4 Insanely Practical Tested Clutter Clearing Tips You Can Adopt Now
Clear Clutter: Keys, Cables, Important Receipts.
You may want to clear clutter, but the little things trip you up. This post is Part 2 of “A Place For Everything, and Everything In Its Place.” You can read Part 1 here.
Often clutter is simply due to neglecting to designate a place or “home” for items. So we stash unrelated items and papers in a bag or box. Or we leave them out creating visual chaos, because we have no clue what to do with them.
Clear Clutter: Handle Homeless Items
As a professional organizer, I find many “homeless” items. At a client session last week, while organizing a home office cupboard, we discovered an unmarked, wrinkled brown paper bag.
Inside:
- 16 loose keys
- 4 unmarked power cords
- 2 cables
- Receipts for office furniture and a desktop computer
No one knew what the keys and cords belonged to. If anything.
Below I offer labeling as a quick and simple way to clear clutter.
Tip #1: Label, Label, Label
Start with labeling your keys.
I use my Brother P-Touch Label Maker (model 1900-discontinued), to label the key tags, but permanent markers work too.
Unless you’re me, and grew up when the educational system deemed it best to allow children to write freely. Gone were the days of forced Spencerian or Looped Cursive penmanship. My handwriting is doctor worthy. Thus my love of the label maker.
Tip #2: Label All Keys
1. Gather all the keys in your home
2. Consider uniform key tags. Here’s a link to the slotted key tags I use on a mounted holder in our pantry.
3. Label keys: “Front Door” “Office”…etc.
4. Keys that don’t work on any locks…toss.
Tip #3: Cable Label
My oldest son, “No Mama, the USB cable, not the Ethernet cable.” I admit it; to me most cables look alike. Cable Label is a Godsend to me.
1. Go room by room and label electronic cords and cables.
2. Label TV and computer cords as you likely won’t remember what cord goes to what if it gets separated.
3. A detached and labeled cord is easily trashed when you realize you already tossed its machine mate long ago.
4. When a new item enters the home, get in the habit of labeling power cords and cables before first use. You won’t need to clear clutter down the line, and when you have 5 cords in hand you’ll instantly locate the one you need.
I even label all our iPhone chargers. {Jul’s’ iPhone charger, Ty-Ty’s iPhone charger, and Skye’s iPhone charger}. Identifying cords helps prevent the accusations of “You took my iphone charger.” Umm, no. This charger has my name on it.
Tip #4: Receipts For Big Ticket Items
1. Staple a copy of the big ticket receipt to the instruction manual/warranty.
2. Photograph the receipt and store the original in an envelope or hanging file folder labeled “Big Ticket Receipts.”
3. Optional {but a good idea}. Make a photocopy of the receipt if you are a paper person. Many store receipts fade pretty quickly.
4. Want to go paperless? Scan the receipt into Evernote or another OCR system.
Now your turn!
You know I will love you forever if you: Comment! Share! Like!
Hello, I’m Jul’s Arthur, author of the book 25 Days of Holiday Organizing! I help women professionals & entrepreneurs STOP endlessly spinning their wheels stuck in anxiety and overwhelm with the chaos and clutter in their home, instead START simplifying, so everything has a place, they gain FREEDOM, CLARITY and easily manifest their DREAM LIFE. Let me help you go from chaos to FREEDOM.
Wow these are great actionable tips. I’m in need of a massive declutter and this may help just start. Thank you.
You are most welcome Shae! I believe decluttering is so important because it clears space for our creativity, our productivity and feeling confident and happy. It’s an ongoing process, and some organizing habits adopted upfront can make it easy to keep the flow of decluttering.
I JUST created a crazy box full of cables!!! I am totally going to go through and label them and throw out the ones that I can’t match to anything.
Thanks!
Jen
Love it! I think most people have a box of cables…and are likely clueless what any of them go to. We throw out the machine and keep the cables as if they are reverent items. Happy De-Cableing.
Jul’s, great post as always! What fantastic (and unique) tips these are, too! I never thought of labeling the cables, but I will ABSOLUTELY start doing this immediately!! The receipt suggestions are great too (my fav is stapling it to the instruction manual)!! YOU ROCK!!
What would I do without my fans!! YOU ROCK, April, Sweets! I love that you are so motivated and that motivates me to keep sharing my organizing tips and wisdom. I have I find that the simplest solutions offer us the most longterm serenity. Just today, I was clearing out some old electronics; yes we have a few too…no perfection in this home 🙂 just consistent progress and de-cluttering. Well, I came across a cable and just for fun asked my two sons what they thought it went to. Both had different suggestions, computer, fax machine…remember fax machines???? I was playing a wee trick on them, because I was covering the cable’s label, which I had affixed on it years before. Neither Tyryn or Skylyr were right in their guesses, and I knew the cable went to a flat screen TV thanks to my label. Years before we swapped out this cable for an HDMI cable. I was keeping this cable as it came with the TV originally. I think I am ready to let it go now. Technology marches on. The boys laugh at my labeling, but it sure makes my life easier. Keep up the Cable Label Love!
Jul’s, it’s like you’re in my head! Totally relate to your client. Label maker is a great suggestion. And I do often accuse my husband of stealing my charger, vice versa…great idea 🙂
Oh Reena! It really warms my heart when someone tells me that it’s like I am in her head as in I understand her and the challenges to keep her stuff from making her feel overwhelmed and buried in clutter. So funny about the chargers…my boys used to bicker about who took who’s charger, and that is when I came up with Cable Label Love. Believe me, it brought peace back into our home!
Labeling cords is a brilliant idea. I’m preparing for a move across the country and need all these tips as I get ready to do a major purge! Thanks for the awesome post!
Yeah, so glad my post could be relevant and help you now. If you have any questions about how to make your move go easier, or purging strategies, just let me know 🙂
fabulous tips as always, jul’s!
and i had to laugh at this line: “No one knew what the keys and cords belonged to. If anything.” i have 2 young adult sons and an electrical engineer husband. we have A LOT of cords in the house! (and usually no one knows what they go to.)
Thank you so much April! Too funny, cords and cables galore, and an electrical engineer and 2 young sons and still no one has any idea what they all go to. My sons laugh at me for labeling all our cords and cables…and yet, we know when we can bin them, right? 😉
Love it – it feels SO good to get organized. I get on little kicks & just blast through one area at a time. Feeling inspired!
So happy my post inspired you, Sandra! Love blasting through one area at a time and not getting bogged down in a marathon if that is not realistic at that time.
I love the “cable label” too. We have a whole bin upstairs that is screaming for this.
Have a cable label party, Erin! Get the entire family involved in deciding what the cable goes to, if it still goes to anything and bin or keep!
Such a great idea to label the cords. I can’t tell you how many stray cords I have and feared throwing them out in case I found it’s mate. Will definitely start labelling new stuff when it enters the house as well.
Great plan…start labeling those new cords and cables and glad I could help. I wonder how many stay cords and cables people are keeping in their homes, taking up space because no one realizes what they go to is long history in the bin?