keeping clutter under control

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June 23, 2017 2 min read

sometimes I wonder whether it might just be easier to surrender to the clutter that just keeps arriving into my home, instead of persevering in my quest to keep it under control.

There's no denying that, for me, a series of clear surfaces and spaces brings me peace and when confronted with, say, my 13 year old son's untidy bedroom, I get more than a little agitated!

What helps me to keep it all relatively manageable, is dealing with things like mail, deliveries and My Food Bag ingredients as soon as they arrive. Put the rubbish in the bin, put clothes away, throw out anything that is superfluous and pin the notices on a board.

If you've got space in your kitchen for a noticeboard, then I'd highly recommend making or customising your own. Our noticeboard at home (below) has a collection of special photos, sweet notes and coupon books from our children, gift vouchers, dance schedule, school certificates, concert tickets and mementoes. It's the first place we go when we need to check on something and when to celebrate an achievement.

Use the scheduling features on your phone, add in key dates from the school newsletter, reminders about haircuts, dental appointments and school interviews - and try and remove the paper factor. Otherwise, keep a pad handy so you can update shopping lists or To Do's as they occur.

It's helpful to have a general household clear out on an annual basis - include things like kids toys, cushions that have worn out, wardrobe items that can't be donated, and plastic storage containers without a matching lid (or just lids!). It's quite amazing how quickly random things can accumulate and take up valuable space - so by having a regular clean out (that maybe ties in with the next school fair) you can keep on top of the "stuff".

This year, we've bought (and filled) a couple of Flexi-Bins - these are massive durable "skips" which fold out up to 2m by 3m. You can fit a lot in these bins, and when you've finished, just book in a time for collection. It's a great way of getting rid of things which just tend to sit around, or are stuffed under the house - think broken fence palings, a trike that's missing a wheel, old and damaged suitcases, unnecessary files, etc.

Meantime, there are some very cool storage solutions which have been designed to look good while doing good - here are just some of the great items available at cravehome, which are suitable for any room of your house.