Clutter Tips

Today on Kelly's Korner is "Show Us Your Life - Cleaning Tips." I've never done one of these before, but I thought it would be fun!

We live in a small house - 1479 sq. ft. We love it. The tradeoff for our small house is a great yard and privacy. We can stand on our front porch and not really see any other house. In fact, I've been known to run out to the car with a towel wrapped around my head and not thought a thing about it. But the house itself is quite small, and clutter can take over very quickly. So I guess my post is actually about "Clutter Tips."

For those of you living in small houses or apartments, you know that clutter can ruin your life. Maybe it's just me, but leaving things lying around the house without any rhyme or reason makes me batty. Seriously batty. Ask my husband.

I have a one-month-old, a three-year-old, and a forester-husband who is chronically muddy. So, here are my tips:

1. Place a heavy-duty bin by the back door for muddy shoes/clothes. The mud and dirt will only make it 6 inches in the door. Our back door opens into the laundry room. The realtor told us we would regret having a back door that opened into the laundry room. I beg to differ. The mud stops here.

2. Do laundry every day, no matter what. I have started this over the past couple of weeks and it helps tremendously. We have two or three loads a day around this house! This will also help me when I go back to work. No more Sunday afternoons of folding for hours!

3. Limit your child's toys. We have a toy box in Jack's room. He is only allowed to have enough toys that fit in that toy box. If he gets a new toy, an old toy leaves. Typically kids only enjoy a toy for a few months anyway before they get tired of it and it becomes clutter.

4. Put all of your DVDs in a CD/DVD organizer book. I did this a couple of months ago and it has changed our living room! No longer do we have DVD cases filling up our entertainment center. They are all in one neat little book that we can flip through to find something to watch!

5. Analyze your purchases. Even though that Easter decoration is precious, you'll have to store it somewhere the other 11 months of the year. Do you really need another bunny?

A clean house makes everyone a little more sane, but don't let it run your life. If you skip a day of laundry, or run out of the house with the coffee mugs still in the sink, it will be okay. Worse things have happened!