Developing the Correct Mindset for Getting Rid of Clutter

by Adrian McMaster

Getting rid of clutter is not a task that many people look forward to. Clutter develops when you let papers and other items accumulate in your home or office and do not sort through them and throw anything away on a regular basis. Clutter can be a very negative force in your life and can reduce your productivity, allow you to waste time searching through the clutter, and increase your frustration. If you develop the correct mindset for getting rid of clutter, you can make the decision to clean up your act and get organized with great results.

The first thing you need to do is identify the sources of clutter in your home or office. Homes can have many sources of clutter including toys, paperwork, knickknacks, and other items that we can become attached to and end up keeping way beyond their usefulness. The biggest culprit of office clutter is paper. People often have difficulty in developing file management systems for their offices so papers end up in piles on the desk, in cabinets, and on the floors. If you have piles of items around your home or office, the source of your clutter might be obvious. If you have things crammed in your drawers or your closet, you may need to put a little more effort into finding the clutter that’s taking control of your life.

Once you’ve identified the source of the clutter, you need to make a commitment to reducing the clutter and getting your life organized. If need be, make a written plan of items to keep and items to throw away. If you are keeping items that still have some usefulness left in them, you can donate them to charity and let them end up somewhere where people will actually use them instead of storing them away in dusty closets. Once you are committed to reducing your clutter, you can make a plan of attack for how you are going to get rid of the mess. One method you might want to try is having three sturdy bins that you can take into the room you want to organize. One bin can be for items to keep, one for items to give to charity, and one for items to throw away. Quickly sort the clutter from the room you’re in into one of these three bins. Quickly donate the items to charity and get rid of the trash items before you are tempted to put them back in the drawers or the closet.

Once you’ve removed clutter from each individual room, you’ll need to come up with a plan for avoiding future clutter. These plans will vary depending on the room and its use. Home offices can have new file systems implemented to reduce clutter. You can also consider buying new furniture with more storage compartments to keep things from piling up on your desk or floor. Those who had clutter in their homes can assign chores to family members and organize on a more regular basis to keep clutter from accumulating to the point where it takes over your life.

Clutter is a timewaster and can have detrimental effects on your personal life or your career. If you want to develop the correct mindset for getting rid of clutter, you’ll need to be able to make the commitment to reducing clutter and developing systems that help you to keep clutter from building up in the future. Once you’ve gotten rid of the clutter in your home or office, stick to these systems so that you can save yourself from having to do such overhauls on each room in your home on a regular basis. You’ll be glad you kept clutter to a minimum.

Keywords: let go of clutter, clutter control, clearing clutter