5 Simple Routines to Keep Down Family Clutter

Today, I'm sharing my top 5 clutter-busting simple routines that the whole family can follow to reduce family clutter. Having solid (and simple) routines is key to maintaining a clutter-free environment!

The good news is that you don't need to incorporate tons of new routines at once. In fact, over-ambition is the path to failure when it comes to changing routines and habits. I firmly believe in keeping things super simple. So, let's break down my top 5 simple routines to keep down family clutter!

Before we dive in, if you haven't downloaded my 4-step checklist to finally declutter your stuff, you should do so now in my free resource library!

#1. Heat Map Your Belongings (The Favorite Of My Simple Routines, Hands Down!)

Heat mapping belongings is by far my favorite clutter-busting simple routine for reducing clutter and maintaining awareness of my space. Data never lies, and heat mapping your belongings provides you with some concrete data about your daily usage. This is meant to increase awareness, which is the first step in anything—including irradiating clutter.

Our brains are programmed to continue doing what they've always done. You've hard-wired your brain to work on autopilot with your current routines and habits. That's why it's so difficult to make changes to how you do things on a daily basis.

To truly succeed in maintaining a clutter-free space, it helps to build awareness of your belongings and usage. That means taking some kind of action to show you how you use your stuff and what's excess.

Turn around hangers.

You might have heard of the heat-mapping trick of turning your hangers around after you've worn something. This trick brings awareness to the things you wear weekly or monthly.

Every time you wear something from your closet, hang it back up with the hanger turned around. This could be after you do the laundry and go to put your clothes away. Doing this gives you a visual display of data every time you open your closet.

You can see the percentage of items you actually wear and what types of clothes you wear most often. I used this method in my own closet to create a minimalist wardrobe back when I was a major thrift shop collector.

Knowing your usage habits can help you decide what changes to make to your wardrobe. If 90% of what you wear is jeans and tees and 10% is dresses and blouses- well, that's useful information! It might be time to let go of items you never wear (even though they may look awesome on the hanger).

Group your products and supplies.

Now that my closet is pretty minimal, my favorite heat mapping method is done by grouping products and supplies. It's amazing because you can use it absolutely anywhere, and it's so simple!

The idea is to start with similar products in one grouping. This could include facial products, cleaning products, medicines, seasonings, shoes, jewelry, accessories, canned goods, or almost anything that you use and group throughout your home.

As you use an item, start a new group to the left or right of the original group. For example, when you wash your face, simply place the cleanser back in the cabinet where you grabbed it only this time and place it in the "used" group to the right or left of the unused facial products. After a month or so, check to see which items are still in the "unused" group. These are the things that haven't been reached for.

Not only does this free you up to declutter those items (thereby streamlining that area), but it might also encourage you to use certain things more frequently. For example, using this in your medicine cabinet might highlight that you're not taking your vitamins as much as you'd like and offer a little nudge.

#2. Separate The Weak From The Herd.

This is actually how I think about my decluttering ventures. I'm separating the weak from the herd – removing the dead weight from the valued group. It reminds me of that song by Beyonce, "to the left, to the left, everything you own in a box to the left." All of those untouched items in the 'left' pile are going in a box.

Without this step, heat mapping wouldn't work! Sure, heat mapping is great for building awareness, but what you do with that awareness is even more important. Once you realize the clothes or products that aren't being used, it's time to take action and remove them.

This step can also be done on a routine basis! Set aside a bit of time once a week or a month to sweep up the items in the "unused" grouping.

#3. Wishlist When Shopping.

Sometimes, keeping down the family clutter involves resisting new items. If you continue to bring new things in at the same rate as you discard, you won't see much decrease in your clutter. That's why one of the most important clutter-busting simple routines is to develop a method for curbing shopping.

Let's talk about a little thing called "delayed gratification." I'm sure you've heard of it. This is the enemy of impulse. Here's a trick: it's much easier to 'wishlist' an item for "later" than it is to abandon the impulse altogether.

When you're browsing Amazon and see an awesome new thing you didn't know you needed (until now), try adding it to a wishlist. Rather than strictly telling yourself "NO," which feels negative, click that 'wishlist it' button. It's like a magical compartment for all of your shopping wishes.

If you still want it a week later, then it's still there for you. But if you forget that it's there altogether, you've just saved yourself space and money. I share my experience with this even more in an article I wrote about curbing your shopping urges.

#4. Sort The Papers As You Get Them.

The number one type of clutter that my Clutter Cure students and readers bring to my attention is paper clutter. Papers come at us from all directions. Kids bring them home from school, and they're delivered to our mailbox daily. They're sent home with us from stores, work, etc.

I'm personally all about digitizing and going green! You can find out how in my Ultimate Guide To Decluttering Paper. I definitely recommend making this a priority in your home as well. However, for the papers that still come into your life and home on a regular basis, it's best to develop the simple routine of sorting them immediately and having a solid place to put them.

This could mean having a recycling collection near the door for junk mail, snapping photos of important letters, or immediately adding reminders and events to your schedule to throw out the hard copy. Your life will feel so much more put together if papers are not haunting you.

#5. Keep A Shoe Rack At The Door.

I love keeping a shoe rack by the door because it totally eliminates the issue of shoes tumbling across the floor. Honestly, it's much simpler, too. Our shoes are right there when we need them! There's no need to "find them."

Using the shoe rack on entry has become a simplifying system that my whole family does on automation at this point. 

Click here to watch my YouTube video where I share my 15 Simple Systems. We each keep 2 pairs out at a time (which tends to be plenty for any given season), and that keeps the shoes fitting nicely on the rack. 🙂

Routines are important because they eventually turn into habits when implemented enough- and that's when things become SUPER easy! So, it's valuable to make sure you're investing your time and energy into the best clutter-busting simple routines to keep down clutter if keeping a clutter-free home is a goal of yours.

Don't fall into the trap of attempting tons of new routines at once. Act smarter, not harder!