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II’m delighted to welcome you to the launch of my Simple Organizing book and the Simple Organizing Clutter Confessions Blog Tour. This event is meant to be encouraging, honest, and practical. In this post I share my own clutter confession and the lessons I learned. Be sure to scroll to visit the other bloggers on the tour and enter the giveaway at the end of this post.
We all enjoy looking at beautifully organized spaces, but holding ourselves to a perfect standard can stop progress cold. Instead of aiming for perfection, I want to focus on the small, doable steps we can take this spring to make our homes more functional and peaceful.
Simple Organizing Book
To motivate ourselves this season, I invited a few blogging friends to reveal some of their clutter spots. We all have them. The questions are: why do those clutter hotspots happen, and what will we do about them?
If you read my decluttering book Make Room for What You Love, you know I emphasize being clear about the purpose of every drawer, basket, and shelf. When we name a space and define its purpose, everyone knows what belongs there and what does not. Without clarity, the door is open to random misplacement and accumulating clutter.
Case in point: my house.
Exhibit A (pictured at the top of this page)
“Baskets for kitchen overflow” located in my front hallway.
Exhibit B.
“Clutter” found within the baskets.
These baskets were lifesavers while we remodeled our kitchen. They provided a temporary home for many items and kept the hallway looking tidy. But after the remodel, I didn’t reinforce a clear rule for what should go in them. That lack of definition led to confusion and misuse.
When a space is clearly labeled and its purpose is known—like a silverware drawer—family members instinctively understand what belongs there. If someone put pants in the silverware drawer we’d all notice immediately and correct it. The problem with the “kitchen overflow” baskets was that the label was vague enough to allow almost anything to end up there.
Here’s a sampling of what I found inside basket number one:
Exhibit C
Mission Trip 2006. I’m not even sure how this ended up here; it’s from years before we moved into this house.
Exhibit D
Yearbook, 2007, and a Phil Wickham CD—yet we don’t own a CD player. These items clearly don’t belong in an overflow basket intended for current kitchen needs.
Exhibit E.
An embroidery hoop. I don’t embroider, so this was an unnecessary supply that migrated here after an impulse purchase.
Exhibit F.
A chewed-up lid for wall putty—likely a dog toy casualty. There’s a trash can nearby, so keeping this makes no sense. Also: where’s the putty?
Exhibit G.
Faux Christmas greenery stashed “just in case” I needed to decorate quickly. This is another example of keeping things for hypothetical situations rather than everyday use.
By the time I reached this point in my investigation, I was a little overwhelmed and stopped digging. But the lesson was clear: these baskets needed a purpose and a good decluttering session.
From the outside, the baskets still made the hallway look tidy, and that’s the temptation—out of sight, out of mind. But underneath that neat appearance, clutter had accumulated. Deep baskets can hide messes, but if we don’t periodically review what’s inside, clutter multiplies.
Our organizing systems must evolve as life changes. If we don’t pare down what we keep and clarify the purpose of each space, small habits become messy, and the home stops functioning as the sanctuary it should be. I remind myself that my home should be a place of rest and inspiration, not a storage unit full of things we rarely use.
Simple Organizing – Available Now!
Now it’s time for the Clutter Confessions tour. Enjoy visiting today’s participants and learn from their honest, practical solutions.
ENJOY THE CLUTTER CONFESSIONS TOUR BELOW!
TUESDAY
The Inspired Room – You’re HERE!
Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
A House with Books
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WEDNESDAY
Michaela Noelle Designs
Today’s Creative Life
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THURSDAY
Thistlewood Farms
Home Stories A to Z
Reluctant Entertainer
Domestic Fashionista
Enjoy the tour, and a big thank-you to all the bloggers, Instagrammers, and friends who supported this launch. I’m grateful for each of you.