Cut the Clutter
Learning to keep your home clutter-free requires discipline that can create space in all areas of your life.
Do you look around your home and feel like the psalmist who said, "My confusion is continually before me" (Psalm 44:15, KJV)? If clutter has a stronghold around your house, it's likely that you do.
The disorder that clutter creates can not only trip you up physically, but it can tie you in knots mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. To run in "disorder," as our friend Webster defines clutter, is to operate in confusion. And where does the Bible stand on confusion?
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First Corinthians 14:33 tells us that "God is not a God of disorder but of peace." And Second Peter 2:19 makes it clear: "A man is slave to whatever has mastered him."
If disorderly conduct has control of your home, here's how to straighten up and live right.
The Physical Level
Where does your family spend most of its time — your kitchen? family room? bedroom? Begin there.
1. Break work into tasks that can be done in under 10 minutes, and focus on one problem at a time. Are newspapers and magazines cluttering the landscape? Create a collection box in your garage to store them for once-a-month transport to a school collection site. You'll be de-cluttering your home and helping to raise money for your child's education.
2. Proclaim — and enforce —the two-toy rule: No child can have out more than two toys at a time. Period.
3. Involve everyone. An orderly house is a family responsibility — not a solo endeavor. While you vacuum, train your child to haul newspapers and magazines to the garage. Bestow the title and responsibilities of "Trash Master" to another family member. And evoke the "leave with the one that brung ya" rule for every family member. That way, cups, shoes, coats, and all the other family paraphernalia that piles up in your family room have a designated retriever. Sure, you'll hear whining, but making the jobs fun by playing "Beat the Clock" can go a long way toward stemming that.
4. Tackle one drawer or cabinet at a time. Ten minutes of concentrated effort can produce a long-lasting sense of accomplishment. Become a lean, mean 10-minute clutter buster machine.
The Emotional Level
If you don't believe clutter affects you emotionally, compare your reaction to entering a spotless kitchen to walking in when the counters are piled with dirty dishes. Train each member of your family to "own" a kitchen chore (emptying the dishwasher, washing dirty kitchen towels, putting away cereal boxes). By working toward order together, you greatly reduce emotional eruptions about messes that can spoil family time.
The Mental Level
Disorganization makes concentration more difficult. Ever tried paying bills at the kitchen table alongside dirty dishes? Imagine your child doing homework in such a haphazard workspace. Before your child sits down to do his or her homework, work together to create a clutter-free area; you'll both be more open to learning.
De-cluttering should also include reducing noise levels. Listen to your own voice and work on keeping your volume at a lower level. Reduce television or radio noise to help instill a sense of order in all family members.
The Spiritual Level
Clutter can even affect spiritual well-being. (If you've ever tried to have your quiet time surrounded by clutter, you know this is true.) Hebrews 12:11 teaches: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace." Make sure the spot you've designated to spend time with God is free of debris that may distract you from your Heavenly Father.
Learning to keep your home clutter-free requires discipline that can create space in all areas of your life. And insisting that all family members participate in this process not only keeps your home in order, but it keeps your family working together toward a common goal, which, by the way, is an essential element of a happy, healthy home.
Quick Clutter Busters
• Open and sort each day's mail beside a trash can. Throw away junk mail immediately.
• Every night before bedtime, have a fast-and-fun five-minute clean-up that includes putting away articles of clean clothing and placing dirty ones in the laundry hamper. You'll wake to less mess, which translates to less stress, and your kids will develop follow-though skills that will last a lifetime.
• Keep a trash can near the spot where you park your car. Train each family member to make a car-to-trash deposit once a week. This will keep your vehicle from looking like a McDonald's recycling center, and you'll be less likely to have a gummi bear stuck to your shoe the next time you go to church.
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Judy Woodward Bates is a Christian speaker; author of "The Gospel Truth about Money Management"; and creator of Bargainomics(r), a Bible-based time and money management philosophy. Visit her website at: www.bargainomics.com.
