21 Quick Clutter Fixes For Your Home

By Jessica Hoelzel

REDUCE the amount of STUFF you have and LIVE GREEN

Keep your eye on Day to Day Feng Shui for each post in my blog series: 21 Quick Clutter Fixes, 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 Entry

18. Clear the pathway. Entries are one of the most important places to keep clutter-free. According to feng shui, they are “mouths of chi”. They are where chi (life force energy) enters our inner spaces from the outside world. In order to attract that chi, and keep our homes filled with good, vibrant energy, it must be allowed in. Then once beckoned in, it must be allowed to flow freely, and circulate. Otherwise we end up with dead, stagnant energy in our homes. Yuk.

Our homes feel bad and we feel bad because clutter stops chi in its tracks. Clear, open spaces encourage it. If your entry has become a catch-all or a dumping ground of stuff, give it some good attention.

Lucky 7 Step-by-Step Guide to Clear Entry Clutter

(Can be used for Laundry/Mudrooms, too...any room in the house!)

Step 1: Grab a trash and recycling bag. Start at one end of the room and move around clockwise/counterclockwise. Get rid of garbage, dingy old things, paper you don’t need, general junk. Remove the bags from the area.

Step 2: Grab 3 boxes. Label: To Return (to other people, the library, etc.), To Donate (to charity) and To Go Elsewhere (in the house). Move around the room as you did in Step 1, sorting things into these categories. Leave the things be that stay in that area. Remove the boxes from the area.

Step 3: Take everything you’d like to keep in the area and sort it into categories. Remove from the area if possible to make room for Step 4.

Step 4: Clean the area. Dust, wipe shelves, clean windows, vacuum and mop floors. Get into the cracks and crevices.

Step 5: Move things that stay in the area back in, and place in their homes. If you find you need more for storage, this is the time to purchase containers or organizers. But be creative with what you have in the house BEFORE you go shopping. Use boxes, baskets, trays, jars, etc. that you already have on hand.

Step 6: Deal with one of the boxes from Step 2 one at a time. 1) Return the things that need to be returned. 2) Take your donation items to charity, or schedule to have them picked up. 3) Put things away elsewhere in the house.

Step 7: Take a few moments in the space to breathe deeply, and pat yourself on the back. Observe how good it feels now that the chi can enter easily and circulate. Job well done.

TIPS: With each of these steps, keep focused on exactly what you’re doing. Don’t get distracted by things you’ll do in other steps. If you’re short on time, do one step a day, or one step a week.