5 Common clutter mistakes (and how to avoid them) #111

Is your home a clutter magnet? Do you constantly feel overwhelmed by the mess? 

I get it. 

I'm Caroline Thor, a professional organizer, KonMari consultant, teacher, and mum of three. I know firsthand how challenging it can be to carve out time for yourself amidst the chaos of everyday life. 

But guess what? It doesn’t have to be this way.

If you have ever wondered what the five biggest clutter mistakes are then this week's episode of the Living Clutter Free Forever podcast is for you! I’m diving into the five common clutter mistakes we all make—and more importantly, how to avoid them.

You might think your clutter is under control, but is it really? We're talking about the sneaky habits that turn our homes into storage units. Imagine freeing up space, reducing stress, and creating a more organized life.

Curious? Tune in and discover:

• Why "just in case" items are your worst enemy
• The simple trick to making sure everything has its place
• How buying storage solutions might actually be making things worse

Are you ready to tackle the clutter once and for all? Grab your favorite drink, find a comfy spot, and join me for a quick chat. You won't regret it. Let's turn your home into the organized haven you've always dreamed of.

Tune in to this episode and start your journey toward a clutter-free life today!

Organized FOR You - take advantage of this limited time offer to get my eyes on your space. Let's conquer the disorganization together. 

Thanks for listening! For more organizational motivation, support and free resources:
Join my online membership Clutter Free Collective
Join my podcast Facebook group Living Clutter Free Forever Podcast: KonMari® Inspired Organizing | Facebook
Visit my website www.caroline-thor.com
Come and say 'hi' on Instagram @caro.thor
Follow me on Facebook @carolineorganizer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there, I'm Caroline Thor, professional organiser, konmari consultant, teacher and mum of three. I started off my life as a mum feeling overwhelmed, disorganised and desperately trying to carve out some time for me amongst the nappies, chaos and clutter. One day, one small book called the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying changed everything and I began to learn strategies for making everyday life easier. Today I have the systems in place that means life can throw almost anything at me, and I want to share them with you. If you're an overwhelmed mum struggling to keep it together, then this is the podcast for you. Grab a coffee and settle in for a quick chat with someone who gets your reality. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the living clutter free forever. Podcast. Thank you so much for finding the time to join me. I don't think you're going to be disappointed by today's episode.

Speaker 1: 1:00

We're talking today about the five common clutter mistakes and how to avoid them. Wouldn't we all love to know how to avoid having clutter in our homes in the first place? So if you haven't yet got a cup of tea and got yourself comfy, do that and let's get started. I'm going to start off by talking to you about the big mistakes, the five big mistakes that we are all guilty of making and I include myself in this, although over the years I have got so so much better. And the first big mistake is keeping things just in case. So let's talk about that classic clutter trap keeping things just in case. As I said, we've all done it. We've all held on to something because we think we might need it someday. But more often than not, those just in case items end up gathering dust and taking up valuable space, are basically turning our homes into a glorified storage container, and we really want to avoid these items taking up valuable space. So to avoid this, ask yourself big question here when was the last time I actually used this? If it's been owned for a year, it is probably really safe to let it go. And another thing to consider is how easily could you replace the item if you needed it? If it's inexpensive or it's easy to find, it probably is not worth the clutter it creates, just in case one day you might need it. So there is the first big mistake we make the cord and clutter in our home keeping things just in case. The second big mistake and this is why most of my clients call me in to help them.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Not having a designated place for everything. So this clutter culprit is when items are left where they were last used, and it means clutter accumulates quickly, and the solution it's simple, but it's powerfuluring that every item has a designated doorage spot. And what's even more important when it comes to the KonMari method is that you are keeping like items from the same category together, so you wouldn't have stationery doored here, there and everywhere all over the home in different drawers and cupboards. You would like to have one place that all the stationery is going back to, a designated storage spot, which means everyone in the home knows where it should be and, after they've used it, can easily put it back. Think about the last time you couldn't find something important because it wasn't in its right place. Frustrating, right. But by designating these specific spots for your belonging, you are making it easier to put things away and and this is the big one it's going to help you keep your surfaces clear and clutter free. So not only is it reducing clutter, but it's also going to save you time and stress.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Mistake number two is a huge one not having a designated place for everything, okay. Mistake number three buying storage instead of decluttering I have seen this so many times when I go to people's homes that they bless them have been trying really hard to get their home organised, and the way to do that is keep buying more storage boxes, and their home is overflowing with storage boxes, and the storage boxes are overflowing with dust. It's tempting to think that more bins or baskets are going to solve your clutter problem, but without decluttering first. I've got to be honest. All you're doing is reorganizing the mess. So start by sorting through your items and letting go of what you don't need. Once you've decluttered, then you can look at what storage solutions will best suit your remaining items. And I can, hand on heart, say it is rare. It has been really rare that after a client has decluttered with me, we have needed to buy any more storage because they have had so much space in the storage they already had. They don't need to go out and buy fancy boxes, and especially not and this is my pet hate tons of plastic boxes, which are just not great for the environment. So this approach is going to ensure you're only storing what you truly need and love, rather than just shuffling the clutter around.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Okay, and speaking about that in personalized, with your decluttering. I would love to tell you about a really exciting offer I have right now, and it's only happening from the middle of July to the middle of August, so if you're listening to this podcast episode, years later we're talking 2024 here. So if you're listening as this episode comes out, you're listening at the right time. I have spent over 800 hours helping clients transform their home, and now and this is really exciting I can help you too with my organized for you service. This is going to be so fun. You can send me a video or photos of one room or an area you're struggling with. It might just be a closet and I will create a custom video with step-by-step instruction, tailored organizing solutions and practical tips, just for your space. It's like having me right there with you, and this is going to make professional organizing advice KonMari advice accessible and affordable. So don't miss out on this chance to get me into your home, virtually helping you get your space in order. I will drop the link in the show notes for that. It's called Organized For you, and I would love to be able to support you. I have a feeling this is going to be really popular popular. So if you log in and think, yes, I want to do this, but find actually, the sales page has been closed down for a bit. It's because I have reached capacity and as soon as I have some spaces available, I will reopen it again and I will let you know about that. So Organise For you brand new service, but it's only available from the middle of July to the middle of August, so get in while you can and get my eyes on your space and get the help you need.

Speaker 1: 8:09

Okay, and what I might see on a lot of your videos and photos is mistake number four, which is overfilling doorage spaces. I see this so often that drawers, cupboards, bin closet are just filled to the brim. People are trying to get as much in there as they can, which might seem like a good idea, but what happens is it makes it harder to find things and that then lead to clutter spilling out. You really need to use your storage spaces wisely by leaving some room for breathing, for your things to have room to breathe, and this not only makes it easier to access what you need, but it also gives you the space to add new items without creating chaos. I love it when I'm working with a client and we're perhaps doing organizing a specific drawer and we've got loads of white space around inside when we finished and they're like it looks empty, like yes, because you might find other things from this category that need to get added there at a later date. So let's leave some space and then it's not going to be a chaotic if you do have to add other items.

Speaker 1: 9:24

And finally, the fifth common customer mistake, and that is lack of maintenance. If you don't regularly maintain a space to prevent re-cluttering, you're going to end up back at square one before you know it. The ladies in my online membership Clutter Recollective, we are always working at learning habit to maintain the spaces we've already decluttered and organized so that we don't fall back into the routine of leaving things lying around, overfilling storage spaces all these mistakes that we've been talking about today. Keeping things just in case. If you don't have maintenance built in, then you are going to end up falling back into making some of the other mistakes again and before you know it, you're going to be back in chaos. So some great tips for setting up a maintenance routine would be building some daily tidying and weekly decluttering sessions into your calendar, and I really, for me, have to calendar it. I have to have it as a thing that I know is going to happen at this time on this day, because if I don't, it just doesn't happen. Think about how you can build maintenance into your day for when you have already decluttered and organized, so that you don't start making some of the other mistakes again and fall back into your own way.

Speaker 1: 11:01

So the five common clutter mistakes are keeping things just in case. I'm sure we're all guilty of that, not having a designated place for everything, and if you haven't yet applied the Colmari method in your home, this is a brilliant way for doing that. It happens automatically when you go by category. Mistake number three is buying just more storage instead of decluttering. Mistake number four is overfilling the storage spaces that you have. And then, finally, mistake number five is not building maintenance into your system, so a lack of maintenance.

Speaker 1: 11:42

I hope you have found all of that really useful. It's a short episode today. I know everyone's busy in the summer, so I thought I would do a nice short one, but one that I hope will be really, really useful for you. Don't forget, if you want my eyes on your space and you want me to make a personalized video for you. Have a look at the link in the show notes organized for you and I would love to give you some top tips, strategies and step-by-step guide to get your space organized. Until next time, if you've enjoyed this episode, please send the link to a friend you know would appreciate it, subscribe and leave a review. I look forward to bringing you more organising tips next time, but if you can't wait until then, you can go to my website or find me on Instagram, at carothor, or on Facebook at Caroline Organiser. Thanks for listening and I look forward to guiding you on your journey to find your clutter-free ever after.