21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

Blog Series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Office

14. Round up extra supplies and move ‘em out. When you find you have more than enough, it’s natural to let that overflow to someone who needs it. I’m talking about supplies that accumulate over the years that we keep because we think they might come in handy someday.

Well, sure. Some of them will. But not in excess. Too much stuff is bad for our health.

Top contributors to “Oversupply Syndrome”:

Folders

Notebooks

Pads of paper

Sticky notes

Envelopes

Pens

Paper clips


When you’ve got all the things you want to give away sorted out, google “office supply donation” to research where you can donate them in your area. Often non-profit organizations will take donations because they don’t have a large budget for supplies. Some non-profits also have stores where they can sell the donations and make a profit to do good. Or, many schools are often in need of art and office-type supplies.

Another way to do good, not just for you, but for the world.

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

Blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World

In the Office

13. Recycle a bunch of papers. We all have ‘em. We all get annoyed by ‘em, but we all need to keep a certain amount of paper.

Thing is, we’re also hoarding lots of papers that we really DON’T need to keep.

So grab a paper bag or your recycle bin, a shredder, and hit these three areas:

1. Desktop (or kitchen countertop if you use that for a workspace)
2. Files
3. Any other basket or box you use to store papers

Go through them one-by-one, or eliminate entire stacks. Get rid of anything that is irrelevant, outdated or unnecessary. If you’re pressed for time, set the timer in increments of 9: 9 minutes, 18 minutes, 27 minutes, 36 minutes, etc. Do this each day for 9 days if you need to.

You’ll feel a whole lot better and tons lighter after you’re done. Why? Because each and every piece of paper weighs on us, whether we realize it or not. Get rid of ‘em!

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Bathroom


12. Streamline personal care products. Body lotion, face lotion, day cream, night cream, eye cream, volumizer, smoothing serum, hold spray – woah. We have a lot goin’ on in the bathroom. Not always to our benefit. If you’re knocking into and tipping over products and not having space to store all those products or get ready easily, something’s gotta give. And not your sanity.

Like the closet, the bathroom is where we spend some time at the start and end of each day. In order for us to feel light and happy, we need the space to breath. We need our routines to be easy. Otherwise we go through the rest of our day or into the night feeling overwhelmed and burdened. As if we don’t have enough other stuff going on in life to overwhelm and burden us.

The solution is here: Read an earlier post for 3 ways to Keep Bathroom Clutter in Check, and go about it in an environmentally-minded way.

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World

In the Bedroom


11. Clear the top of your dresser. Too much clutter in the bedroom is dangerous, as I mentioned in my earlier post about piles of books next to the bed. Clutter can affect your sleep, your mood, your general well-being. Clutter is distracting, and it needs to be dealt with for you to live at your best.

The bedroom should definitely NOT be the place to dump things for later, like receipts, papers, odds ‘n’ ends and things in general that collect dust. In order for your sleep to be restorative and deep, you need your bedroom to be a clear, serene space. And that includes the surface space of your dresser.

Clear it off, and only place a few special objects on it for peace or inspiration. Then, establish the rule that those items, and only those items are allowed to live there – for your well-being.

If you need storage for things on top of your dresser, consider these eco-friendly solutions:

(or re-purpose a box you have in another area of your home – good for jewelry, etc.)

From Pristine Planet

From Décor Universe

From Organize It


Sleep tight!

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Bedroom

10. Organize your closet so what you need, and only what you need, is at your fingertips. I’ve written before about organizing your closet. Obviously, this is one of the places that challenges people the most. One probable reason for the challenge, though, is that your closet has too much stuff in it that you don’t need.

You’ve got to let go. A lot like the “someday” ideas I was talking about in my post on magazines, you don’t have to keep pieces of clothing you “might wear someday”. Just keep the pieces you know you WILL wear. Because “someday” usually doesn’t come.

Ways to Get ‘Er Done:

Easy 3-Step Process for Getting Rid of Clutter

Chic & Easy Organizing on the Cheap
Idea #3: Feng Shui Your Closet and Make it an Organized Place to Start Your Day

Then, after you realize how much you buy that you really don’t wear or need, you will definitely be a more saavy and waste-conscious consumer. Smart!

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Bedroom

9. Get rid of some books. Are you one of those people that has stacks of books next to the bed? Reading in bed is a lovely, relaxing experience. I enjoy it myself, and often have a few books going at once – I never know which one I’ll be in the mood for! Sleep can be challenged, however with too many books near the bed.

The more books, the more clutter. And clutter – in the bedroom, but especially right next to your bed – can interfere with sleep.

In feng shui terms, books are ideas. Every book exudes the energy of the content it contains. What types of books do you read? If your selections include relationship complications, violence or general despair, you especially want to relocate those. If you’re reading self-help or personal growth books, these can keep your mind busy, and then you don’t get adequate sleep.

I recommend having no more than 3 books near the bed. Store the rest on shelves in your living space or office. And it’s a good idea to only have those in the bedroom that are soothing to read before you sleep.

Speaking of too many books, it’s also good to do a review of your shelves at least every 6 months, but preferably every 3. Keep only what you really love and know you’ll read or refer to again. Let the rest go. Donate them so someone else can enjoy.

“Aim to end up with a collection of books that represents you as you are today and the intended ‘you’ of tomorrow.”

- Karen Kingston Space Clearing Expert

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

Introducing a NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Living Area

8. Do SOMETHING with the photographs. A few days ago I wrote a post discussing ways to eliminate the clutter of too many or mismatched frames. That was regarding those photos that were lucky enough to get into a frame. We all have lots and lots of photos – whether they’re in one place or scattered in closets and cupboards throughout the house – that need “something” to be done with them.

The challenge is that maybe what we “think” needs to be done with them will take too much time. Time we don’t have, because organizing those photos is not a priority.

I’m here to say that anything undone in your space, even if it is hidden from view, still grabs for your attention. It’s all about energy. Subconsciously, you know you need to do something with those photos.

I recently took a few hours on a Saturday to get to my photos. I had “planned” to get them all in albums. Well I’m being realistic now, and I’m not going to take the time to do all that, for all photos. I got them to a place where I can relatively easily find what I might be looking for in the future. And now they’re going in photo boxes. Safe, sound and accessible.

There are so many different ways to organize photos these days, I can’t get to all of them here. But what I will recommend is that you do “something”. Something that works for you – your style and in your time parameters. Then schedule a time for it on your calendar and honor it.

From a living green angle, you’ll probably want to view and share photos electronically whenever possible. How many of us have stacks of prints that are no longer relevant to our lives? If it’s electronic, you can just delete the file when you look back and decide you DO NOT want to remember what freaky hairstyle you had in 1998, or how big that old boyfriend’s nose really was.

Favorite photo organizing resources:

Snapfish

Shutterfly

The Container Store

Michael’s

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

Introducing a NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World


In the Living Area

7. Pare down the knick-knacks. And stop yourself from buying any more. Plain and simple, knick-knacks are cluttery. Especially when spread around a room, on every shelf, tabletop or surface. If you have some precious items you like to keep on display because they lift your spirits, by all means honor them with a special place in your home. But if they are things you have collected over the years that are just there because they’re there, then they need to go.

Everything in your home should be loved, otherwise it’s not worth the space it’s taking up.

Having things you don’t love take up space in your home is like letting someone live rent-free in your home while you cook all their meals and pay the mortgage payment. Those things are creating a pull on your energy, draining you, and they’re never going to give you anything in return.


My rules for knick-knacks:

You’ve got to love it to keep it.

Even if it was a gift and you don’t love it, leave it.

Don’t buy knick-knacks for other people as gifts. Be mindful of what that person is going to DO with another THING.

Don’t buy things on impulse. Stop and ask yourself what it really is that you’re responding to about it. (Usually a feeling.) Do you NEED the THING to GET the FEELING?

Group collections together to display them attractively.

If you have a huge collection of things you adore and not enough room, store half of it so you can fully enjoy, then rotate your display after a while.

If you have collections of things that are worth money, sell them. Put the money towards debt, savings, retirement, a vacation, or donate it to charity to give love back to the world.


If things don’t have value to us, we don’t need to value them. The people we love and experiences that enrich us offer TRUE VALUE. We won’t be taking any stuff with us when we go. But we can leave knowing we lived our lives authentically.

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World

In the Living Area

6. Edit the photo frames you have displayed. To “edit” something can mean a few different things. Depending upon what’s happening with the frames you’ve accumulated over the years, choose from one of the following ways to “edit” what you’ve got, therefore making sure your display says what you want it to – narrates the story of your life, as you’d like to tell it.

Definition of editing #1: To collect, prepare or arrange

Having too many frames spread out around a room can look very cluttered. Gather them together in one place, and arrange them in a balanced way.

Definition of editing #2: To revise or correct

Do your frames match, with a common finish or color theme? If not, buy a set of new matching frames or replace a couple that are really clashing.

Definition of editing #3: To expunge or eliminate

Get rid of the photos that are tired, outdated or that make you cringe. Only keep the ones that create a warm spot in your heart. If you have too many, pick the best-of-the-best. If you have outdated ones, replace the photos with more recent ones in the same frames.

  

The Green Way to Go About It

• Re-use old frames that don’t match by spray painting them to match.
• Donate the old frames you no longer need, so someone else can make use of them. 
• Choose recycled material or sustainable wood for the new frames you buy.

Some resources for you:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenHouseFraming

http://www.overstock.com/Worldstock-Fair-Trade/Recycled-5-x-7-Wood-Picture-Frame-Thailand/5093801/product.html?cid=123620

http://www.perpetualkid.com/recycled-magazine-picture-frame.aspx

21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

NEW blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes. Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for 21 ways to lighten your load by cutting out clutter bit-by-bit throughout your home. Plus, solutions that keep the environment top-of-mind, so you keep your waste-impact down.

Less Clutter = Healthy Home

Less Waste = Healthy World

In the Living Area

5. Get rid of magazines and catalogs. Conveniently store the ones you WILL read or refer to. Busy lives can create a lot of “someday” ideas. Someday I’ll read that/do that/get to that/organize that/look at that/deal with that. That’s how clutter breeds. Clutter is created by postponed decisions.

We tend to hold on to magazines and catalogs according to “someday” ideas. Well, if “someday” never comes, you’re still left with stacks of mag’s and cat’s.

Environmental considerations: these are printed on paper. The great majority of them non-recycled. They take resources to print and distribute. Take note of your impact on collecting these things – solicited or unsolicited. Then decide whether or not it’s worth it.


Lighten your load and ease the burden on the environment:

1. Recycle the magazines you no longer need/won’t get to reading, or donate to dentist's and doctor’s offices.

2. Go to your online account for companies you receive catalogs from. Unclick the check box or unsubscribe to paper catalogs and direct mail offers. The same information and offers can be obtained electronically.

3. Think twice before you subscribe to a periodical you receive through the mail. Ask yourself whether you have time to read it, and whether the information can be obtained elsewhere, such as via the web (published articles, RSS feed, enewsletter subscription, etc.). And whether you want it added to the already-overwhelming amount of paper received through the mail.

4. Store magazines you DO want to keep, but set a LIMIT for their accumulation. Links below include some handy magazine storage products:

Organize.com

ContainerStore.com

Target.com

A Handy Tool To Help Plan Meals & Shop for Groceries

By Jessica Hoelzel

Speaking of keeping an organized pantry (read my last post) I’d like to share a website that can help you plan your meals out for the month: MonthlyMealPlanner.com. This website, run by a friend of mine, offers custom meal planning, grocery lists, and lots of creative family- and kid-friendly recipes.

When you can plan things out, and shop only for what’s on your list, you’ll end up with less clutter in your pantry, and less waste for your pocketbook and the environment.

Check it out!