The primary cause of clutter in your home is simply having too much stuff. If you want less clutter, having less stuff is definitely important!
But did you know there are also things you might be doing that make your home look and feel more cluttered??
If you want less clutter, try avoiding these 8 habits to help your home look and feel less cluttered, tidier and function better overall!
In today’s post, I’ll share the 8 habits to avoid, along with what to do instead.
8 habits making your home feel cluttered & what to do instead
1. Not having places to keep everything in your home
Homeless items are one of the biggest causes of clutter and mess in your home.
Homeless items are anything that doesn’t have a specific place to keep it. These are the things that tend to get left out, floating around the floors and surfaces in your home.
When everything has a specific place to keep it, it’s easier to put things away. Helping you avoid clutter and mess piling up around the house.
The other advantage of having a place for every item in your home is it forces you to only keep what you have space for.
If you have more stuff than your space allows, you’ll have to declutter to find homes for everything you want to keep. And the less stuff you have, the easier it is to find places for the items you’re keeping.
As you’re decluttering to find homes for items, also aim to make it easy to put things away in their place. If a space is full to the brim and it’s really hard to squeeze an item in to put it away, it likely won’t get put away very often.
But when it’s easy to put something away because each item has a home and there’s space to access that home easily, you increase the odds that things will be put away consistently.
2. Not putting things away when you’re done using them
Once you have a home for everything you’re keeping, the next step is building the habit of putting things away in that home when you’re done using them.
When you leave things out to put away later, it can cause a lot of visual clutter and mess in your space. It can also cause things to pile up to the point where eventually tidying up feels really overwhelming and like a lot of work.
Not only that, but clutter tends to attract clutter. When one item is left sitting out, it’s really easy for other items to start gathering beside it. And then before you know it, there are a lot of items sitting out causing clutter, visual clutter and mess in your home!
Getting in the habit of putting things away when you’re done using them is a great way to have a home that looks, feels and functions better. And looks tidier and less cluttered!
3. Not having routines and habits to keep up with the basics
Speaking of getting in the habit of putting things away, it’s also really helpful to build strong routines and habits to keep up with the basic tasks required to keep your home tidy and functioning well.
Things like keeping up with the dishes, the laundry, regularly tidying your home, etc.
The stronger your habits to keep up with these basics, the easier it is to keep up with them. And the more regularly you keep up with the basics, the easier they are to keep up with because mess doesn’t build up in the meantime.
And even if you aren’t able to do anything else in terms of housecleaning or chores in a day, keeping up with the basics is a great way to keep things under control and clean at home.
4. Dropping things when you walk in the door
Another big source of visual clutter and mess is the stuff you drop as you walk in the door. Things like purses, keys, mail, paperwork, shopping, etc.
Not only does dropping these kinds of items add clutter and mess to your home. But it’s also another chance for clutter to attract more clutter. Almost giving you permission to allow more stuff to pile up along with the stuff you dropped.
Plus, how frustrating is it when you’re trying to get out the door, but can’t find your keys/purse/phone/etc.?
Having a “landing zone” in your entryway is a great way to avoid this kind of clutter from piling up. And also makes it easy to find things when you need them next time!
Try having specific spots for things like keys, wallets and purses, spare change, reusable shopping bags, and anything else you commonly have when you leave and enter your house.
Even something as simple as having a basket in your entryway is a great way to corral, contain and limit this kind of clutter from piling up or adding mess to your home.
5. Buying things without having a plan where you’ll keep them
Many of these habits center around having places to keep things in your home. And this is another extension of how breaking the “a place for everything and everything in its place” rule can cause clutter.
When you buy something, always try to think about exactly where you’ll keep it. If you don’t have space in the area it would make sense to keep it, you’ll either need to be willing to get rid of something you already own. Or not buy the item until you have space to keep it.
This is a great time to give yourself space limits to make this even more visual and easy to see.
For example, let’s say you only have 40 hangers in your closet and they are currently all full. If you see a new top you want to buy, you have to choose to either get rid of something you already own or not buy the top. 40 hangers are your limit and make it easy to see if you have space for something new or not.
6. Giving into “good deals” & buying more than you have space for
Another time when it’s important to consider your space limits when shopping is when you come across a good deal on something or are tempted to buy in bulk.
We all like to take advantage of a good deal and save money when we can. But when you buy more than you have space for, what you save financially, you might pay more for in terms of space and stress costs.
Remember it’s not always worth buying in bulk or buying a lot of something to take advantage of a good deal if it will cause clutter, stress and mess in your home.
Clearly decide how much space you’re willing to dedicate to the item you’re considering buying. Then use that to guide your decision if you can buy in bulk or take advantage of a good deal.
7. Letting emotions dictate your purchase decisions
Another time your shopping behaviour can lead to clutter in your home is when you let emotions dictate your purchase decisions.
It’s a well-known fact that buying something new feels good in the moment. But chasing that feel-good feeling often leads you to buy more than you truly need, want or have space for at times.
For example, it’s easy to fall into the trap of buying things for yourself to feel better when you’ve had a bad day. Or are stressed, upset about something, bored, etc.
There are plenty of things you can do to curb impulse and emotional shopping. Try unsubscribing from store emails. Or making a list when shopping and challenging yourself to only get what’s on your list. Check out this post for more tips to help avoid emotional or impulsive purchases.
8. Having a dumping ground where clutter gets shoved
Another common source of clutter is having a clutter-catching spot or dumping ground. A place where clutter and things you don’t know what to do with tend to get shoved.
This is especially common to happen when you have company coming over and are quickly trying to tidy up. Everything gets shoved in your clutter-catching spot with the promise to deal with it later!
It might be a cupboard, a closet, or even a whole room! But having this clutter-catching spot makes it really easy to fill it with unmade decisions and clutter that can feel really overwhelming to deal with later.
If possible, getting rid of your clutter-catching spot is a great way to fix this problem. If you don’t have a dumping ground anymore, you can’t use it.
But more often than not, you’ll just find a new clutter-catching spot if you’re in the habit of shoving clutter out of the way!
Instead, try to break the habit itself. Start by having places to keep everything. Then get in the habit of putting things away when you’re done with them. And most importantly don’t have more stuff than you realistically have space for or can comfortably manage.
This might be one of the toughest habits of all to break. But if you want less clutter to deal with – even if the clutter is out of sight for now in your dumping spot! – this is a great habit to tackle.
If you want less clutter, avoid these habits!
I hope shining the light on these 8 habits will help you see the ways you might be unintentionally making your home look and feel more cluttered.
If you want a home with less clutter, tackling these habits is a great place to start. And will make it so much easier to keep your home looking, feeling and functioning how you want!
Do you recognize any of these habits in yourself? I think we are all guilty of all of them at least sometimes! Which habits do you think cause the most clutter in your home? Leave a comment and let me know.
