“Clutter is a form of visual distraction, which increases cognitive overload and can reduce working memory. If your space is unorganized and filled with clutter it can be difficult to focus or concentrate. Clutter bombards the mind with excessive stimuli. Addressing the heaps of paperwork, laundry, and thoughtfully organizing helps to calm the mind.” Diane Roberts Stoler Ed.D., Psychology Today.
Clutter, especially clutter that you can see, is like a silent to-do list (a term coined by Fumio Sasaki in his book Goodbye, Things). It reminds us of all the things we’re supposed to do but haven’t.
How can we relax in a cluttered home? It turns out many of us can’t.
In the early 2000s, a fascinating study was conducted called “Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century” where 32 families opened their doors for researchers to study how they lived.
According to the study, “Many find their accumulated possessions exhausting to contemplate, organize, and clean. The visual busyness of hoards of objects can affect basic enjoyment of the home. Mothers who use keywords in their self-narrated home tours indicating that the home is messy or cluttered actually experience a higher rate of depressed mood toward evening, based on cortisol measures over a number of days.”
I have written before about Clutter & Mental Health and in all my blog posts try to offer guidance on how to deal with clutter. This time the focus is on visual clutter.
Here are 10 tips on how to specifically reduce visual clutter:
1. Have Less
Clutter and visual clutter go hand in hand. There is no way around the fact the less you have the easier it is to organize it.
When the coat closet has plenty of room it’s easy to put the jacket in there. The same goes for everything we own. As long as there is room in the closet, drawer, cabinet, shelf, etc. then we will have less clutter out where we can see it.
So start here. Let go of what no longer serves you. There is no reason to organize what you don’t want in your life anyway.
2. Have An (Easy!) Place For Everything & Everything In Its Place
After you have paired down your belongings, find a home for every single item that you own if it doesn’t already have one.
Often, the things that linger on the kitchen counter or entry table or floor, are things that either don’t have a clear, designated home or this home is too hard to reach.
If for example there is no designated place for sunscreen, then it will just float around the house, and at some point you end up buying more sunscreen because you’re not quite sure if you still have sunscreen.
And, especially if you live with children, whatever home you assign has to be easy for everyone in the household. Super easy.
If you told your family that the sunscreen now lives in a lidded bin that is under two other bins, and it’s labeled as ‘sunscreen’ for good measure, they’re not going to put it there. Too complicated. It has to be super easy.
3. Use Coordinating Storage Solutions
For items that you choose to keep, use coordinating storage containers. Baskets and bins and any other storage solutions are visually more cohesive if they are the same colors and/or styles that match well together.
Always first choose what to keep, then decide where things will live, and then measure what storage solutions are needed! In many cases, you will realize you already have what you need.
Coordinating bins and baskets can be used everywhere in the house, from the kitchen to the playroom, to make things look more cohesive.
4. Reduce Flat Surfaces & Keep Them Clear
Flat surfaces collect things. If you own any flat surfaces that you don’t actively use, consider letting them go.
In the kitchen and in the bathroom, keep as few items out on the countertops as possible. The more things you have out, the more cluttered the look and the harder it is to clean around things.
In the kitchen, appliances that are not used multiple times a day can have a place in the cupboards. Cooking utensils, potholders, knives, and cutting boards can all be stored out of sight (if space is limited, see tips 5-7).
In the bathroom, it makes sense to have soap on the counter but other bathroom items can have a home behind a closed door or inside a pretty basket (if space is limited, see tips 5-7).
Flat surfaces will have the biggest impact on whether or not the space looks cluttered so pay extra attention to them. Regularly remove items from any flat surfaces that don’t belong there. Maybe add a flower or other object you find beautiful.
Your home should be a place for you to recharge, not a storage unit that causes stress.
5. Buy Items That Look Nice
Consider how everyday items like sponges or soap look in your home and buy items that you find pleasing to your eye as they are.
If possible, consider how things will look in your home also when buying bigger items that often come in bright, mismatched colors like toys or sports equipment. (Please note, I live in a home with three bins of different-sized Legos so I understand this isn’t always viable! But we can try.)
6. Remove Unnecessary Packaging & Labels
Packaging and labels are designed to be noticed at the store to entice people to buy them. Thus, they will also be noticed at home.
If you can’t hide these items behind closed doors, or if you prefer even the insides to look visually pleasing, then you can remove labels or pour the contents into your own containers like glass jars.
This is one additional reason I find zero-waste shopping rewarding! Everything looks so beautiful as they come into my home without any packaging or already in a glass jar.
Alternatively, you can group packaged items into coordinating bins for a nicer look with less work.
7. Group Multiple Things Together
Use a tray or a basket to group multiple things together, and your eye looks at it as one thing rather than many things.
This works well in the kitchen and in the bathroom for the items that you either choose to keep on the counter or need to keep on the counter because space is limited. It also works well by the entryway for keys and wallets.
You can even add a small plant or a decoration to the tray to make it even more pleasing to the eye.
8. Refrigerator Door
Keeping the refrigerator door clear will instantly give your eyes more places to rest. If you do choose to keep reminders or mementos on the fridge door, go through these items periodically to make sure it stays current and doesn’t become a source of stress.
According to the study mentioned before, families had on average 52 objects on their refrigerator doors.
9. Walls
Take a look at your walls. Are all the art pieces still something you want to look at? Do you really see every piece or are there so many pieces on the wall that they compete for your attention and you end up not noticing any of them?
10. Hide Cords Or Band Them Together
Finally, pay attention to cords. You can band them together to make them less of a mess. You can hide them under cable covers that can be painted to match your wall color. And you can use cable management boxes to hide them.
Please remember, the goal is not to have a home that is Instagram-worthy at all times. That is not realistic. The goal is to have a home where you can relax and enjoy life, not stress about the mess. I hope you’re able to find that balance!