Do you cover every available surface in your home with stuff? Have your surfaces become a dumping ground for items that either don’t have a home or you couldn’t be bothered to put away? The clutter on surfaces tends to build up over time – it often starts when we come home after a busy day, and it’s easier just to chuck items down and deal with them later. But in many cases, later never happens……
Flat surfaces in the home often tend to be a prime space to dump your stuff. Anything from handbags to mail, magazines, keys, sunglasses, kids schoolwork and the list goes on. For some people, it doesn’t matter which surface it is, if it’s empty, they will fill it with stuff. Keeping surfaces clutter free doesn’t have to be difficult!
Firstly, choose a surface – it could be your kitchen bench top, office desk, entrance table or maybe your bedside table. Start sorting through the items one by one and to begin with, group like with like items together. Once you have done that, it’s time to make decisions about your stuff. Which items do you love and use? Be honest! Pick those out and put them aside for now. For the items you no longer use or love, put aside to either donate, sell or give to a friend who you know will love or use it. There may be items that need relocating to another room in the house. Go and do that. Now that you are left with only the items that you love and use, re-organise them in a way that makes sense to you. You may need to purchase some storage for your items or reuse/up cycle something you already have. Be creative! Your area may need restyling too – purchasing flowers can be a lovely way to make a surface “feel” good and give it a lift. Try not to have too many items on the surface – one rule can be that “If you use it every day it gets to stay, if you don’t, put it away” (a good idea on your kitchen bench) or if it is a decorative shelf, cluster items together and leave spaces in between them. You want them to have an uncluttered vibe about them as well as ascetically pleasing to the eye.
Finally, to keep your surfaces clear of clutter, start applying the one touch rule! Read my blog here….
It really does work and is a habit that you can adopt to stop clutter building up on your surfaces. Once the items in your home have a home, put them in their place, NOT on the surfaces.
Let me know how you get on!! 🙂
Love clean surfaces but hard when family “plonk” things down….. I endeavour to pick things up and put where they should be. Clean clear surfaces are great/easier to clean therefore housework doesn’t seem as much of a chore.
Thank you for your comment – it can be tricky when others plonk stuff down; do you get them to put in the correct place if they don’t put them away? Everyone should share the load although I know that can be easier said than done! Every family member could have a basket/ vessel of some sort, where they put their own things, then at the end of the day they can at least take their belongings and put them where they belong 🙂