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Is invisible clutter making your house look messy?
Does your house appear messy despite continual cleaning and decluttering efforts?
If so, the culprit might be the phenomenon of invisible clutter.
Learning to spot and fix invisible clutter can go a long way to a cleaner, more organized, home.
Last week-end, after finishing a cleaning binge, my house still maintained a messy vibe.
Even though it wasn’t dirty, the “clean” wasn’t quite to the level that I thought it should be for the time that I had spent.
When I forced myself to take an honest look around, I had to admit that even though I had swept, dusted and cleaned the bathrooms, there was still a lot of mess.
The culprit was all of the invisible clutter.
What do I consider “invisible clutter”?
Invisible clutter really isn’t invisible (obviously 🤷♀️).
Invisible clutter is simply clutter that you get used to seeing.
Case in point: An electric grill sitting on top of the refrigerator (for weeks). In order to put the grill in the cabinet I need the step stool.
The step stool is currently residing at the end of the yard by the trampoline. Instead of taking a minute, retrieving the step stool and putting away the grill, it is easier to overlook the grill until it becomes invisible clutter.
I simply get used to seeing the grill on top of the refrigerator and no longer feel the urge to rectify the situation.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the only invisible clutter spot in my house. Currently, there are several. Together, despite all of my cleaning, the invisible clutter contributes to the fact that my house retains a messy atmosphere.
How to spot invisible clutter
You would assume that invisible clutter would be easy to spot.
The reason I refer to it as invisible clutter is because, after a certain amount of time (days, weeks, even years), you are so used to seeing it that it no longer registers that your house would look cleaner and more organized if an item were no longer housed in its current location.
Like an electric grill on top of the refrigerator!
In order to spot invisible clutter, make a habit of standing at the opening of a room and scanning each area of the room in pieces. Take a snap shot with your eye.
Pay close attention to horizontal surfaces. They tend to be a magnet for invisible clutter.
Another hotspot is corners of bedrooms where it is so easy to stack things “for now”.
Steps…. Things that should be taken up / brought down; it’s really easy to walk past those things until the point they no longer register.
Retrain your eye to see, instead of overlook, invisible clutter.
How to fix invisible clutter
Again, it seems easy to say; “just put it away”.
Moving an item to its appropriate place is the first step in eliminating invisible clutter. Most likely, that step alone will result in a drastic improvement.
Unfortunately, speaking from experience, invisible clutter often accumulates because of the fact that it does not belong in your house in the first place.
A lot of invisible clutter results from items that need to be returned, donated or disposed of. That takes valuable time which is not always available during routine cleaning. The item gets set aside until “another time” and quickly becomes invisible clutter.
As difficult as it is, once you begin to notice the accumulation of invisible clutter, the best solution is to set aside a time to load up your vehicle and disperse of everything in one trip.
That may mean a long evening traveling from place to place, but getting rid of the invisible clutter will be well worth the investment of time.
Fixing invisible clutter on the refrigerator
My refrigerator is one of the main culprits in contributing clutter to an otherwise clean kitchen. I never intend for the refrigerator clutter to accumulate paper to the extent that it does. (unfortunately, the refrigerator featured in the image was not staged!)
The only fix that works for me is a magnetic board mounted on the inside of a kitchen cabinet.
Breaking the lifelong habit of using the refrigerator as opposed to the board simply takes time. Until I actually clean off the refrigerator, often I forget there has been a board installed for that exact purpose.
Learning to spot and fix invisible clutter takes time and practice.
If you want your house to appear cleaner and less cluttered, work on eliminating the invisible clutter. Honestly, the only person to whom it’s invisible anyway, is you!
Related reading: Creating a Household Donation Station
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