Declutter Your Home-Discover Your Trash or Treasure

Finding out how to declutter your home so you can reduce clutter can be challanging because it often seems to have a life force of its own. Clutter can quickly morph into bigger piles and accumulate in unexpected places. Depending on how many possessions you have, taking action to eliminate clutter can be a process of working through years of redundant stuff  as you rediscover long lost treasures, forgotten talents and experience exciting revelations as the clutter free and organizing process unfolds.

Anyone who seriously begins the process of reducing clutter is choosing a creative life path. Not only are you physically decluttering your home , you are mentally clearing  layers to find inspiration, creativity, contentment and purpose as you identify and eliminate clutter to organize everything .

The big question in this decluttering process is what you personally define as trash and what you consider treasure. This can be different for everyone and is why every clutter free journey is an individualized process.

Trash is the stuff that creates work, makes functioning in your home difficult and has a negative energy because it  doesn’t make life easier or better. Treasure is all your possessions that make life easier, add quality to your home life and are a joy to look at and use. This may mean a radical shift in the way you think and perceive your environment and your possessions.

This perceptual shift is crucial to effective clutter clearing. Being able to identify the type of clutter you live with now enables you to design an effective strategy to eliminate it and get it out of your life. Different levels of clutter require different time frames, decluttering methods and removal strategies. Identifying what type of clutter you want to clear will give you the tools to clear it effectively and quickly so you can get into a better balance with your life and possessions.

You’ll find as you understand the  five levels of clutter  that learning how to declutter your home is a growing process that entails identifying the different levels of clutter but also creating a clear vision and a quick written plan to excavate what you no longer want from its long term home. It’s up to you where you start and whether a fifteen minute daily plan, an occasional hour or a weekend morning is needed.

The easiest and most visible clutter is the superficial layer. Examples of this type of clutter are crowded table tops, small piles of things, paper clutter, messy closets and bathroom and pantry cupboards that could use a clean and clear out. This clutter is easy to shift and organize but left unchecked it can grow into the more difficult surface or deep clutter.

The next level of clutter is surface clutter. This consists of a lot more excess stuff and often indicates you own more that you can use. You find this clutter gets dumped on all flat surfaces, in corners, under beds and behind doors and stays there for longer periods of time.

These possessions usually don’t have a home make tidying and cleaning rooms like the kitchen and bathroom more difficult, completing tasks like laundry more time consuming, while your productivity and efficiency start to plummet. Examples of surface clutter can be clothing, schoolwork, magazines, books, toys, and paper, in fact any item that doesn’t have a home and lives in piles or is shoved in cupboards.. Reducing this clutter creates significant shifts in how you function and feel in your home.

As you declutter your home you will discover the third type of clutter is small clutter. This is all the small bits and pieces inside of cupboards and drawers and scattered over shelves and windowsills. It disappears and reappears on a daily basis and gets everyone on edge as small things can never be found when you desperately need them. Misplacing keys, glasses, homework, receipts, phone numbers are all part of this problem.

The fourth layer of clutter is deep clutter. This is long term unused stuff that invisibly blends into the scrambled mix of possessions in the backs of closets and drawers. It’s this clutter that makes decision making a nightmare while it takes up space, drains your energy and eats up your time even if you are unaware of it. Deep clutter is what makes decluttering your house difficult and is where most people give up.  Holding on to this clutter is a pattern that adds chaos to your life and makes organizing anything impossible.

The final category of clutter is hidden clutter. This includes everything you have packed in boxes and stored away. This can include furniture in the garage, wedding gifts, memorabilia, and excess clothes. Usually you look at it once a year, say “oh”, close the lid and put it away again. This stuff can be found in attics, basements and garages, but I have seen it in closets, kitchens, under beds, and behind doors. It’s all the excess that is never appreciated, valued or used and is packed away and over time becomes a burden to keep.

The longer your clutter has sat around the clearer your intention needs to be to remove it. Identifying what type of clutter you want to clear gives you the information you need to make an effective plan as to time, method, decluttering tools and the strategies that will allow you to mentally let go and physically transport the clutter out of your home.

Identifying the level of clutter in your house and taking the time to declutter your home  is the most powerful step you can take to keep what you love in your home and do what you love in your life. As you declutter  treasures that are lost are found, Energy and creativity re-emerge for that dream or project you have always wished to do and the clutter excuses fade away so you can declutter and organize your home and your life giving you direction, focus and achievement.

Copyright ©2009 Jane Alais