Significantly prevent and reduce clutter with the RESET
In the most ideal world, your spouse would use a pair of scissors and immediately return them to their designated home. You would address each piece of paper as it entered your home—right into the recycling, shredder, or filing cabinet. The kids would put away their legos and even pick up the tiny pieces that are scattered all over the room. Your family would eat all of the food in your pantry and fridge and never waste. Etc.
But this is the REAL WORLD, and we are humans. Even a minimalist who loves tidying (like me!) is human and so inevitably, things get…stuck, misplaced, or unaddressed. And you’re human. And maybe, like me, you have a partner, kids, pets, or roommates. All of whom are living, breathing mess-makers.
If I’m a broken record, it’s because I need to be. A professional organizer like me can get your home to look THISCLOSE to perfect. But then we go home, and you continue to live and (hopefully thrive!) in your new spaces. So that near-perfect state rapidly shifts into a real lived-in space.
It’s me walking into the kitchen we decluttered last week to start a new space, but the client just finished packing the kids’ lunches and so the countertop was not 100% cleared. Don’t apologize for this.
What’s important is to not mistake the everyday “mess” as clutter. This is the ingredients and dishes/supplies you used to make those cupcakes for a party tonight. This is the puzzle you’re working on with your kids. This is the pile of bills you’re paying. This is the new Bark Box that came in. This is you, living your life, doing the things. You create these tiny messes because your life has purpose, meaning, happenings. You are doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing!
In most cases, those items are pretty simple to put away, clear off surfaces, and address promptly. This is where the daily reset (see below) is GOLD. One of the most important to-do items that needs to be a priority to help maintain your space.
But clutter? It’s everyday mess on steroids, it’s the shameful unaddressed crap you stuffed into a reusable bag and tossed behind the door to deal with later. It’s excess, duplicates, miscellaneous. Clutter is stagnant. It’s forgotten items, piles, buried under life.
And if you skip the daily reset again and again, and ultimately overconsume, buy duplicates, have more than you need or can manage, then you will likely find yourself with clutter: unrecognizable blurs of stuff, on top of a table you love, shoved into a closet you need to use, covering shelves you need to access.
This is where the overwhelm comes in. And the subsequent STUCK feeling that some clients call “suffocating” creeps in. And makes itself comfortable in your home.
So, the goal is NOT perfection; it’s a home you love that’s easy to reset.
“A home you love” = clothes, items you need/use/love that you gladly choose to keep, not items you’re holding onto because of guilt, uncertainty, how much they cost once, just in case you need it someday, etc. It’s what you consciously decide to bring into your space because you find it beautiful or special. It’s not 348590348096480395890385908 things, it’s a carefully selected showcase of items that tell the story of you (and your family!).
What does “easy to reset” mean?
You can easily weed out trash/recycling and promptly dispose of these.
You can toss items into a bag or basket to relocate to bedrooms or the kitchen (and move them and unload them, that’s the key—don’t keep them in a miscellaneous bag).
You can return items that live in this space to their rightful homes. (Put the remote back on the end table, return the pillows to the couches, put the game back into the closet, hang up the coat, etc.)
It’s a quick, mentally easy sweep of each room, clearing the floor and surfaces, to reset as close you can as to your goal. Sometimes you might be tired and skip the whole thing. It happens, no judgment. Sometimes, you’re rushing and only finish 50%. Better than zero. Sometimes, all you have in you is to gather up the few items you can carry to your room as you prep for bed. This is where progress triumphs over perfection.
“Easy to reset” is not heavy decision making. It’s not hours of sorting, categorizing, making choices, organizing. It’s a breezy “these few items are trash” and putting them in the trashcan. Boom, done.
It’s a quick, “let me break down this Amazon box and put it in recycling.”
It’s holding up a handful of kids’ books and knowing it belongs back on the shelf, so you just put it there.
It’s recognizing that these nail clippers belong in the bathroom so you put them on the steps to go up with you next time you head up.
It’s a neutral task to help maintain a home, best completed daily, and should take <30 min. The more you do it, the faster it becomes. The more you do it, the less tedious it becomes, the more enjoyable it is to savor the downtime in your space.
It’s narrating aloud what you’re doing as you’re doing it so your little ones not only see what you’re doing, but understand why.
It’s building the reset into the daily routine and normalizing it just part of what we do, like brushing our teeth or feeding the dog. It’s not good or bad, it’s not boring or fun, it is just what happens.
It’s a job for every single person who lives there, not just the mom. Not just the person reading this who wants a tidier home. Everyone who lives here can contribute in a developmentally and age-appropriate way with explicit and concrete tasks to be divvied up.
Whenever I do a home tour, clients inevitably make comments like, “oh this could go” OR “this is an empty box” — and walk right past it. I work with you to help connect those thoughts to action. Let’s walk around with the empty box and fill it up with any obvious donation items. Let’s carry a small bag and gather any trash we come across. Let’s move items to be returned to your car or closer to the exit. Let’s bring dishes by the TV to the kitchen sink. Let’s shake it up, move things closer to where they belong, instead of observing (or blindly passing by).
During our organizing sessions, a rule I have is “never leave the room emptyhanded.” In most of our homes, throughout the day, each room will contain at least one item that doesn’t belong. This mentality of keeping items moving helps prevent that scary clutter. A recent client told me when she enters a room, she finds 3 items to put away before she sits down. It’s the mentality of, our homes are a work in progress and we are capable to do this work in an easy-breezy low-stakes go.
Tidiness is a lifestyle, and one so worth it that you deserve. This is a skillset you CAN and WILL learn with practice and the right mindset.
I can come do a massive reset, and also I can teach you how to incorporate these into everyday practices for the whole family. Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email kim@consciouslyclearedandcontained.com, a call or text to 302-729-2168, or book your free call below.