How to Overcome Clutter Blindness and Boost Your Happiness at Home
There may be more important things than a perfectly decluttered home or office. We could do other things with our time. Minimalism doesn't have to be repressive or anal, but it's possible to become a harridan about the tiniest stash of extras, and live a joyless life in a bare white cell.
Yet I do love a clean and clutter-free home. I thrive in one. When the house is messy, I feel messy. To me, cluttered houses feel dark and heavy, oppressive and depressing. If I had to live in one, I'd want to get away as often as possible.
It's true that some of us are more bothered by clutter than others. I jokingly say that my son-in-law is "clutter blind," seemingly unaware of piles of papers and bunches of boxes. And you should see my husband's classroom. He's just starting to realize the big decluttering job he needs to do before his retirement in June.
In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find – and I hear from other people that they agree – that getting rid of clutter gives a disproportionate boost to happiness.
Gretchen Rubin
What is clutter blindness?
Clutter blindness is exactly what it sounds like. The clutter's there, but you don't see it. The pile of mail on the kitchen table keeps getting higher, and you ignore it. After all, it seems like it's always been there. Same with the beauty supplies scattered over the bathroom counter, the shoes spread through the entry hall, and hobby supplies or kids' toys that you've given up trying to keep in order.
Clutter blindness is the result of having too much stuff and no system for organizing and storing what you want to keep. When the excess has no home or has outgrown its home, and it takes up residence wherever it lands, that's the clutter you become blind to. You step over it or work around it, but it stays. Maybe the problem is junk mail. Maybe it's clothes or makeup. Maybe it's dozens of stuffed animals and five million Legos. No matter what your particular blind spot, it creates a perpetual mess.
6 symptoms of clutter blindness
Here are tell-tale signs that you too are clutter blind:
1. There are piles.
Piles fill your house and they seem normal. There's the dirty clothes pile, the clean clothes pile, and the "needs ironing" pile. The dishwasher is full, and there's a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. There are piles of paper, piles of books, piles of stuff to return to Amazon or Target, piles of junk on the coffee table. If there are lots of piles, you're clutter blind.
2. Items have no place to belong.
Someone holds up something and asks, "Where does this go?" and your usual answer is "I don't know. Just set it over there." Or something new enters your home and has nowhere to belong. It's not replacing something old, and you have no plan for its storage. Maybe you're clutter blind.
3. You have no system for paper.
Mail comes in and lands on the customary pile. You think you're "organized" because you plan to get to it next weekend, but sometimes the pile is a foot high! That's a lot of mail, and there's probably something in there you should have dealt with days ago. If you don't have a system for paper, you're clutter blind.
4. You never say no to free stuff.
Free mugs, magnets, pens, notepads, calendars, tee shirts, tote bags... the list goes on. If you say yes to free stuff even when you don't need or want it, you're bringing home instant clutter. Maybe the habit started when you didn't have much money and it seemed stupid to refuse anything free. But now you have more than enough, yet you still accept more. That's clutter blindness.
5. Your spouse is frustrated by your clutter.
Maybe they complain aloud, or maybe they just sigh dramatically when they have to move stuff out of the way, but if your spouse is always annoyed with the messy house and you don't see it, I'd say you're clutter blind.
6. You navigate around your stuff.
One of my great aunts lived in a maze of junk that went from her front door to her easy chair in front of the TV and on into a small space between the fridge and kitchen table. Aunt Mary was a hoarder, and you might not be that bad. But if you have to step around a bunch of stuff in the entry, family room, and your bedroom, you're definitely clutter blind.
Maybe you'd like to be clutter-free. You keep trying to organize and clean up, but your house never feels any less messy. What can you do?
As with any large task, start small. Begin with five-minute decluttering tasks. Subscribe to get my free printable, 101 Items to Declutter for a Simpler Home. Take action to remove your biggest hot spot.
How to delete the hot spot
Hot spots are places where clutter doesn't belong but tends to gather. I used to have one. It was at one end of a long kitchen counter, and it held
- postage stamps
- kids' artwork
- pens
- Post-it notes
- torn-out recipes and magazine articles
- craft supplies
- stray toys
- vitamin bottles
- lunch bags
- clean laundry
... and more. I mostly ignored the mess because it was a "normal" feature of busy family life. But it nagged at me. It made the counter useless for anything else. It was ugly. And it was a place for things to get "lost" in.
First, I needed to declutter and get rid of extras, duplicates, and plain old garbage. Then I needed systems to deal with the rest.
One day, I asked my kids to stop putting their drawings on the kitchen counter. That wasn't where they should go. One child looked up at me and asked, "Where do they go, Mama?"
Lightbulb moment! The hot spot existed because everything there either had no home, or because I (and the rest of the family) kept thinking "Later" when it came to putting things where they belonged.
That week we purchased a metal board to hang in each of the kids' rooms, along with a few colorful magnets, and created space for them to display their favorite drawings.* By sorting out the best drawings, recycling the rest, and making a home for the chosen art, we solved one category of items that continuously cluttered our home.
* Thank you for supporting this blog with your purchases. When you buy through my links, I may earn a small commission.
Whether you use a turntable in a cupboard, a shoe bench in the entry hall, a key bowl or rack, or an expanding file folder, once you create a permanent home for your clutter bugaboos, you're on your way to less clutter every day.
Of course, having a place to belong won't automatically cure the problem. There's still some maintenance, and the secret to success is one simple word – NOW.
Today, you and your family have the habit of unloading stuff on your hot spot. We covered the end of the kitchen counter. Maybe you use the dining table, a certain living room chair, or the top of your bed or desk. Some things may just land on the floor.
To delete the dump, you're going to start putting everything away. Hang up your jacket, put your keys and purse where they belong, sort through the mail and put bills in a basket on your desk, etc.
I know it sounds like a pain. Maybe you just got home. You're tired. You need to start dinner. But I promise this is going to take no more than a few minutes. After all, a moment ago you were carrying all of it. It can't be that much! It won't take long to put it away.
You'd think the 20 extra steps it takes to put backpacks away was a marathon, given the moaning and complaining coming from your kids. But keep asking, keep expecting, keep setting the example, and with persistence it will become second nature. Soon, you won't even think of it as a chore. It'll be standard behavior.
You could get drastic and remove the furniture where clutter collects. It might be your coffee table or the bench in the entry hall. The removal doesn't have to be permanent. Try it for a few weeks until everyone gets used to not using it as a dumping ground.
If you keep the furniture in place, try adding a decorative item that makes piles impossible. A plant, a tray with a vase and candles, or a group of framed photos might do the trick, enhancing beauty and personality at the same time.
Your goal now is to keep the hot spot from returning.
The wonderful result
Curing clutter blindness is possible. With small steps and persistence, you can achieve a clean and clutter-free home that helps you thrive. Then you'll have more time and energy to deal with other, more important things.
Simple Beginnings is also included in Minimalist Basics: The Omnibus Edition.
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