'S clutter.
view ryttu3k's profile
I can't tell which are "before" photos and which are "after". They are all disgusting. What's wrong with people that they live like that? Where does all that garbage come from? Why don't people take pride in their homes? Until I started reading AT, I had no idea that so many people live such disorganized lives.
We all are short on time. We all have kids, pets, junk mail and all the rest. It takes mere minutes a day to keep a home organized and neat and pleasant. What kind of message do we send to our kids when we let them grow up in such chaos?
If the above photos are real, whoever lives there are just lazy slobs. I can't come up with any other explanation.
view Ms. Pea's profile
I'm with red (and several others); the afters are still so cluttered! And I would not trust anyone who would let their place get as messy as the befores for organizing tips.
And bland, though digital storage is way easier, remember to BACK IT UP. Forget this once and you'll never do it again.
view kiljoywashere's profile
As a professional organizer I can assure you, Orchid64, that those before shots were not staged. This client is a hoarder and dealing with this disorder involves many psychological, emotional and obviously, clutter challenges.
The after photo shows HUGE improvement. The real question is, how can the client maintain this improved space?
My hat goes off to Denise for having the extreme patience, care and skill to deal with a client who suffers from hoarding. I, myself, have realized that working with hoarders is not within my scope as an organizer. We all have challenges in life and thankfully there are professionals to help us along the way.
view j-girl's profile
"All photos are to be arranged by event, people, time period, etc in photos albums (vs. a bunch of miscellaneous photos thrown randomly in drawers, boxes, scattered about, etc.)."
But I have a life. I think scanning and storing on discs is a whole lot easier than spending my remaining years sorting photos.
view Palmetto's profile
Yes, the after is still too cluttered, but it is a huge improvement. Not a fan of pantry items out in the open.
Over the years I've done everything listed under the closets tip, yet my clothes can never seem to find their way from the pile on my bench or floor and back into the closet.
view kfd's profile
These are good tips, but they are not the only way...and I feel like the author is trying to force me to do it that way. She's not a very sensitive writer.
Also, to the people in shock about the photos: Yes, people really do live that way. I've met MANY. But not a single one *wanted* to live that way. They just didn't know what to do.
The tips are about clutter and the photos are about getting the house under control...so yes, they're mismatched. But seriously, all of us should be congratulation the owner of that space for the hard work done! It is SO HARD to get it to that point and keep it that way, once you've gotten used to living in a mess. I think they did an amazing job...and now they can get their life back.
(In cases like these, design is a luxury, imo. Space in which you can live in is the necessity.)
view Mrs.Mack's profile
Haha, I meant "congratulating the owner." Sorry about that!
view Mrs.Mack's profile
I've found that storing things digitally is THE single easiest way to save on space. no more stacks of papers or photos to deal with. And as long as you back it all up, there's no need to fear.
the rule (which I've talked about on my blog stopthe70s ) is that places for things must be greater than things. either buy a lot of storage or give a lot away.
view klausonline's profile
I agree with Mrs. Mack that while the writer has some good ideas, there are often many other perfectly fine ways to address the various de-cluttering challenges she describes.
Just a couple examples:
I'm a professional organizer, and I use photo boxes for my old pre-digital photos - not photo albums. I often suggest to my client that boxes are easier than albums, and a perfectly fine solution.
And I personally hate manila file folders; I use colored ones for my own files.
view Jeri Dansky's profile
KWorld - I'm with you 100%. It drives my wife crazy to the point that she started her own "junk" drawer (Ha! It looks like an advertisement for the Container Store). I grew up with a "this-is-the-place-for-things-that-have-no-place-yet" drawer and it comforts me, dammit! I regularly rifle through it and find everything I need (a true photographic memory helps).
When we started sharing a space, we had to compromise on a lot of systems. It's not that I didn't like her (borderline manic) organizational ways, I just wasn't conditioned to maintaining them. Mrs.Mack is right - I didn't love living in a chaotic manner, I just didn't know where to start in terms of doing something about it. My true inclination is always to organize - I just couldn't back-track. I felt like I'd lost a hundred pounds after our exercises in reducing, re-organizing, re-homing, etc. Now I have the motivation to keep it this way.
view TheGoodBiGirl's profile
j-girl: If this person is a hoarder with a disorder, a professional organizer is not going to help cure him or her as such people would not allow their mess to be touched. People with disorders on that magnitude need a different type of professional help, not just someone who will help them organize their space.
One does not go from living under piles of stuff to giving it up just because a professional organizer steps in... a psychiatrist or psychologist, perhaps if they are successful, but not an organizer.
view Orchid64's profile
The probable reason for the mirror over the stove: it's supposed to be good feng shui.
view snowconejones's profile
If that mirror over the stove is the kind of feng shui that bounces my own cooking back to me, that will really help with my diet.
view holland's profile
Look on page 2 for Denise!
http://stdcarriers.com/stdcarriersstate.aspx
view gary11's profile
Denise Foley
view gary11's profile
Herpes
www.fon.gs/denise_foley
view gary11's profile
My kids think that IF you plan to use something again in the next half hour or so, keep it out. They're incensed that I force them to put it away. Guess what, when I cave, and allow them to "keep it out for a couple of minutes," it's never touched again.
view scoutandboo's profile
Decluttering my clothes, old magazines, and small ticket stuff was easy. But then I came across things that were still "valuable" - but not of any use to me. So I listed them on Craigslist. Some sold but some didn't. Then the best thing happened! I found a personal trainer to barter with. I've already traded a Violet Nabaztag Wi-Fi Rabbit (a gift from an ex) - for two personal training sessions. So I guess you can say I decluttered three ways - getting rid of physical stuff, emotional stuff, and extra pound stuff.
view jkcrash's profile