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slettWhat are your
clutter hot spots
telling you?
A desk deluged with papers is often a sign of procrastina-
tion, which may hold you back from financial goals, says
Kerri Richardson, author of What Your Clutter Is Trying
to Tell You. “As the papers pile up, so does our resistance
to tackling it, until documents like bills are past due.”We all have areas in our home where stuff tends
to migrate and multiply. Pinpoint your clutter zone
to learn how to tackle it and achieve bigger goals!
Your organized home
HOT SPOT: Home of fi ce
38 8/12/19^ Woma n’s World
YOUR CLUTTER CURE: Divide
and conquer with three F’s
Take 10 minutes each week to separate papers into “keep”
and “recycle” piles, advises Richardson. Then divide the
keepers by “file,” “follow up” and “figure out.” You might file
taxes, follow up on bills and figure out a work project. This
way, nothing builds up, your finances stay on track and a
task that would have taken days is done in a flash!Hiding clutter in an out-of-sight spot sug-
gests you hold on to items you believe may
be useful one day even if they’re not serving
a purpose now, says Shannon Upton, author
of Organizing You. “Also, your anxiety over
the future may lead you to keep a lot of
sentimental items representing the past.”YOUR CLUTTER CURE: Let go with intent
To cull mementos, take photos of items, then donate them, or save one object
that represents a collection and display it. “For things you worry you’ll need
one day, just ask yourself, Could I borrow this in the future?” says Upton.
“Often, the space things take up is more valuable than the items themselves.”Clutter that piles up in communal spaces, like tables, often signals
that you’re feeling overwhelmed. “When we’re tired, we gravitate
to already messy areas like kitchen tables because they’re easily
accessible,” says Upton. “Once the space is ‘broken in,’ we con-
tinue to add more stuff because it’s an easy drop-off spot.”
HOT SPOT: Tabletops
YOUR CLUTTER CURE:
Go for strategic decor
To liberate flat sur faces from clutter, just put
organizing alternatives in plain sight. If mail
piles up on your table, place a basket there
as an inbox. Or if purses find their way to
tabletops, hang a set of hooks on a nearby
wall. Says Upton, “Rather than changing your
behavior completely, bend your organizing
system to what you’re already doing.”Displaying a neat home while stashing
stuff in bustling closets often implies
we’re holding back a secret interest.
Says Richardson, “We hide things we’re
insecure about, such as items from hob-
bies we haven’t revisited in a long time.”HOT SPOT: Closets
YOUR CLUTTER CURE:
Take a d re ams inventor y
Set a timer for 25 minutes and go through your closet, tossing
items that may be holding you back—say, a dress that reminds you
of a difficult time—and pulling out things that symbolize the future,
like the paintbrushes representing the creativity you want to rekin-
dle in your life. Seeing your dreams makes them easier to achieve.HOT SPOT: Attics and
basements