Hallway | Declutter Tips

Once you make it from the entryway – to the stairs – into a hallway the declutter tips can be a bit tricky.

Why?

Well, assuming you were either ignoring the clutter on your way into said hallway or your hallway is the first spot clutter is allowed to exist … if you’re here, you’re probably looking for some guidance on how to deal with hallways that tend to collect misfit items. {grin}

And the source? That’s the tricky part.

Bedroom Hallway Declutter Tips:

Made up of things like dirty laundry, stuff I want to get rid of, garbage, dishes that need to be returned to the kitchen … the hallway outside of a bedroom can be the result of a variety of reasons. Oh, and don’t forget the one big contributor this time of year :: December Holiday Gifts, that I don’t know where to put yet.

Scavenger Hunt Declutter:

I love doing this, especially with kiddos! {adult enjoy it too, but you didn’t hear that from me}

1. Choose one (1) type of item or room of the house
2. Set a timer for five (5) minutes
3. Work as a team or moderator
4. Aaaaand Go!

What this looks like:

• See some dishes?
• Pick the kitchen as your first challenge.
• Instruct participants to find as many things as they can that belong in the kitchen ::
• dishes, food, tools like the can opener {don’t ask}
• then set the timer for 5 minutes and start flushing out items.

When the 5 minutes are done take the pile to the kitchen and come back for the next round! Maybe this time choose the laundry room.

Other Hallway Declutter Tips:

Remember a few days ago, in the stairs post, when I mentioned how my kiddos carry things upstairs for me? Yea, that’s how the other hallway clutter forms in my house. Usually made up of things like board games needing returned to the game cabinet or movies that belong in the Man Cave and even supplies needing put away in my storage area upstairs.

Point being, other areas of the hallway can act as a “staging area” waiting for you to put away the stuff. And when life gets busy it’s easy to pass it by with a sense of blinders on.

Meh. We all do it.

My advice to clients is

is it bothering you?

If the answer is yes

what do you want to do about it?

when they say

have it gone!

I respond

and how do you propose that happens?

This stumps them.

you’re the expert!

I respond

Yup.

This really stumps them.

I can see that your habit is to drop things off in their general vicinity and move on, what about that habit do you want to change?

Now we’re getting somewhere.

See, the thing is, organizing advice is only as good as the personality receiving it.

In order to declutter a physical {or mental} space you need to determine what steps are missing. Obviously, if the hallway clutter is bothering you there is a missing step. Is it

• getting items put away? {a time issue}
• the items don’t belong anywhere? {a system issue}
• the system you’ve created isn’t working? {a tweaking issue}

Once you figure out the answer to those questions you can begin looking at ways to improve your habits.

I know, sorry, It’s not the silver bullet you were expecting. Remember, I’m a clutter coach – not a mind reader {grin}

But I promise, if you spend a little time getting to know how you function – you’ll begin finding less and less clutter around your spaces.

 

What hallway declutter tips have you tried before? Did they work?

 

 

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