Eliminating Clutter Magnets

We all have that hidden (or not so hidden) space that we shove the little odds and ends that don't seem to have a proper home.  But when did the crap drawer turn into a crap closet or even a crap room?  It is hard to know where to put all your stuff.  Especially when you have a hard time throwing things away and you have multiple generations of your family's stuff stored in your house, like we do.

I've been thinking a lot about why certain things or areas tend to get cluttered and others stay organized and came to two realizations.  My inspiration coming from this set of markers.

We have some how managed to keep every single marker from this set for over a year.  With the markers being owned by a four year old, it just didn't add up.  None of the markers have disappeared, none are missing their caps, none are dried out.  Why are the markers in perfect order but all of our crayons are in complete disarray?  Dumped and broken in drawers, boxes, my purse, everywhere!  We ask our daughter to clean up after she plays with her toys but it is hard to keep track of all those pieces and parts.

Then it dawned on me.  The markers have remained in their box because there is a specific spot for each and every marker.  If they had come in a box without a slot for each marker, they would be in the same condition as our crayons.  And you can apply the same idea to the areas of your house that are magnets for clutter.  You will be less likely to have clutter and chaos if you designate a specific and easy to remember/maintain spot for hard to place items (i.e. crap drawer contents).  Which is why so much of organizing is based on using labeled containers, bins, etc.

The same can be said for clutter.  If you have a drawer that has no purpose but to hold things that you don't know what to do with, it will remain your crap drawer.  We have a bowl on our kitchen table that has become the crap bowl.

I clean it out every month or two but it fills back up in a couple weeks.  (Don't worry, that's a clean diaper.)  When I remove the bowl from the table, I'm forced to find a place for all the items that I previously would have put in the bowl.  Crap bowl no more!  Take a closer look around your house and see if you can identify areas that have become a stopgap for your un-storable stuff.