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.

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 Laundry Room/Mudroom

17. Streamline your cleaning products. Similar to the post I wrote about streamlining your personal care products, choosing cleaning products that can do double, triple, quadruple+ duty is smart. Less bottles hanging around, less time spent digging in your cupboards for what you need.

Many eco-friendly products can do just this. There’s lots and lots of info out there on the web related to natural cleaning products, which I don’t have the space to expand upon here, but be sure to check out these two resources:

Earth Justice
Earth Easy

In my house, I like to use Thieves Household Cleaner, a Young Living product. One tiny ounce mixed with water makes 30 ounces of cleaning solution. I make up spray bottles with bottles I would normally recycle. Reusing them this way keeps bottles out of the landfill. If you buy a bottle of cleaner and dispose of it when it’s gone, then buy another, that’s more of an impact on the environment. Reuse as much as you can. Thieves can be used to clean bathrooms, countertops, appliances, floors, windows, glass and more.
The real upside of Thieves, though, is its scent. It’s awesome – a blend of lemon, cinnamon, cloves, eucalyptus and rosemary, real essential oils. It’s a new way to smell clean.

If you’d like to order some for your home, email me

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 Laundry Room/Mudroom

16. Set up a functional area for collecting and sorting laundry. The laundry room can look messy and cluttery for the sole reason that there are piles scattered about. When you get things set up so they’re contained, you’ll fell a whole lot better, calmer in the space. Maybe even want to come in. Maybe even not hate doing laundry that much.

However you do your laundry, you need a way to sort and separate. Some people like to separate by family member, some by color.

Great Resources for Getting the Job Done:

Antique Bronze Bag Sorter

Aluminum Frame Double Hamper

Environmentally-Friendly Bamboo Double Hamper


If you’re building or remodeling, make sure to pay special attention to this utilitarian room. Money spent on built-in sorters, adequate counter space for folding and shelf/cupboard space for storing things will be money well spent. When a space is functional, it’s so much easier to get things done – and maybe even enjoy yourself in the process.

Clutter Hot Spot: Laundry Rooms and Mudrooms Part 2

By Jessica Hoelzel

I’m a big proponent of letting things be what they are. Laundry and mudrooms were designed to store things and are allowed to get messy from time to time. (Hence the name “mud” room.) They’re a transitional place, so let them be that.

Set up a “command center” to keep things in control. Sort things out right away instead of letting them accumulate in miscellaneous piles. If you have countertop space, great, use it to your advantage. If you don’t, consider hanging something on the wall, behind or over a door to use vertical space.

Don’t get let anything get too comfortable, though. This is the transitional place – for things to get set temporarily, then move on, but not pile up. When I say temporarily, I mean they should be gone through and dealt with at least once a week.

What comes into every person’s homes is different, so I can’t solve for everyone here, but some “command center” suggestions:

Recycling Bin
Absolute MUST HAVE. Don’t let junk mail get past your entry. Some even toss it in the garage, not permitting it to enter the house. Be strict and realistic about what you actually will read, use, and need to keep.



***Remember, postponed decisions lead to clutter. Be your own gate-keeper for what you want to let into your life.***


Baskets
For mail, things to return, things to put away elsewhere in the house. Have a time once or twice a week (should only take 15-20 minutes) to empty, putting things in their proper homes.
Lined Makati Baskets from The Container Store

Stacking trays

For mail/papers (one for each family member, or one for each project/committee, or one for “Bills to Pay”,“To File”, “Action Items”, etc.). These can also go in cupboards if you want to keep them out of sight.

Landscape Letter Tray from The Container Store

Wall or Door Hanging Paper Sorters
If you have limited or no counter space, use your vertical space.
3-Tier Mesh Wall Sorter from The Container Store

Hooks
Get things up and off the floor. Command hooks are removable; make sure to get the hooks strong enough to hold the weight you need.

Shoe racks
Get shoes up and off the floor too. Use vertical space.
9-Pair Convertible Shoe Rack from The Container Store

And as always, PURGE, PURGE, PURGE before you attempt any organizational efforts. You need to get down to the nitty gritty of what you absolutely need to have in that space. THEN figure out how to best organize it.

Clutter Hot Spot: Laundry Rooms and Mudrooms Part 1

Clutter is like the tide: it comes in every day, whether you want it to or not. It slows down sometimes, but it never really stops. And unless you find a way to deal with it as quickly as it flows in, pretty soon you’ll be drowning in clutter.

- Lori Baird, author of Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff

By Jessica Hoelzel
 
It’s no surprise – The Laundry Room or Mudroom has ranked highest on the list of top clutter trouble spots so far. Organizing your laundry room or mudroom should be high on the list of priority places to rejuvenate this spring.

(For those who haven’t heard, I’m giving away a Thieves® Waterless Hand Purifier this month. Those who share their top clutter trouble spot will be entered into a drawing, for a chance to win it. Ends April 30, so get leave your top clutter trouble spot in the comments section of this blog post today!)

Laundry and mudrooms are often adjacent to the garage, and the place we commonly enter our homes. As one reader commented, “it's a drag having this be the first thing I see” – and I agree.

From a feng shui perspective, entries are very important because they transition us from the outside world. If we’ve had a hectic day, or are overwhelmed just by the chaos and distractions that surround us on a daily basis, we need to come home to a calm environment.


Our first instinct might be to drop what we’re carrying and deal with it later. But taking 5-10 minutes (or less) to sort things out, hang things up, will save us precious time later, and create a more intentional transition.

Stay Tuned for More

Part 2:  How to Set Up a Command Center to Control Clutter in Your Laundry Room or Mudroom