Stairs | Declutter Tips

Jan 10, 2012 by April    1 Comment     Posted under: Declutter Tips

Stairs, stairs, stairs ~ declutter tips for stairs.

The nemesis of every Mother. The dumping ground for every child. The danger trap for every man.

What often starts as a delivery system in my house, quickly becomes the catch-all clutter eyesore.

Stairs that once were used to assign “stuff” each child needed to put away in their room, becomes a pile of clutter that, yet again, needs to be decluttered.

Trust me, those basket-y things don’t work for my family. And, I’m guessing they don’t work for yours either – at least that’s the result I’ve seen in client’s homes.

I’ve even tried smaller laundry baskets that could be toted up the stairs, emptied and returned to their designated location.

Yea, that didn’t work either.

During my reconnaissance I would discover the basket … still full … discarded in a corner of the room it was intended for.

Hey, at least the stuff made it to the general area it belonged in, right?

Of course, getting the kids to “empty” them out so I could “refill” them only resulted in their room becoming a pile disaster … creating yet another declutter project.

So, here we are … the life of the rotating clutter piles with the stairs as their home away from home.

Stairs, the declutter tips you’re used to hearing:

• create a system
• set a time each day to put things away
• never go upstairs with empty hands / arms

Hmmm.

And this is why we have a society that thinks they need to compare their living quarters to container ads.

Stairs, declutter tips worth trying:

My whole mission in life is to help folks accept being imperfect.

Stair clutter and all.

However, if something’s gotta give ~ why not give this a try …

• make a spot for frequently decluttered items to live – downstairs
• this epiphany came to me while the kids were toddlers, the toys they liked playing with most often were given a small area to belong downstairs unless we had company coming for the weekend
• now that the kiddos are in middle & high school we’re dealing more with athletic gear and academic supplies. While giving them a spot somewhere downstairs has been a bit inconvenient for me, space-wise, it has made it much easier to deal with them and their limited schedules at home to take care of the “stuff”.
• also, I’ve noticed other things that need returning up the flight of stairs come from the Man Cave or the Guest Bedroom … my responsibility. Uuugghhhh. Seriously, who wants to spend their days going up and down the stairs? My solution?

once there are 5 or more things to put away, up the stairs I go

My own discipline, but it works for me. Oh, and catching the kids when they are headed up stairs and asking them to deliver my items for me {grin}.

How about you?

What stairs declutter tips have helped you over the years?

Got anything to say? Go ahead and leave a comment!