How to Clutter Your Home
Decluttering always comes with so many don’ts. Don’t bring this into your house… Don’t keep more than… So when I saw a writer named Naomi wrote a post about how to create clutter, I had to join in with my own tips.
So here you go. Fifteen awesome, easy ways to fill your house ala Katie and Martin:
image from The Decluttering Project
Always bring home the freebies – the booklets at grocery stores, the soaps at the hotel, the pens at the bank.
Take something your relative is going to get rid of even though you don’t need it.
Keep a file in your cabinet labeled “miscellaneous” or “interesting”
Buy holiday stuff after the holiday. Store it all year.
Put it in a box. Put the box in the basement or garage.
Keep every last magazine you get. Make big stacks with them. One day, it’ll be an awesome side table.
Buy food in bulk because it’s cheaper, even though it’ll take you six months to use up.
Never clean out your closet.
Shop for more containers when your space feels crowded or the containers you already have are full.
Walk into a store where you know you don’t need anything.
Keep heirlooms that you don’t really like just because they belonged to someone you knew.
Keep everything you might need in a year or two.
Don’t donate something that you bought but never used. Dang it. You paid good money for that thing!
Keep two of everything. It’s always good to have a second can opener in case the first one breaks when you’re opening a can of tuna.
And not too long ago, a reader told me about something her family found in her aunt’s home. It’s genius:
Keep everything. Keep a box of really short strings. Label it “Strings too short to use.”
What’s another tip? How else can you clutter your home?
March 7th, 2011 at 6:50 am
Nothing to add Katie – just to say you gave me a great laugh. Heck, come to think of it, why is everyone always posting on how to make things more beautiful? So much funnier to post on the very opposite. Very original and very funny. Also, somehow, much more thought-provoking than writing straight out how to declutter. Well done you…
Ali
March 7th, 2011 at 7:48 am
I can identify with a bunch of these. But that last one with strings….that one cracks me up! Thank you for a fun post. Love the picture too!
March 7th, 2011 at 8:19 am
LOVE THIS POST!
Additional tips from cleaning out several homes of our Depression-Era grandparents (may they all now rest in uncluttered peace):
When replacing an item, keep all the parts of the old broken item for day you suddenly have engineer super hero powers and are able to fix everything.
Stock pile your recycling. That large box of glass jars under the stairs? You can re-use them or recycle them! Just not right now.
Bread bags, twist ties and rubber bands are the spice of life. Save them all in the biggest drawer of your kitchen.
Save every bill you have every received in your adult life. Organize into boxes by year and scatter them into as many different closets, crawl spaces, garage shelves and basement rooms as you can. Just in case.
Keep every tool and small piece of hardware (nails, bolts, etc.) you have ever touched. Keep them all in one room, but don’t bother with further organization.
If you were ever handy with carpentry, even if only for small household repairs, buy and stack several cords of the most expensive lumber you can find in your “workshop”.
Throw all of your printed pictures into a box. When that is full, move them all to a larger box. Repeat.
Buy clothes in the size you want to be. Tell yourself they will be an inspiration toward your weight loss goals. Leave them with their tags on and cram them into the very back of your closet so you can get at the clothes you REALLY wear.
Have one or two large collections of really odd things to save. Keep your kids and grandkids in mind and try to choose the most mystifying household items you can think of. Suggestions include: Mason jar lids (especially if you don’t can food and don’t keep the jars), plastic 2-liter soda bottles cut open/down to a 9 inch height, the plastic roller balls found inside roll-on deodorant, washed/folded/stacked cloth diapers circa 1952.
Move older large appliances to the basement and use them as back-ups to your new, shiny large appliances. You’re gonna need three fridges if there is a good sale on soda or you ever have a holiday dinner for 50, even if your extended family count only comes to 11.
Buy lots of plastic hangers for all your closets, because they are better for your clothes then wire hangers. Also keep every wire dry cleaners hanger that you have ever brought home for in the last 50 years.
Buy pet food in bulk, as if your pet will live to be 40. Even if it is a toy poodle.
Become the back-up plan for the unlikely event of the archives of National Geographic burning to the ground. For best results, keep all old magazines in small chronological stacks on the floor of your basement.
March 7th, 2011 at 8:54 am
Ha! We’ve been joking that we SHOULD actually have several can openers, because we recently went through 3 in two weeks. No joke.
Now we have purchased a good one, and I think Ryan has learned not to buy the little $1 opener at the grocery store.
This is a seriously awesome post! :)
March 7th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Yes!
My addition: Make sure you always have a box ready to place donate-able items in. When that box is full, just a put a new box next to it, on top of it, in another closet…but NEVER take the full boxes to Goodwill.
And Cathryn – I am laughing so hard at your comment!!!!
March 7th, 2011 at 10:58 am
ha! Cathryn, you have some really good ones there. My favorites are all the bills of your adult life and the National Geographic collection. You’re a woman who knows what she’s talking about!
Katie
March 7th, 2011 at 11:31 am
This cracked me up – Cathryn cracked me up even further :P
March 7th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I LOVE these! And sooooo many I can relate to. May I add that I have a box that says, “things I may need someday”, some things in it – game pieces, old remotes, stickers, 1/2 a pair of earrings and other pieces of jewelry , little glass bottles, little plastic containers, screws, nails, small battery covers and much much more! But seriously, I HAVE gotten things out of that box to use. The first two on Katie’s list really hit me right in the clutter! Everyone has their vices, my happens to be clutter and obviously, I AM NOT ALONE!!
March 7th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
Wow, I do almost ALL of those things! I can’t definitely relate to the “interesting” file though mine is called “holding.” It means I’m holding onto it until I find a use for it!
I create more clutter by filing too much! Rather than throwing away papers we have no use for, I create a file for it. Because, you just never know, right? That also leads to piles of papers all over my table that are waiting to be filed. Who has time to file papers everyday?!
Thanks for the laugh. I may have some things to think about!
March 7th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I don’t think I can edit my post – so sorry for the grammar error, the first line should say “I CAN definitely relate..”
March 7th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Jenni, I think we all do a little bit of many of them. It’s kind of fun to just LAUGH about it today – at least it is for me. :)
March 8th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
This is a great post and I love Cathryn’s addendum! Your closing thought on the box of too short string is hilarious!! Here’s a brilliant one – save all the little tins from the powdered chai mix (like the International Coffee type tins) because surely they’ll be useful one day. OY! I threw them all out. It was ridiculous.
March 8th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Katie, you know that I LOVE this. So, so great! And Cathryn — best. comment. ever.
My grandma once offered me all her underwear from her adult life, because she saved them in case someone ever needed them. I was moving overseas, and somehow, to her that meant, “my granddaughter has no money.”
March 9th, 2011 at 6:18 am
my in-laws are always trying to toss stuff in our direction. we currently have a set of bunkbeds (“be careful… they aren’t real sturdy” per my MIL) in our dining room, a box of my husbands old toy airplanes, and a hutch that smells that we’ll most likely NEVER use. i felt bad saying “NO”! CLUTTER! my parents are the king and queen of clutter, so it’s taking a conscious effort on my part to be able to say NO to all the things you guys have listed! :)
March 9th, 2011 at 10:00 am
It’s amazing how easy it is to accumulate clutter – and sometimes fun. Also – if you are working towards a clutter filled life … order Chinese food every night and save the plastic containers to reuse. Bonus points if you ask for extra sauce packets for a ‘duck sauce emergency’.
March 9th, 2011 at 10:34 am
We all have that box that says “kids papers.” I hate to throw them out because I do look back on them every now and then but boy do they add to clutter. Seriously do I need to keep every spelling test???
March 9th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Jeannine, if these papers are important to you, you could always try scanning all of them. Then just keep a few of the originals. That’s the best approach we’ve taken.
March 9th, 2011 at 10:37 am
You guys CRACK ME UP! I love your clutter tips.
March 9th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I’m glad you liked my post, Katie. I was pretty good at creating clutter before I learned how to get rid of it, so I figured I’d share some of that “wisdom.” It’s something so many people can relate to.
My husband and I still own two can openers and two carrot peelers. And two wine bottle openers. That was a compromise. :)
Cheers,
Naomi @ Simpler Living
March 9th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
HA! I like your style. Unfortunately I think I have the depression-era-gene from my Grandpa! I currently have two dining room sets (complete with china hutch/cabinet) in my 1300 sqft house. Wow.
March 11th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Great list!!
My grandmother had beautifully arranged drawers- Bras, all lined up like at Victoria Secret. :-)
One drawer was for nylons. Must have been 25 packs of band new ones, then ziplock bags with “black” “white” “nude” and “Don’t wear with the short black skirt.” LOL They all had holes in them… but high enough she could hide them under a something long.
March 11th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
how about, never throw away your kids’ art, even if you have 3 young artists in your house? That’s a tough one for me, because they draw A LOT.
But as far as buying food in bulk goes, I’m all for food storage. To us, it’s a responsible thing to do :) Just as long as you buy stuff that you’ll eat, so you can keep rotating your food and not let it spoil.
March 11th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Save boxes and boxes of packing paper in case you need to move sometime soon and can’t find old newspapers around.
Seriously this hits home right now. Living in my in laws basement which should be a reality tv show about how to clutter your house and save everything, just in case!
March 11th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
You are discussing my life and the life of my mother. How do we overcome this joyous compulsion or do we just rejoice in the chaos and call it good. I want organization, but it bores me to tears. Way to go Katie for putting it out there and living large. :)
March 12th, 2011 at 1:49 am
Too funny and too true…We are about to help my parents downsize from their entire lifetime of saving absolutely everything. I’ll be keeping all these comments in mind so that I can laugh through this whole process.
March 12th, 2011 at 8:19 am
Hi, Katie! I forgot to stop by yesterday and let you know I featured this post. It was a good one! :)
March 12th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Thank you, Amanda. :)
March 13th, 2011 at 5:40 am
Loved this post! We donate clothes that do not fit to the Goodwill or Domestic Violence Shelter. All of my recycled jars I try to use by making soup or chili and giving jars away to someone sick and in need of a meal. Cardboard boxes of stored bills every year can really take up space! I now alternate boxes keeping only for 7 years as required. Instead of boxes of photos, I now only upload the ones I really want to keep or print onto Snapfish. And since I am the storage tub queen, I label the tubs with the contained items so everything is organized! ;-) Great fun reading all of the posts!
March 13th, 2011 at 7:41 am
Oh dear, I resemble several of those remarks. I am tempted to start a box of paper scraps too small to use for scrapbooking though. Dare I?
March 13th, 2011 at 8:34 am
Don’t forget that anything you ever won is sacred. Even if you have absolutely no use for it (like the jeweled toy size dog harness I won, even though I breed weimaraners. Hey, maybe when I’m 80 or so I’ll switch to small dogs
March 13th, 2011 at 10:52 am
Hilarious!
My husband and I have cleaned out way too many of these homes.
So, we’d like to add:
- save all ketchup and mustard packets in a dedicated kitchen drawer.
- save sugar packets in a separate drawer. Be sure it’s strong – sugar weighs a lot!
- save all former cottage cheese, sour cream, and other handy plastic bowls.
- save all lids to aforementioned bowls – even if you don’t have the bowls anymore.
- save all microwave manuals “Now – with recipes included!”
- save all single socks in a dedicated drawer so you can match them up. Then don’t.
- save picture frames you don’t really like because they can be painted later. Then don’t.
- save “after holiday” sale stuff in handy boxes labeled, e.g., Easter. Never open them again.
- save colored blown Eater eggs. Store them in the box marked “Easter.”
- Become the repository of every issue of Life magazine.
- Same with Reader’s Digest. Bonus points for the “Condensed books” collection.
Thanks for the laugh.
If I’m honest, some of it rang true for me, too.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:55 am
Wait, I already have the scraps too small box. It’s stored with the scrapbook embellishments that have nothing to do with my life, and/or are too ugly ever to put in anything I care about.
March 13th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Awesome additions, Dana. Sooooo true. The ketchup packet comment and lids with no containers comment made me chuckle loudest. :)
March 13th, 2011 at 11:52 am
Laughing out loud about the box of short strings!
Here are two more:
1. Save every craft, drawing, and art project your children have ever made. If you don’t, you’re a mean, insensitive parent.
2. Save all the crayon stubs because you might make them into candles one day. Save the dried up markers as well, because it’s too much trouble to walk over to the trash can and toss the darn things!
March 13th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
LOL! Thank you for the laugh today! I haven’t chuckled this hard in a long time. It was the box of short strings that did me in!! :) I still can’t think about them without chuckling to myself. :)
Then there was the underwear from Tsh’s grandma!! LOL! Oh my . . .
I only laugh – because so many of these things have been a part of my life at one time or another (or still are). So sad. I am in a process of letting go of my pack-rat days – and heading towards minimalism. I’ll get there eventually (though – sometimes I have secretly wished my household belongs were just all stolen or burned up in a fire . . . then there would be no difficult decisions to have to make – laced with emotions and memories . . . . ).
I remember as a kid/teen I had a “memories” drawer in my desk. I would shove things in there that were from different events, trips, etc – that I wanted to keep to remember it by. I was cleaning out my desk one day, and found a plain, white Styrofoam cup in that drawer. ??? I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember what awesome event I had saved this from. It was sad. I was even more perplexed as to why I thought a plain, white, everyday Styrofoam cup WOULD remind me of anything. I realized I needed to be more picky about my souvenirs from then on out. :) Now – if I do bring home a souvenir – it has to be practical (usually a T-shirt – that I will actually wear – or a magnet that will hold my kid’s artwork on the fridge.).
This makes me want to go purge some more today . . . . oh there is a lot I can get rid of! But it’s too beautiful outside – so it will have to wait for another day. :)
Thanks for the inspiration!
March 13th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Keep every greeting card and note you have ever been given. And not just from your husband (romantic), but the kid you babysat in 1989 (weird) and the card on your pillow from the cruise line, for a cruise you took in 1995 to celebrate your grandma’s 80th birthday (not even your honeymoon). That’s not just cluttering, that’s hoarding.
March 13th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Too funny! Especially the last one. Reminds me of my dad. He had a box in his desk labelled “Dead Pens” In other words, pens that had run out of ink! Probably still there.
March 13th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Oh, great list. I just emailed this to my husband because we’ve been arguing about the “paid good money for that”. I cleaned out my closet to donate about 30 blouses that I no longer wear since becoming a SAHM. My husband was horrified because I had paid good money for them and they weren’t going bad.
{But if you don’t use it/need it/wear it, why not bless someone else with them?!?!}
March 13th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
LOVE IT~!
March 13th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
“Strings too short to use”!!! Oh, that’s my favorite thing all day. Thanks for the funny (funny because it’s true) reminder!
March 13th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Finally, a post on the internet that I’m already doing!
My favorite: Keep everything. Keep a box of really short strings. Label it “Strings too short to use.”
Here are some more tips:
1. Make sure you have a box of screws and nails that belong to nothing and don’t resemble anything you have.
2. Keep that equipment for your nursing pump until said baby is at least 25 years old (just in case).
3. Always have more books than shelf space…this one is very important.
4. Don’t neglect the technoligical side of your life — keep every email you have ever been sent.
Thanks for the great post!!
March 13th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Have you been spying on me? Oh my goodness, seriously, this list is so “me.” (Well, the old me – I’m trying to break all my clutter habits and create a more simple home). Thanks for the laugh.
March 13th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Strings too short to use…put them out in your backyard for the birdies to nest with! Other than that, I can think of no use. But I like that the box was labeled, just so you know how useless the contents were considered!
March 14th, 2011 at 7:56 am
I love this…and it’s inspired me to go throw out my old can opener that doesn’t work well. I wouldn’t even give it away unless I had occasion for a gag gift for someone I REALLY wanted to annoy.
I have a few clutter tips:
This one is courtesy of my parents: after you’ve moved into a new home, and most especially if you do not intend ever to move out of that home, make sure you keep all your boxes and packing paper. If you do this well, it can take up a good-sized storage room. Bonus points if it’s a basement room and nobody wants to touch the boxes for fear there might be spiders hiding in them.
In order to keep a closet as disorganized as possible, place a large box or similar obstacle just inside the closet door. This will deter you from entering the closet to remove valuable clutter. It will also tend to accumulate more clutter, as each time you want to put something away you will simply place it on top of the box, where it will pile up indefinitely.
Save your plastic produce bags to reuse the next time you go to the store. Place them in a drawer where they will be out of the way. Forget to bring them with you to the store, and bring home more produce in more plastic bags. Repeat until you can’t stuff any more bags into the drawer.
March 15th, 2011 at 6:21 am
my grandfather used to save the cutoffs from pants he had hemmed.
March 15th, 2011 at 6:24 am
Cathryn – Hi. This is Sharon, your sister-in-law Peggy’s sister. She sent me your comments, and I think I can help. You said you didn’t know what the pop bottles cut down to a height of 9″ are for. They are for starting your tomato plants from seed. They work very well, and I sure hope you didn’t throw those out.
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:21 am
Oh, girls, you just make me laugh so much….! Leslie, my mom always saves the cutoffs from pants. We are 6 brothers and sisters (3/3, mom says that if you’re gonna do something, do properly XD) and this stuff fills two large beach bags in a closet. She always says, when asked, that she saves for patch the pants, but she never did. Right now, when I have some scraps of fabric that I like, and the idea of save it approachs to my brain, my mom closet full of cutoffs wakes me up. No scraps!
April 3rd, 2011 at 7:23 am
Ayah, I have to add something to your drawer full of plastic bags: put inside the drawer so much bags that you can’t open the drawer, or that if you did you broke the bags so you can’t use it anymore. That was my mom’s way….
January 18th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Once came across an article ” Are you a packrat? ”
Bought 50 copies !
January 28th, 2012 at 6:06 pm
You know that satisfied feeling you get when you read a blog post fitting the title of “How to ____ Your _____” and you already do all or most of the things it suggests you should do to make your life so much better? Yep. That’s happening. Ahh, sweet satisfaction.