5 Comments

Our worst clutter is honestly mostly from one member of our family. My 8 year old daughter loves all things art, crafts, making, etc., and the parts of her projects and supplies end up all over the house as she'll knit while she's watching a movie, make friendship bracelets while having breakfast, come up with a drawing idea in her room, etc. And then they often get left where they are.

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My 7-year-old is the same! A few small bins and baskets where she can tuck her in-process projects have made a big difference for us. It doesn’t eliminate the clutter, but containing it helps the house feel less chaotic.

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That's a great idea! Maybe one in the living room and one in the kitchen for her. Thank you!

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Books are the worst for me! I'm forever buying new books, popping into the library, etc and the pile next to my bed just keeps growing and growing (and all the bookshelves around the house are full-to-the-brim). As a book lover, I also find it really tricky to part with said books... I really need to work on that!

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Noticing is definitely the first step, so well done! When we moved overseas, we decided to part with most of our books since it didn’t make sense to ship them halfway around the world. I’ve since gotten a Kindle and have been borrowing ebooks from our local library back home. I’ll admit, I still prefer holding a real book, but the Kindle gets the job done and has really helped us avoid collecting more book clutter—something I would have had to tackle before we move back to the US this summer!

Try keeping 10-20 of your favorites (or a number that feels doable) and passing the rest on to friends or family. You could also host an informal book swap—everyone brings 5-10 books they’ve enjoyed, and you’ll have a fresh stack of new reads to dive into!

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