Looking at your clutter hot spot might make you blow a fuse. Clutter hot spots are those common places that just seem to be a magnet for everything. Here are a few household clutter hot spots as well as some solutions for containing the messes.

 

article continues below ↓

Kitchen Counter

 

Problem: Mail, school papers, newspapers, magazines and pocketsful of doodads end up on the kitchen counter. You move them to the table to cook and back to the counter to eat. It is a crazy cycle.

 

Solution: Get a pretty basket or metal container that will hold a few file folders. Label them for bills, school papers and other common categories for your house. You can deposit the mail in the front of the basket until you have time to open it.

 

Desk Top

 

Problem: Papers to file, papers you haven’t read, projects you are in the middle of and just a lot of junk have overtaken the desk.

 

Solution: Make sure you have a shredder and trash can close at hand. Put them both to use. Next, use a vertical file holder to hold those stacks upright. Sort them into like kinds, putting each kind of project together. Now you’ll be able to easily find what you want to work on but without your desk looking like a tornado happened.

 

The Door

Problem:You’ve got tote bags, shopping bags, umbrellas and shoes galore.

 

Solution: One simple idea is to add a coat hook for each person and beneath that hook, add a basket for each person. Another idea is to add a shelf for shoes and place coat hooks over it for jackets and bags. Both projects can be done inexpensively and you’ll see a big clutter hot spot cleared up.

Your Nightstand

 

Problem: You’ve got an accumulation of books, magazines, catalogs, tissues, lip gloss, hand cream, mail and more.

 

Solution: If your nightstand has a drawer, declutter it and use the drawer to hold the odds and ends. If you are like me, and are drawerless, then add a small decorator box or basket to your nightstand to hold your iPod, glasses, lip gloss, ear plugs and the like. Next, recycle books back to your bookshelf, or better yet to the used bookstore. Toss magazines and catalogs older than 90-days. Remember, more will come in the mail tomorrow. You can live without a few.

 

Car

 

Problem: Everything seems to go out to the car and then never leave! It’s become a clutter zone.

 

Solution: Head to the car with the following items: laundry basket, trash can, small box or basket and a small plastic bag from the grocery store. Put everything that needs to go back in the house into the laundry basket for toting. Place trash in the trash can. Put everything that stays in the car in the small box or basket so that it is contained. Place the repurposed grocery bag in the car as a future trash container so that you have a home for discards.

 

About Lea Schneider

Professional Organizer Lea Schneider’s organizing advice has appeared in Woman’s Day, Natural Health and Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms magazines. She is the Grand Prize Winner of the Rolodex Office Makeover Challenge. Her team of professional organizers, at Organize Right Now, provides organizing assistance through her Organize Online program. She is the author of Growing Up Organized: A Mom-to-Mom Guide. Learn more at www.organizerightnow.com.