Decluttering

The Top 10 Areas to Declutter Before the Holidays

October 28 // by Brooke

How do you declutter before the holidays? Holidays are stressful enough. Then, we had a whole bunch of excess to the mix.

The holidays are the source of sooooo much excess. We buy more food, watch the piles of gifts continuously stream into our homes, and our calendars fill up while our obligations grow exponentially.

Before you know it, what should be a joyous, relaxing season turns into stress, anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy.

One way you can simplify your holiday excess is to work on decluttering as much as possible BEFORE the holidays get here.

Christmas decorations at front door of house for a clutter-free home.

When should decluttering be done before Thanksgiving and Christmas?

If you are waiting until the week of Christmas to declutter, you may be a little late to the game. Don’t despair. You can still get things done, but it may not be to the degree you were hoping.

Get ahead of the holiday season this year, and start early!

I like to start thinking about the onslaught of gifts around October and early November. Decluttering early, before Christmas gets here also allows for you to have a stress-free Thanksgiving too.

If you have kids, starting early works well because they can see you practice decluttering before they are asked to do the same. It also gives you time to plant the seed that this is happening, so it’s not quite so shocking and so they can get on board without full-on panic mode.

Here are the 10 best things to declutter in your home before the holiday season:

1 – Declutter the pantry and fridge

One to two weeks before your big holiday events, start working on decluttering your pantry and fridge.

You may even take a no grocery shopping challenge by getting creative with what you already have, and create some space for all those traditional meals and leftovers that will stuff your space in no time at all.

If you have items in your pantry you know you will never eat, now is the perfect time to share with your local food bank to help those in need.

2 – Declutter toys

Decluttering toys with kids can be painful. I get it. However, the holidays are the perfect time to motivate your children to actually help you out!

Kids get excited about the toys and new gifts they know are coming, and oftentimes, if you remind them of this, they will gladly help make room for the new.

Start early, encouraging your children to pick out 5 books or maybe 5 stuffies to let go. Ask them if they have any toys they no longer enjoy.

Start thinking about where new toys will be stored, and make sure to create room in those spaces.

If your children are really young, you can do the decluttering for them. As they get older, they will often need to be participants in deciding what stays and what goes.

Don’t force an all-out clean-out in one day. Children need time to process. Give them time to think about it, encourage filling a box, or ask for a specific number of items.

Do this several times before the holidays, and they will get better each time.

You can also encourage children to donate their gifts to other children in need. Kids are often very generous when they know children may not receive as many new toys.

If your kids are older, you can also encourage them to sell any high-value toys, and let them keep the proceeds. This worked well when my children outgrew their Thomas the Train table.

3 – Declutter books

Many booklovers receive new books over the holiday season. Take advantage of this time to make room on your shelves for a couple of new additions.

This is also the perfect time to pick out books you loved and give them to someone else who you know will equally love the book.

One of my favorite budget gift ideas is to grab a book you love, write a personal note to stick into it, and share it. Most folks don’t mind a used book, and it is a super thoughtful way to share something you love.

4 – Declutter your kitchen countertops

With the holidays, you will have guests over, lots of food, and plenty of decorations. Give your kitchen counters a little boost by decluttering them before the holidays.

Not sure where to start? Start with the mail pile first.

Recycle any junk mail, flyers, or other items you know you won’t review.

Then, create a “handle soon” folder and stick the rest of the mail in there. It’s not a perfect system, but at least it will clear any mail piles quickly.

For many of us, our countertops become dumping grounds for all the things too. Grab a laundry basket, clear the counters, and ask your family to help put everything where it goes.

Give yourself a clean slate before the holidays start!

Related Post: Clear Your Kitchen Countertops

5 – Declutter your clothes

Chances are, you will get at least one new sweater, coat, or other items of clothing this holiday season.

Grab a single bag, and do a quick declutter of your closet! Even if you only clear out five items, you will have made room for that many to enter your closet.

Think of others in need this holiday season too. It’s the perfect time to look for coats and other warm gear you can share with local coat drives or shelters.

Declutter your closet in the declutering challenge.

6 – Declutter lotions, candles, and throws

Lotions, candles, and throws seem to be the go-to gifts when folks aren’t sure what to give you. These gifts can be fantastic, but start making room for them now!

Do you still have lotions from last Christmas? Either commit to using them up or help them find a new home if they are still unopened and unused.

If you have lotions or candles that are partially used and don’t like, I give you full permission to throw them away now. 😊

This is a good time to look for blankets and throws you don’t use either. There are plenty of shelters (pet shelters included) that are happy to take your excess throws and blankets.

7 – Declutter gift wrap

Holiday gift wrap is often stored out of the way. Use this time to assess what you own.

After taking inventory, it’s easier to NOT spend money on more stuff, as you know you already have 6 rolls of wrapping paper and 24 recycled gift bags from last year!

Look for bags, boxes, ribbons, paper, etc. that are torn, wrinkled, or generally past their useful life.

Create a storage system for what’s left, and commit to not going over that container to prevent excess clutter from building up.

8 – Declutter holiday décor and ornaments

Holiday décor and ornaments are often used year over year, which is great. However, we all have those few pieces we don’t like but feel obligated to hold on to.

If you aren’t using the same holiday décor and ornaments year over year, it’s totally OK to help them find a new home (or throw them away).

Yes, some of this stuff is passed down to us. I encourage you to either commit to using it or recognize as long as you hold on to it, it will continue to add to your clutter.

I found myself holding on to some holiday décor that I know was passed down to me or given to me by someone special. For the life of me, I didn’t know its story, nor did I use it. At that point, the piece lost its special qualities, and it was OK to let it go.

9 – Declutter your giving list

It’s OK to not give presents to every co-worker, neighbor, distant family member, and friend. I want to encourage you to rethink and declutter your gift list this year!

I’m often surprised by how relieved friends, acquaintances, and family members can be when I suggest we no longer do a gift exchange.

If gift-giving is causing you stress, both in planning and financially, there’s a good chance it is causing the recipient stress too.

If gift-giving is your love language, try to simmer down the level in which you give. Maybe look to share a fresh-baked loaf of bread or a used book with a note, rather than a gift you aren’t even sure they will love.

Oftentimes, it is the thoughtful, homemade gifts that are more appreciated than the obligatory gifts that really only add to someone else’s clutter.

Christmas gifts for everyone on your list.

10 – Declutter your obligations

In order to simplify your entire holiday season, try to cut out the excess obligations that are cluttering your calendar.

Grant it, 2020 has presented unique challenges where we don’t have many of the same obligations, but even with less travel and fewer events, there’s still a level of stress.

For me personally, we wanted this year to be extra special for our kiddos, a kind of relief from all the crazy.

However, if you aren’t careful, all the extra special activities can often clutter up your calendar and make you feel unnecessarily stressed out.

It’s OK to say “no” to excess obligations and keep the holidays simple.

Declutter before the holidays to prepare your home and mind

The holidays should be a time for joyous activities, time with family, and celebrating what is important to us.

Help yourself keep the holidays simple, and prepare your home by decluttering a few of these quick-hit areas in your home (before the holidays get here) so you can kick back and relax.

The Top 10 Areas to Declutter Before the HolidaysRead More

Declutter to Drastically Reduce Anxiety and Stress

October 16 // by Brooke

Clutter can cause anxiety. It may not be the root cause of it, but it certainly doesn’t help.

I battle with anxiety, and I hate it. I hate that my worries and my emotions can dictate my mood and general well-being.

Decluttering didn’t cure my anxiety, but having a clutter-free home has greatly reduced my anxiety and stress.

There’s a good chance decluttering can help you too if you’re dealing with anxiety or stress.

Our first big declutter was when my two children were fairly young. I was a very busy mom, working full time outside the home, with a traveling spouse.

Life was not always easy. Home management was nothing short of impossible many days.

It was during the act of decluttering I discovered how peaceful I was making my home and how much the feel of my home contributed to my overall mental health.

Can clutter give you anxiety?

Clutter is visual chaos. It usually looks like a giant mess, even if it’s organized into piles or has some “system” assigned to it.

If you suffer from anxiety, this visual chaos will fuel it like gas poured on a fire. It’s intense.

I didn’t realize just how intense these feelings were until the clutter started to disappear.

You know that relaxed feeling you get when you enter a clean home or a hotel room on vacation? I guarantee you, at least part of that feeling is the lack of clutter.

When we surround ourselves with outer order, we feel calmer inside.

Clutter reflects how we feel inside

Often, our physical environment reflects how we are feeling internally. If you have a cluttered, stressful home, chances are you feel stress and disorganized inside as well.

This isn’t always the case, some of us are completely clutter-blind and happy. However, the relationship between clutter and mental health is very strong for most.

Have you ever recognized how clutter (and messes in general) build up when we are having bad days? There’s no real drive to take care of things, and we let the messes get out of hand.

One item left here. Another item left there. Before you know it, you have a giant pile that seems crazy overwhelming to even think about tinkering with. Then, it sits there so long, it becomes part of the landscape of your home.

The clutter build-up can happen fast. Believe it or not, decluttering can be self-care.

Clutter creates an environment of chaos

Clutter attracts more clutter. Clutter also attracts chaos.

To oversimplify this concept, think of your “dumping ground.”

A “dumping ground” is the catch-all place where you put things when you walk in the door or when the items have no other home. They are “orphaned items.”

If this dumping ground is the home to your car keys, cell phone, purse, laptop, mail, bills, calendar, kid’s artwork, etc, it gets crowded quickly.

Before you know it, you are also leaving your coffee cup there, the magazine you just bought, and the permission slip you forgot existed.

When it’s time to run out the door in a hurry, you can’t find anything you need, and you leave late and frustrated.

This is the perfect example of how your clutter creates an environment of chaos. Clutter is frustrating. Clutter causes anxiety. Clutter causes stress.

You deserve better than this!

Cluttered table — This is my actual dining room table before decluttering.

Clutter wastes time

Clutter is also a huge time suck.

Nothing wastes your time like having to move piles around, search for lost items, and “pick-up” only to have no real great spot to put something.

This dreadful cycle of time wasters related to your clutter creates more unnecessary anxiety and stress.

Clutter wastes money

The most common stressor for many families is money. Clutter wastes money, which creates more anxiety and stress for people.

Think about all the unnecessary expenditures you make in a day, week or month that do nothing but add to your clutter.

If you weren’t spending money on items you don’t need, you would be saving money and preventing the pile-up of unwanted items in your home!

Decluttering to reduce anxiety and stress

What does one do to conquer clutter and reduce their anxiety and stress?

Simply saying, “I’m going to declutter” is easier said than done. It takes people a lifetime to accumulate clutter, so getting rid of it takes some time too.

Unless you hire a professional organizer (and trash/junk removal service), you will have to spend some significant time and invest some hard work to get rid of the clutter.

First, realize that decluttering can greatly help your anxiety and stress. It may not be the cure for it, but it’s one action you can control to make yourself feel better.

If you want to jump in and declutter quickly, this post is for you: Declutter Fast This Weekend.

If you prefer to dip your big toe into the decluttering pool, this is the post for you: 11 Simple Tasks to Ease into Decluttering.

Decluttering can feel therapeutic

For an entire year, decluttering was my therapy and self-care. It was actually therapeutic to go through my belongings and take back my home.

Like exercising, decluttering felt healthy. For a full year, when I did my big declutter, I committed to at least ten minutes a day to take back my home.

You may not always want to declutter. Some days, you will hate it.

However, if you commit to this form of self-care every day (or at least most days), you will get the benefit of learning how to let go of the past and embrace a calmer future with space to breathe and grow.

Decluttering can give you a sense of control over chaos

Sometimes life throws us fastballs, and we aren’t quite sure how to deal with what comes our way.

Sometimes, our homes create so much work for us that we don’t get to enjoy them as a place to relax and spend time with our family.

When you declutter, you get to reduce the anxiety and stress in your life by taking back control over some elements of chaos.

Decluttering won’t solve all your problems. However, sometimes, it gives you that sense of control that is craved whenever everything else seems so crazy.

Related Post: 5 Real Health Benefits to Owning Less

Decluttering makes managing a home easier

If nothing else, decluttering can help your stress and anxiety because it makes managing your home super easy.

When you declutter, you have less stuff to pick-up and put away. You can see your counter-tops, you have systems in place, and everything seems to have a “home”. No more orphaned items taking up space!

Without the mess from clutter, tidying up and staying on top of your home management gets way easier, ultimately saving you time and the stress of keeping up.

Does your house stress you out?

If your house is stressing you out, it may be something as simple as clutter.

Decluttering doesn’t mean you have to have a perfect home. Nope. Far from it.

If you are feeling stressed out about your clutter and don’t want to start because you feel like the end goal is impossible, take a step back.

Do you really need an Instagram-worthy home? Or could just getting your home functional do the job?

I guarantee you, if you got rid of enough clutter to make things feel functional, you’re going to feel a heck of a lot better!

What to do when your house overwhelms you

So what do you do?

Start small.

Here’s an example.

Maybe you have too many plates, so you simply use them all before you actually do the dishes.

This causes your sink to back up, which makes using your kitchen frustrating.

Then, you have two loads of dishes to cram into the dishwasher before you’re “caught up”.

Meanwhile, you are still eating off of plates that went through the first run of the dishwasher.

Begin never-ending frustrating clutter cycle.

What if…

You got rid of any plates beyond a dishwasher load?

Say you hide all but 6 or 8. Put them in a box in the garage for a week or two.

Then, see what happens.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to be washing the same mug over and over to use it. I love my dishwasher.

However, if our level of clutter starts to make things frustrating, then life can get even more stressful.

Declutter for your health

Declutter for your health. Reduce the chaos and you will likely reduce anxiety and stress too.

You will feel calmer in your home, and you will have a place to relax, rather than continue to be stressed by the mess around you.

Declutter to Drastically Reduce Anxiety and StressRead More

Are You Clutter Blind?: 8 Signs it Might be True

October 9 // by Brooke

I jokingly say my husband is clutter blind.

I’m a firm believer some are more bothered by clutter than others.
I don’t just love a clean home. I thrive in one. When the house is a mess, I feel like a mess.

What is clutter-blindness?

Clutter-blindness is a person’s inability to see clutter in a place. We ignore the mess, seeing it as nothing more than a permanent fixture in our home.

You know that pile of papers on the kitchen counter that’s ALWAYS been there? Does it even bother you anymore?

When our excess has no home or has “outgrown” its home, it simply takes up residence wherever it’s left.

Before you know it, you are stepping over a box you don’t know where to put or you have given up on the toys strewn all over your child’s room and accepted defeat.

This is clutter-blindness.

What causes clutter-blindness?

Clutter blindness is the result of having too much stuff and no system for organizing and storing the stuff we want to keep.

Look around. When you find a place where clutter has been handing out a while, think about how long it has been there.

Where do the items on the counter go? Do they even have a home? Maybe that spot has become a dumping ground for all your clutter.

You need to declutter. THEN, you need a system.

If junk mail is the problem, maybe you need to stop how it enters your home.

If toys are the problem, maybe it’s time to stop buying toys for no real reason and donating the ones your little one has outgrown.

Here are some signs you too may be clutter blind:

1 – Piles

You have piles of stuff all over your house and you are comfortable with it.

There’s the clean clothes pile, the dirty clothes pile, and the needs ironing pile.

You have a “system” for piles of papers on your desk, entryway table, and kitchen table. The coffee table long ago became the victim of its own piles.

If you are comfortable with piles, you, my friend are clutter blind.

2 – Nothing has a designated place

Some sweet person in your family holds up an object and asks, “Where does this go?” Your answer, “I don’t know. Just set it over there.”

Better yet, something new enters your home and it makes its way to the infamous dumping ground (see my dining room table below).

I was blind to the clutter on this table! — This is real life y’all!

Why does it go there? Because it belongs nowhere. It has no designated place.

Not assigning items a designated place makes you clutter blind!

3 – You have no system for paper

If your new mail gets dropped in a certain place, and it sits there unattended for weeks on end, you are likely clutter blind.

My husband and I once thought we were “organized”. We had a small end table in our kitchen and all our mail got placed on it to work on “someday”.

Often times, our mail pile was one foot high! That’s a lot of paper.

You need a system for the paper that enters your home. If you don’t have a system, you are clutter blind.

Get your mail organization under control by stopping the inflow of junk mail and paper clutter.

4 – You have to make paths through your stuff

If you have to make paths through all your stuff, you are clutter blind!

Our garage used to be the perfect example of a room with paths. We had so much stuff, and in an attempt to avoid extra storage costs, it all went into our garage.

We literally had paths to the exit, the workbench, and the outdoor toys.

There was so much stuff in our garage at one point that I forbade my young kids to go in there, fearing the boxes and piles would tumble down onto them.

We were seriously clutter blind.

Stacks of clutter and boxes in our clutter blind home.

5 – Your spouse is annoyed the house is always a mess

Whether it is passive-aggressive or in your face, if your spouse is constantly annoyed the house is a mess and you don’t see it, you are probably clutter blind.

It’s ok. Some people don’t mind the clutter. I’m almost jealous of these people.

However, if your spouse is constantly nagging you about the state of the house, it probably makes them feel so much better to operate in a house with a lot less chaos.

6 – Your friends offer to help you clean

Have you ever had a friend come to your house and sweetly offer to help you “organize”?

If this has happened to you, chances are they see the chaos, and you are clutter blind!

Lots of toys on the ground in a clutter blind home.

7 -You never feel like the house is clean but don’t know why

I used to spend every single Saturday trying to clean the house.

No matter how hard I tried, and no matter how much I organized, the house always felt like it was a mess.

It was a mystery I never understood until my eyes were opened to what clutter looked like. I was clutter blind!

8 – You always take free stuff

If you say “yes” to free stuff, even if you don’t need it or want it, you are likely clutter blind.

Free mugs, bandanas, note pads, pens, grocery bags…the list goes on.

We used to say “yes” to all things free. It was a habit that started when we didn’t have much money. If it was free, it would be stupid to turn it down.
Thing is, we didn’t always need the free stuff offered to us.

So what happened to all that free stuff?

It usually ended up in a pile or a box in our “junk room”.

Break the cycle of taking free stuff or face forever being clutter blind!

Related post: Three Secrets to Declutter Your Home

Why can’t I get rid of clutter?

Chances are, you are overwhelmed by the clutter you already own and continue to let clutter enter your home.

There are two actions you can take right now to get rid of clutter for good. top the inflow of clutter.

First, take a 30-day challenge to not buy clothes (or other guilty pleasure).

Secondly, simply start decluttering. If you feel stuck, check out these 5-minute decluttering tasks you can do RIGHT NOW to start making an impact.

Are you clutter blind?

If any of these characteristics sound all too familiar, there is a good chance you are clutter blind!

So what do you do if you are clutter blind?

Start small. Start recognizing clutter and find a way to get rid of it!

Save to Pinterest for later!

Are You Clutter Blind?: 8 Signs it Might be TrueRead More

An Easy 30 Day Clothes Decluttering Challenge (Free 30 Day Declutter Challenge PDF)

October 2 // by Brooke

A 30-day clothes decluttering challenge may be the answer if you are wondering how to declutter too many clothes, and you aren’t sure where to start. It’s time to declutter your closets and clothes with this monthly decluttering challenge!

Don’t forget to download the FREE 30 day clothes decluttering challenge PDF found at the bottom of the post.

30 Day Decluttering Clothes Challenge with Free Printable PDF

Make decluttering clothes less work

Going through your own clothes can be a challenge that makes you want to give up before you even get started.

I know. It happened to me several times when I first started decluttering, and I was dragging my feet for months on going through my clothes after a job change.

Even more than my own clothes, I HATE working through my kids’ clothes. I have two girls, one year apart and one to two sizes apart.

Every season or growth spurt I have to lock myself in their room and go through the outgrown clothes, store them for the younger one, or figure out a way to consign or give away the ones the younger one has outgrown.

It. Is. Work. Like a lot of it. I avoid it with all my being too, as I get no joy from it. Anyone with me?

School is about to start back for my kids. Every year, I have a mild panic moment when I realize we need to buy more clothes for them. I mean, they already have so many clothes.

How on earth am I supposed to make room for more?! What am I to do with the ones I am cleaning out?

Don’t even get me started on the time constraints. Who has time to declutter closets with the start of school, work, and other activities?

Why you need to declutter your closet

You know that feeling you get when you move into a new house, see an empty closet space, and think this space is HUGE?

Then, you move in, load all your clothes inside, and before you know it, you can’t squeeze another hanger in or cram another item on the shelf.

Decluttering brings more than space. It brings a sense of calm.

Decluttering makes your mornings easier. No more sifting through clothes to find the same outfits you always wear.

No more feeling frumpy, too big, or uncomfortable in the clothes you want to like but really don’t enjoy.

No more staring at wasted money from buying clothes simiply because they are on sale but don’t really suit your style or preferences.

Delcuttering your closet gives you peace.

How to declutter your clothes fast

Give yourself 20 minutes a day.

You may be thinking you want to declutter your clothes in just one day. You can. Decluttering your closet at super-fast speeds is totally possible. It’s hard work though.

A divide and conquer approach may be the best way to purge your closet and make it a whole lot less stressful.

That’s why this month, I’ve broken down closet decluttering tasks into quick, daily tasks that should take you no more than 20 minutes at a time.

Grab a coffee (or your beverage of choice), and get started!

I’ve always said decluttering and organizing is like working out. You don’t always want to do it, but you sure feel better when you are done. I bet you can find 20 minutes!

You can wake up an extra half hour, grab a quick few minutes after dinner or anytime in between.

Tackle the kid stuff first (before school starts or while they are on a break)

I front-loaded the downloadable decluttering calendar printable with kid stuff, so you can get it done before school has started or is too far underway.

No kids? Don’t let that stop you! Skip ahead to the tasks on your list and mark them off when done.

How to sort through clothing when decluttering

This clothes decluttering challenge helps you take a massive task and break int into small, actionable steps you can take each day.

When sorting through clothing in this decluttering challenge, work through each category of items…one at a time.

When you are working through the clothes category, work through the ENTIRE category. Don’t leave anything out, even if it means going through those clothes spread out through multiple closets or in storage bins.

Be ruthless when decluttering clothes

Learn how to be ruthless when decluttering your clothes.

Touch every single piece in your closet. If you don’t touch it, you aren’t giving the item the time it takes to actually make a decision.

It’s too easy to skip over something you think you want to keep, but if you were to actually pick it up (or even try it on), you may make a different decision.

Declutter clothes that are too big, too small, make you feel frumpy, or are simply worn out.

You deserve to feel fantastic in your clothes!

Give yourself grace

If you get behind in this clothes decluttering challenge, don’t stress out. It’s just clothes and stuff. You will get there.

Be ruthless when decluttering your clothes. Be honest.

Remember why you want to declutter and organize. You will feel such a weight lifted. I promise the hard work will be worth it.

If guilt is something you are struggling with, check out my post on exploring the guilt we have associated with our stuff. It may help you work through some of those emotions.

Let me know how it goes! I’m so excited to see what we accomplish this month!

Share on social media!

Use hashtag #happysimplemom

Download your free 30-day clothes decluttering calendar PDF and clean out your closets and your kids’ closets fast!

Day 1: Kid Socks

Day 2: Kid Underwear

Day 3: Kid Tops

Day 4: Kid Bottoms

Day 5: Kid Pajamas

Day 6: Kid Shoes

Day 7: Create a Kid Capsule Wardrobe

Day 8: Create a Kid Clothes Storage System

Day 9: Your Socks

Day 10: Donate / Sell / Give Away

Day 11: Your Tops

Day 12: Your Bottoms

Day 13: Your Active Wear

Day 14: Your Underwear

Day 15: Your Pajamas

Day 16: Your Shoes

Day 17: Create a Shoe Organization System

Day 18: Create a Lost Sock System

Day 19: Repair Clothing Needing Mending

Day 20: Swimsuits

Day 21: Scarves, Hats and Other Accessories

Day 22: Organize / Store Accessories

Day 23: Jewelry

Day 24: Create a Jewelry Organization System

Day 25: Create Your Capsule Wardrobe

Day 26: Special Occasion Clothes

Day 27: Clear / Organize Closet Shelves

Day 28: Clear / Organize Closet Floors

Day 29: Declutter Hangers

Day 30: Create a Seasonal Storage System

Day 31: Donate / Sell / Give Away

An Easy 30 Day Clothes Decluttering Challenge (Free 30 Day Declutter Challenge PDF)Read More

The Flat Surface Clutter Rule: How to Declutter Countertops and Other Flat Surfaces in Your Home

September 29 // by Brooke

Do you ever wonder, “How do I make a room look less cluttered?”

Use the flat surface clutter rule to declutter your kitchen counters, bathroom counters, floors and other flat surfaces in your home once and for all. Clutter-free surfaces will instantly transform the look of a room!

The flat surface clutter rule was probably the most helpful and most remembered rule when I was decluttering my home for the first time and when I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted the end result to look like.

It is the rule that guided me on how to declutter kitchen counter clutter and bathroom counter clutter.

It is also the rule that decluttered my kids’ rooms.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link, I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

Here’s the flat surface clutter rule:

If it is a flat surface (like the floor, the table, the countertops), then the flat surface should be cleared of anything that is not a permanent fixture.

When leaving a room, any flat surfaces should also be cleared.

Remember, clutter attracts clutter!

I know. Duh, right? Stay with me.

Clutter attracts more clutter on any flat surface or countertop

Why have a rule that clears clutter from any flat surface? Well, clutter attracts clutter.

Admit it, when your house is super, awesome deep clean because you have overnight guests coming over, the house stays clean way longer than when there is crap thrown everywhere!

I know when we let our house go, and it looks like a kid tornado came through. I get lazy too about putting things away.

Oftentimes, there will be books and papers left on the kitchen table. Why? Because there are already books and papers there, what is one more item?

Clutter has a way of making you think “What’s the big deal with adding one more thing to the pile already there?”

Before you know it, your house is a mess, and that overwhelming and anxious feeling you get about having to clean the entire house creeps back up on you.

Related Post: Declutter to Reduce Anxiety and Stress

How to use the flat surface clutter rule (2 options)

The slow method to clear clutter from flat surfaces:

First, you have to clear the clutter from all of your countertops and other flat surfaces. This is the hard part. Take your time, and work room-to-room.

You can do it all in an afternoon, or you can spread it out over a week or two. Pick the time schedule that works for you.

Give yourself permission to do it the way that makes you feel the most comfortable and doesn’t create more stress.

As you gain momentum, you will want to move faster, as the feeling of relief you get from clearing the clutter is transformative!

You will then need to create a maintenance habit that sticks with you once the clutter is gone from any flat surface.

Flat surface clutter fix rule created cleared counters.

The quick method for decluttering countertops and any other flat surface clutter:

If you want to see major changes in your house and get some instant clutter relief, pick up a laundry basket and start in one room.

Grab everything off any flat surface and put it in the basket. Then, start putting things in their designated place.

If you don’t have a place for something to go to, create one now, that is not on a flat surface creating more flat surface clutter!

After you finish one room, move on to the next room.

Involve your family too. Tell them XYZ area is no longer a dumping ground.

For little ones, they may not know where to put something. Help them find a permanent home for their belongings.

Related Post: Why Your Kids Need Less Toys

Real-life example with a solution

My little ones struggled with this problem of adding clutter to a table every day with their pre-school artwork.

I was getting so aggravated they kept piling it up on the dining room table, which was near our front door.

When I got frustrated one day, they told me, “Mommy, we don’t want to throw it away, and we don’t know what to do with it.” Bless their hearts, they had no idea what to do with their little treasures.

So, we created a system to manage kid art and display it in their rooms.

It was a win-win for everyone. The table was cleared, at least of the artwork, and my kids had a way to display their masterpieces.

We bought these magnetic boards for their rooms. You can use them as a gallery for your child’s artwork. You can also get fun magnets to hold up the artwork!

Floor space is a major flat surface that attracts clutter

Even when I thought my house was clean before decluttering and embracing concepts of minimalism, there was still a lot of clutter on the floors.

I used the floors to store things because these items had no designated place.

What it was doing though was creating chaos in my living areas. It was taking away walking space, a place for furniture, and that empty space that simply creates calmness and openness.

For example, I was storing x-ray films against the wall before we decluttered the bedroom. Why? I don’t know. Where does one put x-ray films?

Turns out, that part of the body was long corrected, and there was really no reason to keep x-ray films any longer. So out they went!

Removing something so simple fixed visual clutter in my bedroom. Even if you don’t throw something out, find a place for everything.

Furniture and floor clutter

Furniture obviously takes up floor space, and you should not remove all your furniture pieces.

Take a look around the room.

What furniture pieces do you never use?
Is there any reason for keeping them?
Do you only need a piece for when company comes over to visit?
How often do you have company?
Could you replace said furniture item with a more multi-functional piece?

When I first evaluated our living room, we had multiple stand-alone chairs that never got used. However, they were taking up two corners in our living room.

I got rid of our falling apart desk chair, replaced it with one of the stand-alone living room chairs, and when company comes over, we bring the now desk chair out for people to sit on if needed.

At all other times, our living room had a nice large opening in the corner where kids can play, the dog can lay down, or a space that could simply be open and be inviting.

Floor clutter in the playroom or your kid’s room

Kids love to play, and they love having space to play.

Create a storage system in your kid’s rooms that can get toys off of the floor and better yet, hidden behind cabinet doors, a toy chest lid, or in a closet.

It will give you peace of mind to see a cleared space, give your kid’s an easy way to pick-up, and give your kids space to play.

Your kids will think you made their rooms bigger simply by helping them find their floors!

You don’t have to get fancy either. I’ve used Rubbermaid containers in closets (since they’re hidden anyway) and baskets in more open areas. We use shelves with cubbies and baskets to group toys together.

Tabletops are an easy attraction for flat surface clutter

In our last home, the formal dining room table was right by the front door.

We did not eat on the dining room table nightly, so it became an easy space to dump everything when coming inside. I HATED IT. It made me so mad.

It was like my family was trying to make me crazy. I even threatened once to turn the table on its side so people could no longer use it as a dumping station.

I cleaned off the table and then made the flat surface clutter rule.

If anything was left on the table for mama to clean up, mama got to decide said item’s fate.

They knew after my big purge, that often meant it could end up recycled or in the donation bag.

If you use a table for work, crafts, or for eating, clean it up after every activity.

Tables are great for families to come together and share an experience, but remember clutter attracts more clutter.

If you get into the habit of cleaning up after every single activity, you will always be able to enjoy the clean and open space of a table when it is time.

How to keep kitchen counters clear

Whether you have a small kitchen or a large kitchen, decluttering kitchen countertops will make your kitchen so much more inviting.

Now, I’m not one of those minimalists who has nothing on her counters. I like to have some things up there, for practical reasons or because I enjoy looking at something.

Be purposeful about what stays.

I like my fruit bowl. I think it is pretty, so it stays. It also reminds me often how lucky we are to have fresh fruit and veggies.

I also keep the knife block on the counter in one of our past homes. It looked nice, and it made cooking easy. Now that we have more drawer space, I keep the knives in a special bamboo block that fits in the drawer perfectly.

One of the items we got rid of from the kitchen counters when we decluttered the kitchen was the coffee maker. I know, that seems crazy.

My husband is the only one who drinks coffee, and I was sick of the waste every day. He would make an entire pot, and then he was leaving at least two cups.

What did we do?

We switched to a French press, and we love it! He makes coffee in two cup batches, and then the coffee press gets put away in a cabinet.

My husband initially thought I was crazy when I mentioned the idea, but I bought him a French press anyway.

Since then, he has never turned back. He actually likes his coffee better this way, and it keeps our kitchen counters clutter-free.

Declutter bathroom countertops

I never knew I cared about bathroom countertop clutter until we started exploring minimalism.

We always had a small bathroom, and I was plenty content with the bathroom clutter that accumulated on the counters.

I kept my flat iron, styling gels, make-up bag, and toothbrushes on the counter. I could not put them under the sink because there was no room under the sink!

In order to declutter your bathroom counters, you may have to first clean out and declutter your bathroom cabinets to make space from all the stuff you decide to keep up top. It will be worth the trouble because you will now be able to put all that stuff you use every day out of sight.

Let me tell you, once that stuff is out of sight, you will LOVE it. It is so nice to walk into your bathroom and not see the chaos as you start your day.

Check out this post for more details on How to Declutter Bathroom Counters

Clear clutter from furniture tops

Clear off your dresser, nightstand, chest of drawers, guest beds or any other pieces of furniture that have become impromptu storage units.

Clutter is usually on furniture tops because it does not have a designated place where it belongs, or because you have run out of space to store these items, so those become the easy storage solutions.

Don’t just buy more storage bins either. If you cannot find a place for an item, make a place. This may mean getting rid of something to make that space.

Declutter the top of the fridge

Oh, the top of the fridge and the clutter (and dust) it brings. It is so easy to put things up there. It is out of sight, kind of, and out of mind.

We are still guilty of placing items on top of the fridge, but I fight it as hard as possible.

The items that usually make it up there are lunch boxes. You empty your lunch box and then you throw it up there for tomorrow’s lunch packing.

Like everything else, create a space for the items you are storing up there, and your kitchen will feel so much cleaner!

Declutter your garage workbench and garage floor

This is another Achilles heel for me. Why? It is because the garage is my husband’s workspace.

I try to be respectful of my husband’s stuff when decluttering, but it is so hard when there is so much chaos.

In our last home, we had a garage workbench. It was awesome…when we moved in. It was cleared off and empty. Then the tools were unpacked, and that was the last time I actually saw the workbench for two years.

Finally, during my crazy purge, after I had decluttered every other room in the house, I took everything off the workbench and put it all loosely in a box.

WARNING: If you use my method, be prepared for a not-so-impressed spouse.

Seriously, the look on my husband’s face when he realized his organized chaos was literally thrown loosely into a box was something to talk about for years to come. (I personally thought it was fantastic to see such a wonderful workspace again, but he was less than amused.)

Something positive came out of my brave workbench purging though.

I bought pegboards, and we hung them up. I then bought inexpensive screws and hooks and placed them all over the garage. The workbench got cleared, and the floor space was cleared.

It was like a whole new garage and work area.

My husband eventually forgave me for messing with his things, as he too got to benefit from the cleared space.

Bottom line, get things off any flat surface and off the floor. The amount of space you gain is invaluable.

Get rid of paper clutter

Mail clutter is a huge contributor to flat surface clutter.

If you want a simple solution to your mail clutter struggles, check out my super simple mail organization system…without a big DIY project!

I fought my mail piles around the house for years. It was ugly some days. The best solution, stop the inflow. I have other helpful tips too.

If you want a DIY project and something a little more elaborate for your system, check out my inspiration post for creating a family command center.

Maintaining a clutter-free flat surface

After any flat surface is cleared, create a family rule. Communicate this rule.

You know as moms we often forget the communication part. I’m guilty. If you communicate a rule, there is a better chance people will follow it!

Tell your family before they leave a room, they must grab anything off the table, floor, etc that belongs to them.

I get it, for my five-year-old, I might as well be talking into thin air.

However, if I say it enough times, she will one day create a habit that stays with her for life. It takes time mama.

You will feel huge transformations from clearing something as simple as a cluttered flat surface. Be strong. Be persistent.

Lastly, get support! Join the free Facebook group of like-minded people. Real-life people with real-life clutter.

This post is part of the Happy Clutter-Free Home series. You can achieve a decluttered home once and for all. You don’t have to settle for cleaning all day, stress, and general clutter overwhelm.

Being a mom is hard already. Don’t let clutter make it feel impossible. Get back time and reclaim the joy in your home.

Join a free Facebook group and join others to ask questions and share your progress.

How Minimalism Can Help When Feeling Overwhelmed as a Mom

Today is Day 2 of the Happy Clutter-Free Home Series

If you didn’t get a chance to see it, check out the first post in the series, Decluttering Checklist to Get You Started: 100 Items to Get Rid of Today.

You may also enjoy checking out 20 areas you can declutter in 20 minutes or less.

The next post in the series will be working on the bathroom with How to Create a Minimalist Bathroom. It isn’t as scary as it sounds! Join us for Day 3 of the Happy Clutter-Free Home Series.

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