Say hello to a clutter-free home

29 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
Say hello to a clutter-free home

The Sunday News

Clutter

Yoliswa Dube

ONE simple way of keeping your home clean and tidy is by having nothing in it that you don’t know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. Often, clutter diminishes the aesthetics of the home and hides the décor aspects of the property as a whole.

I have lived most of my life in a cluttered home. Closets were full, drawers wouldn’t shut, things weren’t put away, and unfinished projects could be found in most rooms.

That was, unless somebody was coming over. Then, the entire family would pitch in to make sure the house was presentable.

Looking back, the problem with clutter wasn’t that we didn’t notice or care. Instead, the problem was we could never get ahead of the mess or ever seem to develop a system that would keep our home clutter-free.

But that is no longer the case. Today, almost every room in our home rests in a state of order — free from the life-robbing presence of physical clutter. Over the past several years, we have found a system that works very well for our family of four.

And I am perfectly confident you can do the same . . . no matter how far away from clutter-free your home may seem.

Consider implementing the following steps. Most of us know it is entirely possible to live in a clutter-free environment. But some of you are not so sure. Your house has been cluttered for so long; you’ve given up all hope of ever living any other way.

For you, the first step to living in a clutter-free home is to take heart and believe it is entirely possible.

Remove the excess. Our homes are full of things. Clutter begins to appear most prominently when we own too much stuff.

Conversely, the fewer items we own, the easier it is to keep clutter at a minimum. The first (and most important) step in keeping your home clutter-free is to remove the excessive possessions that are stealing our lives, time, and energy.

Implement habits to manage your clutter. For most of my life, I thought the key to maintaining clutter was found here. Just organise, clean, and organise again. But I was wrong. Because I had not taken the time to remove the excess in full (or in part), I could never get ahead of the clutter in my home. There were just too many things in too small a space — no matter what system we tried to implement.

As a result, healthy clutter-clearing habits never had opportunity to emerge. So do not skip the removal step, it is absolutely important. And the more energy you put in removing the excess, the easier it will be to find and develop habits to better manage the things you keep.

Over the years, we’ve found clutter attracts clutter. Once it begins to collect, it requires intentional action to clear it away.

Develop for your family healthy habits today to manage the daily use of the things in your home. Once identified, you’ll find them much easier to implement.

Slow the accumulation of possessions. To live is to consume. It cannot be avoided — especially in our society and culture. But if the influx of possessions into our homes can be slowed, clutter can be managed efficiently.

To slow the accumulation of things in our homes, we need to change our mindset and begin evaluating our purchases differently. Realise that your purchases cost far more than the price on the sticker. Each one will also require time, energy, and effort once they enter your home.

I can quickly attest that once you begin to enjoy the physical and mental freedom that accompanies clutter-free living, you’ll make extra effort to ensure your home does not slip back into the home it used to be. — Joshua Becker, comingminimalist.com/Yoliswa Dube.

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