Defending Your Home from Clutter
Less clutter equals less housework, so let’s stop the clutter before it even enters.
The best way to minimize the clutter in your home is to not let it enter in the first place. If it doesn’t enter your home, you don’t need to declutter it. In fact, eliminating clutter removes 40% of your housework. Here are some easy ways to defend your home from clutter and get some of your time back from the never-ending list of household cleaning.
Unsubscribe from Junk Mail
Sign up to stop junk mail at Catalog Choice, DMAchoice, OptOutPrescreen.com, Yellow Pages Opt-Out, ValPak, Save.com Opt-Out, and PaperKarma (monthly fee). For stuff that makes it through after signing up for these services, don't set it down, just throw it in the recycle bin. Unless it’s something worth reporting to the authorities. You can report fraud to reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Don't Accept Freebies
There are a lot of occasions and events where you get freebies – from bottles, toys, and t-shirts to bobbleheads and tchotchkes. Unless you have a specific need for it, say no thank you. They are usually cheap and break easily anyway. That includes airplane and hotel freebies. Pro tip: When ordering take-out, ask the restaurant to only give you the condiments you need and to skip the plastic utensils and single-use napkins and straws. Your junk drawer will thank you.
Borrow or Rent
Not all items require that you purchase them and keep them forever. Borrowing or renting allow you to keep things only for as long as you need and mix things up with variety.
For instance, when was the last time you visited your local public library? They have so much to offer, from books and movies to newspapers and music. Even if your library is small, most connect to other libraries in the state or even the nation through interlibrary loan. You don’t even have to go to the library with e-books and streaming movie services.
Libraries nowadays also have a library of things, from which they rent out all kinds of things, from toys, games, and audio recording equipment to microscopes, moisture detecting devices, and museum and park passes. My former library system even has a 3D printer (Fairfax County, VA).
There are also neighborhood little free libraries, which saw a resurgence during the pandemic. I have a friend who recently built a little Blockbuster, which is the same concept but for movies.
For toys, you can mix up what your kids have and let things go easily once they outgrow them by using toy co-ops and toy libraries.
For clothing and accessories, instead of buying a special occasion dress that you'll wear only once or trendy pieces you'll toss out next season, rent them from services like Rent the Runway or Nuuly. You can even rent your wedding dress! My friend used Rent the Runway to have a different dress for her reception and another for the after party.
And don't forget to make use of your friends, family, and local community. Share that great book with someone who will enjoy it instead of letting it gather dust on a shelf and ask your friends and family to do the same. You can also find and share items through your local Buy Nothing group, Nextdoor, OfferUp, Freecycle, or Facebook Marketplace.
Set Expectations for Gifts
Preventing unwanted gifts is a tough one. We want to be gracious, but we also don’t want items that we don’t use cluttering our home. It's good to remember that your loved ones want to get you something that makes you happy, so share with them that your family is interested in living a less consumeristic lifestyle. Ask them to get experiential or consumable gifts like food, donate to a charity, or shop from a wish list or registry. For parties, people like showing up with something, so you could do a donation drive for coats or canned goods. If you have kids, this includes having conversations with the grandparents, aunties, and uncles who like to pamper them with gifts year-round.
Shop Your Closet First
Do you have a great outfit hidden in the back of your closet that you forgot about? Or you may have supplies or pantry items that haven’t seen the light of day in forever. Use them up first before you go shopping for more. And don't forget those "special" items you've been saving. If you never use them then they're just clutter. This way you get to enjoy all those fun purchases and save your closet from the clutter of adding things you already have.
