Still Keeping These Around? They’re Making Your Home Look Messy

Your home should be a haven of peace and relaxation. Your one bolt hole in an increasingly stress filled life. When the working day is done, you should be able to sit in your home and feel all of the stress and frustration of the day drain away.

However, for many of us that dream can never become a reality because we’re keeping hold of too much stuff. If your home never feels like an oasis of calm, and you want to know how to change things, keep reading. Because in this article we’ll be sharing with you the many items that experts agree need to go to make your home a calmer, more serene place.

Why You Can’t Always See The Clutter In Your Home

In many homes, the clutter is obvious, but in others it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing the problem. The best way to see if your home is cluttered is to ask yourself whether it makes you feel relaxed or stressed.

According to scientific studies, a cluttered home leads to increased cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone and for some reason this phenomena affects women more than men.

So have a serious think about it right now, is your home somewhere that you feel comfortable inviting others into? Do you feel relaxed as soon as you close the front door? If you answered “no” to either of those questions, you need to read this article.

You could rearrange certain items to make your home appear more clutter free and look nice. But that will never substitute for the feeling of getting rid of excess possessions to create a relaxing environment in your home.

Things You’re Holding Onto That You Need To Get Rid Of

Does your home feel cluttered but you just can’t put your finger on why? The following list of items that make any home look cluttered will help you with any problem areas in your home. They include;

1. Items Without A Home

Any of your possessions that don’t have a designated storage space can make your home look untidy and cluttered. That old saying “A place for everything and everything in its place” still holds true if you want a relaxing stress free home.

Coats should be hung on coat racks or in a wardrobe, keys should go on a key rack and handbags should be hung on hooks. Everything in your home needs its own storage space.

2. An Excess Of Art Work

If your walls are plastered with paintings or pictures, it can feel overwhelming to some people. If there’s too much going on on the walls, you have nowhere you can look to give your eyes a rest.

Instead you’re too busy trying to take in everything that’s on view. If your home has an abundance of paintings and pictures, try removing a few and see how it feels after a few days.

You can always rotate your art collection to spice things up without creating cluttered walls.

3. Too Many Items On Kitchen Counters

We are nearly all guilty of this to some extent. Kitchen counters get cluttered with appliances, utensils, knife blocks, kitchen towels and soaps. Not forgetting those wonderful gadget items that you bought on a whim and only ever used once or twice at most.

You need to seriously weed these items down to the most functional that can’t possibly be stored anywhere else. The utensils can be stored in a drawer, any unused appliances should either be donated, sold or stored in the loft.

That frees up valuable kitchen space for useful items like your toaster for example. The clearer you can get your kitchen counters, the less cluttered and overwhelmed the room will become.

4. Too Many Accessories

If you have a few select pieces on display they can look quite pleasant. But when there are nick nacks spread all around the home, no matter how cute they are, they make your home look cluttered.

It can be tempting to buy numerous cute looking items out of the pound shop. But don’t fill your home with them, you should go for one or two decorative items and not dozens.

Instead of dozens of small nick nacks, you should opt for one or two larger statement pieces that catch the eye without causing a sensory overload.

5. Too Many Books

Having a well organised bookcase can look great in your home. But if the books are taking over every shelf and crammed onto every inch of the bookcase, it looks cluttered.

You should leave enough space between books so that they’re easy to access and organise them in an appealing way. This could mean by author, genre or even size.

And never cram books on top of other books, there needs to be a sense of order on your bookcase if you want peace in your home.

6. Stuff From Unfinished Projects

In many cases, you have stuff cluttering your home that wasn’t meant to stay where they are. We’re talking about unfinished projects that get left out to remind you to complete them.

The problem is these unfinished projects could become permanent fixtures if you’re not careful. What you need to do is pack the project away and leave yourself a note either on your phone or on a whiteboard to remind you that it needs finishing.

 7. Letters & Junk Mail

It’s an unfortunate fact that we all leave letters, junk mail and other papers dumped on any flat surface in our homes. This creates an ever growing paper pile that not only makes your home look cluttered, but also takes at least an hour to sort out every month or so.

You need to deal with post immediately on opening it, you should sort it into three piles, sorted, recycled and filed. You need a designated area where unpaid bills are kept, and once they’re paid, the receipts should be filed.

Junk mail should be recycled as soon as you realise you don’t need it. In this way you prevent any clutter from forming. It seems like the postman delivers more and more post everyday, but you can keep on top of it if you follow these simple steps.

8. Fridge Door Ornaments

If your fridge door is covered in papers or fridge magnets it can look so cluttered and distracting. If you need to keep children’s artwork on display on the fridge door, you need to make it a rule that only one piece at a time gets displayed.

Fridge magnets are a great keepsake of any family holiday or trip but they can soon become overwhelming and take over the whole fridge. Once again you need to rotate them so that some get displayed while the rest get stored.

9. Undealt With Laundry Piles

For whatever reason, we often end up with piles of clean (or dirty) laundry draped over chairs or other furniture items. This makes your home look and feel cluttered and you need to do something about it as soon as possible.

You should create a system that works for your household and doesn’t include laundry sitting around in piles for days on end.

10. Cords, Chargers & Cables

In this increasingly digital age we find ourselves in we all have extra clutter to contend with. We’re talking about phone and tablet chargers, cables and cords.

These should all be kept organised and hidden if possible. Any tangles of cords on display will make your home look and feel more cluttered than it actually is.

11. Bedside Cabinet Junk

Your bedroom should be the most relaxing room in the home. It’s where you go to sleep and relax to remove all of the day’s stress and tension. 

But if you have a lot of stuff on top of your bedside cabinet it gives the feeling of clutter which can affect your sleep. You need to remove everything and only put back the items you actually use every night. The rest should be stored out of sight or dumped if you don’t use it.

12. Bathroom Clutter

Most of us keep at least some of our toiletries out on the counter in the bathroom. This automatically makes the room feel cluttered as soon as you enter.

Those makeup organisers or deodorant canisters might be useful, but they don’t need to be on constant display. Keep them in a cupboard or drawer in the bathroom and remove the clutter.

13. Items Waiting For Donation

Once you’ve finally sorted all of your unwanted clutter, don’t leave it in a pile or bag still cluttering up your home. Take it down to the charity shop or recycling centre and remove it forever from your home.

14. Empty Boxes & Containers

If you have empty boxes or containers that are visible in your home, they make the place look cluttered. Either store any boxes that you might need in the loft or recycle them immediately.

15. Newspapers & magazines

If you have any newspapers or magazines in your home they often make the place look untidy and cluttered. Whether they’re on a coffee table, or simply left on the side, they look like they have been dumped there.

You need to check whether you actually still read these items or whether it’s time to cancel your subscription. Either way, you need to regularly recycle any newspapers or magazines that you’ve finished with.

16. Items Left In The Wrong Place

This can come about either because you have kids that move stuff from room to room or your home simply isn’t big enough for all of the possessions that you own. You need to get into the habit of putting things back into their designated spaces and train your family to do the same.

17 Items That Clash

In some cases, odd mismatched items can work well together. But usually, they make a room look untidy and cluttered. Anything that causes a contrast like mismatched colours can make your room feel cluttered.

18. Toys Left Lying Around

If you have children, this is a big one. If they leave their toys out instead of packing them back in their storage boxes, your home will look and feel cluttered.

You need to get your kids into tidy away mode as soon as you can. Make it a game to see who can pack the most toys away in the shortest time.

Periodically you should go through their toy boxes and donate or throw any toys that you’re sure they don’t use anymore. This will make the tidy up easier and make room for the inevitable new toys that will soon find their way into your home.

19. Too Many Shoes

Most of us are guilty of owning way too many pairs of shoes. But that in of itself is not the problem. The problem is when those shoes are on display.

No matter how many pairs of shoes you have in your home, they need to be stored out of sight. Nothing makes a home look cluttered more than numerous pairs of shoes spread all around the floor.

20. Too Much Furniture

Whenever you move home, you take your furniture with you. The problem is that room sizes are never exactly the same. Which means that oftentimes every room is over stuffed with excess or oversized furniture items.

You should never cram as much furniture into each room as you can. The more space you can create, the less cluttered the room will appear to be.

21. Too Many Throws Or Blankets

Having a few strategically placed throws can make a lounge look appealing and welcoming. However, too many throws or blankets just makes the room feel cluttered.

Likewise cushions, they can make the chairs feel more comfortable to sit in but too many or any that colour clash with the room or decor, should be removed. Any extras can be stored away and switched every so often to freshen the room up without decorating.

22. Open Shelving

Just like bookcases, open shelving can look really great. But if you find yourself cramming too many items on the shelves, you might do better with closed in cupboards instead.

23. Curtains That Are Too Busy

Depending on the size of the room, curtains with large or busy patterns can give the impression of clutter. If you have a small to medium sized room, plain curtains or those with a small unobtrusive pattern will work best.

Any bold designs or too bright colours will just give the impression of a cluttered room.

24. Too Many Plants

Just like too many nick nacks or ornaments, too many plants give that cluttered appearance.  If you want to have a few plants in your home, you should go for one or two large plants and place them strategically so they don’t impose on the room.

25. Leaving Dishes In The Drying Rack

We all leave freshly washed dishes in the drying rack at one point or another instead of drying them with a tea towel and putting them away. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that except that it makes the kitchen look cluttered.

26. Dead Batteries

We all need batteries for one purpose or another. The TV or other remote controls are typically battery operated as well as torches and other battery operated items.

When we replace the batteries in these items, we often keep the old ones “just in case”. The problem is they were swapped because they were old and keeping them drains them even more.

As soon as you swap out old batteries, you should discard them. Most supermarkets have a battery recycle bin where you can safely dispose of used batteries. In the future you might want to consider buying rechargeable batteries to cut down on waste.

27. Broken Pens

How many times have you reached for a pen that doesn’t work? More importantly, what did you do with it once you realised it didn’t work? In most cases, we’re in such a hurry to write something down that we simply put the broken pen back and reach for another one.

You should go through your pen collection and throw away any that don’t work or are visibly broken.

The Perfect Home Myth

We all fall victim to the falseness of picture perfect homes shown in magazines and on TV. Seeing these oh so tidy spaces makes us feel inadequate and like we’re doing it all wrong.

However, the reality is that nobody can live in a show home without making a mess and creating clutter. So even though the above items can add to any feelings of inadequacy we might have, living in some degree of clutter is normal and not the exception.

Obviously that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care at all, but it does mean we should cut ourselves a certain amount of slack when things feel cluttered.

A Calmer Home Starts With Letting Go

Decluttering isn’t about achieving perfection, it’s about creating space for peace, comfort, and clarity in your everyday life. By gradually letting go of the items that no longer serve you, you’re making room not just in your home, but in your mind as well. 

Start small, stay consistent, and don’t strive for a picture perfect home, aim for one that feels good to live in. Your future self will thank you every time you walk through the door and breathe a little easier.

SEE ALSO: I Removed Years of Oven Grime Instantly… Now It’s Like New With This Easy Hack!

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