Controlling Clutter in 15 Minutes {or 45 depending on children}

A few weeks ago I talked about how I organized our paper files. I'll be honest, I'm still a little exhausted from that post. There is so much information out there and trying to narrow it down into a post that someone will actually be inclined to read felt near impossible. Good news is I never actually know if you "read" posts or not, so I will live in this blissful world where you all read it and loved it. 

Anyway, what I didn't share with you is that I actually ended up organizing our entire command center (our nickname for this little desk area in our kitchen). Here's a little peek into what it was looking like on that particular day. 

Yes, the Realistic Organizer does not always stay perfectly organized. We definitely get our fair share of clutter building up in our home. The main thing I do to keep it reduced is try to ensure that everything has a place. In this case, things have places we've just been too lazy/busy to place them back there. We had a mini library growing and a glasses collection on the bottom shelf and things were getting lost in the mix of clutter on the desk. 

Often times when organizing, projects will blend into other spaces in the home. For example, after sorting through all of the drawers, shelves and clutter I was able to fill two small boxes with items that needed to be moved to other rooms.

The tough thing about this is following through. The clutter is now removed from one space and on its way to it's rightful home, however it's crucial that you now take the time to actually put that stuff away. Otherwise this box will become clutter in the space and we've now created a cycle of clutter. 

The desk drawer needed a little love and attention as well. Here's the desk drawer before: 

This is the space in our home that I think most would refer to as a junk drawer. I hate that term. I feel like if there are items in there that can be classified as junk, throw them away. But I understand that "junk" drawers don't always contain junk. I open this drawer at least five times a day. It houses items that we need ready access to on a regular basis. But that also makes it more susceptible to becoming a disaster. 

I started by removing everything, as always, then sorting into piles of what needed to go back into the drawer and what really should be stored elsewhere. The drawer somehow collects crumbs, I don't know what is crumbling in or around this drawer but it needed a nice clean out. 

Then I started replacing items in an organized way. One of my favorite things to use to keep drawers organized is boxes. I've seen a lot of people make their own, then cover them with fancy patterned paper, but guys, that's totally not necessary. I use old iPhone boxes, jewelry boxes, or just any kind of small box that fits to keep items organized in drawers. 

The cord situation was getting a little out of hand, if you didn't notice in the "before" picture. Luckily, Santa got my list and brought me these delightful little cord ties. They make wrapping cords so much easier. 

I used my label maker to label each cord. We really only need four cords in the drawer, two for our phones (Brit has gone rogue and purchased a Google phone, so now we need two separate cords. Ugh.), one to charge the baby monitor, and one for charging our portable battery. 

Since Brit got the new phone I have the hardest time telling which cord goes with what. Clearly I am Apple spoiled and Android illiterate. 

Here is the "after" shot: 

Everything has a home and is easily accessible. One pet peeve regarding the space is my computer charger. The little hooks on the end of the charger that are conveniently placed to allow you to neatly roll your cord broke off :( It's seriously enough to make me want to purchase a brand new charger. But I suppose I'll just deal with it this way for now. 

I was able to move the few recipe books we own into a drawer that has been used to house our water bottles. It has quickly become James' drawer hence the random lids, small blocks, and tupperware. He apparently doesn't mind the recipes in there too much as he hasn't even pulled them out. So far, win-win. 

Everything else went to it's rightful home, whether that be the office, the basement, our room, James' room, I just needed to take the time to move each item. For the amount of stress the space was causing me and the amount of time it took to address, it's ridiculous it took me so long to get to it. 

I even reorganized the shelves. The basket of koozies went to our mini bar, where we keep most drinks anyway, and then simply moving items around on the shelves gave the space a new fresh look. 

Off to the side is a grocery list my sister got me for Christmas, and you guys, I love it! Our refrigerator list lasted for a while, but after about a year I grew tired of the look of them on the fridge and wanted a clean slate. I'd gone back to written lists, which were jotted down on just about anything I could find. But this list is perfection. Here's a link if you want your own, highly recommend for my pen and paper buddies out there! 

To address the sunglasses that were piling up, I did something that will either be viewed as crazy or genius, I feel like I walk a fine line of this most days. Inside one of the drawers, I cut a paper towel roll to height, taped it in, and hung our sunglasses in the corner. They're easy to grab, easy to put away and by having them stored upright it prevents scratching from other items inside the drawer. 

Genius? Crazy? Crazy genius? I don't think Brit has even noticed that I did this yet, and he usually doesn't hold back when telling me exactly how he feels about the latest organizing project so I'm still a little curious. 

So that's the space, here's a final Before and After shot just so you can really see the difference! 

All in actual work time, the space took me probably a total of 15 minutes to complete. But because I was doing it while James was awake and "playing nicely" it took me about 45 minutes. This is what happens when I take my eyes off of him. He pulled out just about everything he could reach, sat down with the animal crackers and demanded "more, more, more", until I acquiesced and just gave the kid what he wanted. 

So, when you feel overwhelmed by clutter try to take just 15 minutes to tackle it. See how far you get. I think you'd be surprised how much can be accomplished in just a few minutes, and how much stress can be reduced!

Thanks for visiting!