Several years ago, my family and I decided to pursue minimalism. Since then, we have tried to remove all of the possessions from our home that are not essential. In doing so, we have found new opportunity to spend our time, energy, and finances on the things that are most important to us.
Also, we became far more observant about how our things rob us of our precious freedom. We have learned that just like most families, no matter how hard we try to stop it, stuff inevitably continues to enter our home… nearly every single day.
So we work hard to remove any clutter that begins to accumulate in our home. Along the way, we have picked up (and try to practice) some helpful clutter busting routines to help those who are just getting started with minimalist living.
Here are 15 Clutter Busting Routines we have found helpful in our home:
1. Place junk mail immediately into a recycling bin. Take note of the natural flow of mail into your home. Placing a recycling container prior to your “mail drop-off zone” can catch most of that junk mail before it even reaches your counter. And as an added bonus, you’ll begin to look through less of it too (think advertisements).
2. Store kitchen appliances out of sight. Toasters, can openers, coffee makers… they all take up space. And while it may not seem like much space by looking at them, the first time you prepare dinner on a counter without them present, you’ll quickly notice the difference when you have a minimalist kitchen. If you think it’s going to be a hassle putting them away every morning, don’t. It takes less than 6 seconds to put each appliance away… once you’ve found a home for it that is.
3. Remove 10 articles of clothing from your closet today. Go ahead. If you are typical, it’ll take you roughly 5 minutes to grab 10 articles of clothing that you no longer wear and throw them in a box. Your remaining clothes will fit better in your closet. Your closet will be able to breathe again. And if you write “Goodwill” on the box when you are done, you’ll feel better about yourself as soon as you drop it off. Most likely, you’ll find yourself inspired to do it again.
4. Fold clean clothes / Remove dirty clothes immediately. The way I handle clothes these days is one of the biggest clutter changes I have made in my life. Unfortunately, I used to be a “throw-them-on-the-floor” guy. But now I handle each one right when I take it off. Dirty clothes down the clothes chute. Clean clothes back to the hanger or drawer. That’s it. It’s really that simple. How do the dirty ones magically appear clean and folded in my closet you ask… I’m not sure. You’ll need to ask my wife.
5. Kids’ bedroom toys live in the closet. Not on the floor. Not on the dresser. But in the closet. And when the closet gets too full of toys, it’s time to make some room. Hint, it’s usually safe to remove the toys at the bottom of the pile.
6. Kids pick up their toys each evening. This has countless benefits: 1) It teaches responsibility. 2) It helps kids realize that more isn’t always better. 3) The home is clean for mom and dad when the kids are in bed. 4) It’s a clear indication that the day has come to an end. Gosh, you’d think with all these benefits it would be easier for us to get the kids to do it…
7. Fill your containers for the garbage man. Use every trash pick-up day as an excuse to fill your recycling containers and/or garbage cans. Grab a box of old junk from the attic… old toys from the toy room… old food from the pantry… old paperwork from the office. If once a week is too often, do this exercise every other week. You’ll get the hang of it. And may even begin to enjoy trash morning… okay, I won’t go that far.
8. Halve decorations. No seriously, I mean it. Grab a box and walk through your living room. Remove decorations from shelves, tables, and walls that aren’t absolutely beautiful or meaningful. You may like it better than you think. If not, you can always put them back. But I’d bet my wife’s old high school yearbooks that you won’t return all of them.
9. Wash dishes right away. Hand washing some dishes takes less time than putting them in the dishwasher. This applies to cups, breakfast bowls, dinner plates, and silverware. If hand washed right after eating, it takes hardly any time at all. If however, hand washing is just not an option for you, be sure to put used dishes in the dishwasher right away. Nobody likes walking into a kitchen with dishes piled up in the sink or on the counter… and it’s even less fun eating in there. Practice kitchen counter organization to have a clutter-free countertop.
10. Unmix and match cups, bowls, plates, and silverware. Uniformity makes for better stacking, storing, and accessing. If there is a souvenir cup or mug that is so important to you that you can’t live without it, that’s perfectly fine. Just don’t keep 5 of them. Mom, any chance you are reading this?
11. Keep your desk clear, clean, and minimalistic. Drawers can adequately house most of the things needed to keep your desk functional. And a simple filing system should keep it clear of paper clutter. The next person who sits down to use the desk will thank you.
12. Store your media out of sight. Make a home for dvd’s, cd’s, video games, and remote controls. They don’t need to be in eyesight, you use them less than you think. And if you remove them from your eyesight… maybe you’ll use them even less.
13. Always leave room in your coat closet. There are two reasons why coats, shoes, and outerwear keep ending up scattered throughout your home rather than in your closet. The first reason is because your coat closet is so full, it’s a hassle to put things away and retrieve them quickly. Leave room on the floor, on the hangers, and on the shelves for used items to be quickly put away and retrieved. The second reason is because you have kids… but you’re on your own with that one.
14. Keep flat surfaces clear. Kitchen counters, bathroom counters, bedroom dressers, tabletops… After you clear them the first time, keeping them clean takes daily effort. Receipts, coins, and paper clutter just keep coming and coming… it’s just easier the second time around.
15. Finish a magazine or newspaper. Process or recycle immediately. If you’ve finished the paper product, process it and rid yourself of its clutter immediately. Good recipe in there? Put it in your recipe box and recycle the rest. Good article that your husband will enjoy? Clip it and recycle. Article that your friend will enjoy? Clip it, mail it, and recycle (or better yet, search for it online and send it that way). Coupon too good to pass up? Cut it out and recycle. Stacks of magazines and newspapers serve little purpose in life but to clutter a room.
Gip @ So Much More Life says
Number 2 is the single best thing I ever did. I did this about six months ago. I advocate for totally clean kitchen countertops. I’ve been maintaining mine that way, and it’s great. I wrote a lot about this at the time.
And I just started doing number 9 this week. Dishes have always been a problem in our household. We stopped using the dishwasher a few days ago and are loving our new system already.
Nice, very useful post!
Gip
heather says
Just over six months ago, I moved to Canada for graduate school. Several months before, I started purging. And I purged a LOT. When I left, I was pretty sure I was done.
While I have acquired a few pieces of clothing since I’ve been here, my closet was feeling a little tight so I just read #3 above and decided to do it. It was kinda tough to get ten items out of my closet, but then I followed it up by getting ten (actually 16) items out of just my pajama drawer! And the drawer isn’t full anymore! Next, I’m thinking I may tackle my sock drawer.
Every so often we need those encouraging prompts to get us over a speed bump. Thank you!
annalyn says
ahh! if only I can do all of these. The last time I cleaned the kitchen and the fridge, somebody was really upset because I threw “unwanted stuff”
meg says
Halving the decorations was a great one around my house, and eventually led me to getting rid of the curtains in the living room, and just going with blinds. The curtains attracted dust and cat hair and I really really hated having to iron them after washing them and the whole hanging up/taking down routine. So we took down the curtain and the curtain rods and we LOVE it! Just thought I’d throw that one in there :)
Tanja from Minimalist Packrat says
Hi Joshua,
Funny, I just wrote about #6 the other day. :) I do most of these things but somehow struggle with #11. Time to clear the desk off again! I’m fabulous at being minimalist but not so fabulous at putting things away. At least now there’s a thousand times “less stuff” to land on horizontal surfaces!
Cheers,
Tanja
Sarah Moriah says
She may not be able to remember it’s there without a visual reminder or cue. There are some organization styles that require things in or things out. I use a mixture of both.
*just a thought from an organizer that’s worked with a lot of people on that*
Todd Schnick says
“keep flat surfaces clear,” he says…
clearly you live with the only woman who doesn’t use any flat space as storage space…
sigh…
Nicki Savantes says
Todd, I truly and deeply resent the sexism in your comment. I know more than one man who uses flats as storage, and more than on woman who doesn’t, but I wouldn’t want to make any gender based generalizations based on these observations…
Secondly, I wish to express my respect to your wife for accepting to live with a person who makes derogatory public comments about her instead of working these things out as a couple. I can only assume you must have tremendous other assets that make up for this, or that you hide your internet activities from her.
If you’re frustrated with your wife’s behavior, why don’t you talk to her about it instead of venting your spleen on a much read public blog?
Thirdly, I browsed your latest post in which you basically advocate making a mess of things, and in view of your comment, I can’t help but wonder if you wash your own clothes after the mess making, if you scrub the sauce of the walls after your culinary experiments, if you pick up all the decorative pillows every morning, etc.
All the best,
Todd Schnick says
Nicki, thanks for the comment, and I just wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to be sexist, and I am really sorry if the comment was taken in that context. Please accept my apology. It was meant in good fun. And trust me, I used to cover up the flat surfaces too…
And yes, I spend half my days cleaning up my messes. Just so you know, that post was written in the context of getting your hands dirty to foster creativity and meaning in everyday things…
Again, I am sorry about the comment.
Nicki Savantes says
Thx for being such a good sport about it, Todd.
Meanwhile I have realized I have been using you as a projection for my anger at failing integrity myself so many times, so it is my turn to apologize…
Dawn says
WOW — that is some impressive communication on both parts! What a breath of fresh air :)
Lacey McGuire says
FINALLY!!! A place where people aren’t screaming at each other leaving death threats and profanity! Why can’t the world be more like you people! Made my day!
David says
very impressive… very very impressive…
emily says
Agreed! That was so nice to read – very rare!
Dove says
That inability to keep flat surfaces (and other areas) clear is a psychological thing. We tend to fear “space,” or rather emptiness…I think it’s also a fear of the “unknown.” Our environment is a reflection of us. And our issues with empty or open space reflect our issues with being “open” to others, to life. That is, the things in those spaces are showing the blocks we have within ourselves to being “open” — our fear of new things, experiences, people. Ironically, it’s also a reflection of a fear of being alone, “empty.” Like our simultaneous fear of both failure and success.
GothamOrganizers says
From my experience working with hundreds of clients as a professional organizer, (and as someone who has no problem leaving stuff out for a couple of days before eventually putting it away), the tendency to accumulate items on flat surfaces is not necessarily because of psychological fears or issues. Here are some other possibilities:
-Some people simply prefer the visual aesthetic of many items.
-Some people have a hard time remembering where things are so they can find them more easily if they are out in the open.
-Some people have positive memories associated with photos and knick-knacks.
-Some people have issues with visual processing and literally don’t see the items that others consider “clutter”.
-Some people feel it’s a waste of time to put things away when they’re just going to use them again.
-For some people it takes a lot of mental energy to “just” put something away, depending on how their brain processes sequential actions.
-Some people don’t care about how their space looks.
-Some people have higher tolerances for “chaos” than others.
-Some people’s schedules are so packed that they don’t have the time to put things away.
-Some people have other pressing problems and don’t have the energy to put things away (I see this a lot with people who are depressed).
-Some people have a long-standing ingrained habit of leaving things out (One client coined the phrase “droppers”, which I love!)
-Some people love to shop and accumulate a lot of stuff (for a variety of reasons).
I could go on and on, but I hope this helps people who are trying to overcome this tendency in themselves (not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with it!) or who are frustrated by the tendencies of others they live/work with.
jennifer says
thanks for putting all that out there….I have a lot of those issues. It seems I forget that a thing exists if its not visible.. but isn’t there a way to remedy that brain thing? it does make life a little messy, not to mention that when the counter gets enough of these sort of things on it (that I don’t want to lose), then they start to cover each other up!!
Suzanne says
@ Gotham Organizers : I’m almost two years late with the response but, luckily, your comments make as much sense today as they did when you first penned them ! “Some people simply prefer the visual aesthetic of many items.” Absolutely ! And, contrary to the opinion of some others, those who choose to ‘decorate’ their lives are not all lost souls trying to “block” the possibility of being “open to others, to life.” Far from it, in fact; Some people. myself included, are perfectly able to incorporate what, to others, might at first seem like an abundance of ‘stuff’ into extremely small spaces and create a visually pleasing and very ‘welcoming’ environment for themselves and for visitors. Speaking for myself, I can’t imagine anything more depressing than a bare-walled, empty-surfaced living space, which, I imagine, is why I evolved as the type who would be happy living in any space at all, as long as I were allowed to ‘decorate’. I’m about to ‘downsize’ to the tiniest place I’ve ever attempted to ‘set up house’ in .. 300 square feet of, currently characterless, space. I’m confident it will look fabulous, function well and defy the sometimes misguided belief that going ‘minimalist’ means getting rid of items “willy nilly” and just for the sake of it. For me, ‘minimalism’ is more about creating space for the things you cherish (even if what you ‘cherish’ is a temporal thing) and establishing your own ‘comfort’ level, rather than feeling guilty for not loving sterile’ and ’empty’ environments. The key, as you know, is organization and order, and learning to love ‘being’ organized. There’s a great sense of satisfaction to be had when you see the results of your ‘creativity’ with limited spaces … If ’empty’ space satisfies you, that’s wonderful, and you ‘score’ by clearing every surface hiding (or throwing) all your ‘stuff’ away, but if you enjoy your artwork, photographs, cushion collection, Granny’s china, make the space to display them by ‘sacrificing’ things you know you wouldn’t shed tears over if they were lost or stolen tomorrow !
Sarah Moriah says
Joshua,
I wanted to add that one might want to tear off their address label on junk mail and shred it before recycling. It’s so easy for identity thieves to get their hands on this. I make sure any personal information is removed and shredded before recycling.
I’ve been practicing putting my clothes away as soon as they come off, unless I’m directly putting them back on – and it’s helped tons in reducing clutter in the last month.
vgs1895 says
Thanks–that was my only caveat on this list–don’t put your address in recycling.
Ilene says
We have a stamper that punches a code over the address, saving a lot of time for about $10. On Amazon..privacy stamp.
Brooke says
What can they do with only an address? They could drive down any street to get someone’s address.
Lisa says
I’ve been wondering the same thing – my husband insists on shredding everything with our address on it; I shred just things with additional info like account numbers.
Elizabeth says
I worked for the second-largest international bank in existence for three years, dealing with fraud and collections issues. Believe me, identity theft occurring from someone simply getting an address off a label is extremely rare. Actually, people rooting through trash bags to find something of value is also quite rare. Shredding IS a good idea, but identity theft rarely occurs via those means. Identity theft typically occurs in one of two ways; one, because people use their computer to do financial and/or tax transactions but don’t have adequate anti-virus/worm/Trojan/hacker software- such as Norton or McAfee- on their computer. Then either a hacker or someone who uses that household computer steals the SSN or account number info. The other (and far more common way, sadly) is that family members root through their relative’s papers in a file cabinet or something akin to that, find their SSN or account numbers and then run up charges on credit cards and such that way. Trust me- identity theft is often done by someone you know, often someone living in your own household. This is one reason why identity theft amongst the elderly is higher- they don’t necessarily know what the family member who pays their bills, runs their errands, possibly lives in their house, etc., is up to. Very sad but very true. I do think shredding is a good idea- but protecting your personal papers within your home is even more important. I would always tell people to either have locking file cabinets (with keys that are only accessible to you), a safe or a lockbox at their bank to hold documents with a SSN on it. The SSN and/or date of birth of an identity theft victim is really the ticket in for thieves- an address or phone number? Not so much.
Nikki says
I think it’s the fact that the name is coupled with the address….you can drive down the street, but you won’t know the names of the folks that live in the house…
Grace says
We just have 3 simple guidelines in our house
* a place for everything
* don’t put it down, put it away.
* if it will take you less than 2 min to do something, just do it!.
Nice post, thanks :)
ricardo says
Nice!
Frank|Modern Monkey Mind says
Grace, I LOVE that. Simple. Effective. Realistic.
Joshua | The Minimalists says
Great list. I love the since of immediacy with many of these items. If you get things out of the way, it takes a lot off your mind.
With respect to bills, we wrote about how to get rid of all your junk mail on our site. This really helps:
The Direct Marketing Association offers a free, online-only service at DMAChoice.org that allows you to stop catalogs and junk mail–or get more of them, if you desire. Most legit mailers are a member of the DMA, so this could reduce your load of junk mail by up to two-thirds. When you’re at the DMA site, you may see a direct link to OptOutPreScreen.com, which will prevent the major credit bureaus from sending pre-approved credit card applications to you. One other website you may want to check out is WorldPrivacyForum.org, which is a clearinghouse for all these matters.
One word of advice: People are sometimes afraid to use the DMA site because you have to give a credit card number to verify your identity. You will not be charged. This practice was put in place because some folks were putting others’ names on the receive list just to annoy them. When it comes to the OptOut site, people are scared of ID theft because you have to give your Social Security number. But you actually help prevent ID theft by cutting down on pre-approved applications that may be going to an old address where they could be picked up by ID thieves.
Take care,
Joshua Millburn
http://theminmalists.com
essay says
A better place to stop catalog clutter:
https://www.catalogchoice.org/
They don’t require anything that’s not already listed on the catalogs you receive. They don’t charge, but they do appreciate donations.
And they keep track of your choices, showing you which catalogs you’ve opted out of. I’ve opted out of 84 catalogs!
samantha says
Joshua left out a letter on his link; it’s
http://www.theminimalists.com/