An Uncluttered Home: The First Step
An uncluttered home is a gift I give to myself. Now let’s all be honest – my home is not uncluttered all of the time, and rarely is every room uncluttered at the same time. That being said, I have gotten to the point where it only takes a few minutes of rearranging to make our shared spaces feel put together and inviting. To keep you from being paralyzed by a massive clean-out project, I’m going to give you a simple and achievable first step. Hang with me, even though I know decluttering is not a super stimulating subject. I truly think this is a great first step for everyone, and guys, it’s free!
What’s on your kitchen table right now? For years, mine held the ever growing stack of mail, notepads and art projects on one half. As our family grew, I had to become more organized simply to keep those toddler hands off of the bills and have room for everyone at the table for meals. And what I learned, was this: to begin and end each day with a clean table. If you’re not already doing this, you’ll be surprised at how good it feels! An empty table is ready for a meal, coffee with a friend, homework for the kids, after school snacks when your teenagers might actually talk to you, artwork, journaling...you get the idea. That open surface is ready and waiting for anything you might throw at it, and I find it’s so much easier to feel prepared for that day of adulting with a clean table. Otherwise, I tend to end up feeling discouraged and behind before I even get started.
I try to set myself up for success by having a few things in place. I don’t have a desk in my kitchen, and the desk I do have is upstairs. It doesn’t make sense for me to make another trip upstairs – to the desk – to take care of paperwork that I could easily read, sort, sign, etc., at the kitchen table or counter. So I’ve created a portable work area in the kitchen, using three inexpensive, easy-to-find items:
1) A mesh metal basket designed to hold 5-10 hanging files
2) A wooden desk organizer that has room for a planner, pens and some of the paperwork that I’ll need immediate access to in the next few days
3) A tray large enough to hold 8.5x11” paper
One of them is small and cute enough to leave out on the counter. The others I keep in a cabinet right below it. I’m not overstating when I tell you this simple solution made a dramatic difference in the paperwork piles in our home. Now I have a convenient place to put the things that are constantly coming into the house…and it isn’t the table! Remember, this works not because I have exceptional organizational skills or bought the perfect home office products, but because I set up a system that, as Kendra Adachi, The Lazy Genius, says, lets me be “a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t.” (Have you listened to The Lazy Genius Podcast? Please do yourself a favor and check it out!)
But I know that some days it’s easier said than done, for crying out loud. So if I find myself crunched for time and won’t be able to sort all the papers before we sit down to eat or study or create, I can still have a clean table. Here’s how: If there is nothing urgent in the pile, I can gather it up, stash it in the tray in the cabinet, and enjoy the inviting, clutter-free space. I’ll know just where to find everything later or tomorrow, when I hopefully have time to give it the attention it needs.
Years ago I heard someone say that your home can’t be a launchpad if it’s not also a sanctuary. Friends, don’t let your home be a place where disorder and stress and stuff are hanging over your head! Make your home work for you. Do your best not to feel like you work for your home. The first step is living with a clean table. Not once, but everyday. Start where you’re at – we’re not talking about making every pile disappear – baby steps are just fine here. You’ve got this. You can wake up every morning with an empty and clean table to greet you, and I predict that it will feel so good you’ll carry it over to other parts of your home, bringing you peace and readiness. Let me know how it turns out!
– Emily + Carrie
