Hi.
I'm Lorie Marrero, creator of the Clutter Diet book and on-line program, and today we're
going to talk about how to clear off your dining table and your kitchen counters and
all those other flat surfaces you have trouble with.
We hear about this alot, I've seen a lot of clients with this problem, and that is, all
of the clutter piling up on these flat surfaces.
Now, in my world we call this "undesignated space."
It's the idea that these flat surfaces don't have a defined purpose so it becomes an easy
place to put [POP] things here "for now," and create clutter.
And as you might notice from some of my other videos, the definition of clutter is "delayed
decisions and delayed actions."
So I've got five ways today for you to clear off these surfaces.
And the first one is to catch yourself.
So you have been unconscious about this for a long time.
So the first step is being conscious.
As you're coming in the door with an armload of stuff, as you walk over and say, "I'm going
to put it here for now," catch yourself saying that little danger phrase, realizing that
means you've delayed a decision, and instead deal with it right then or make sure that
right after you hang up your coat or put your keys down, you turn right back around and
deal with those items.
The second thing you can do is think of these things differently.
Think of them as decisions and actions and ask yourself, "What is the next action that
needs to be taken with this item?"
"What is the decision that I haven't made yet?"
You may be looking at decisions like, "Do I want to donate this, or keep it?"
"Where do I want to store this?"
"Do I need to bring this back to my sister's house?"
"Do I need to return this to the store?"
Those are the kinds of things you need to ask yourself and get to the answer.
Write it on a "to do" list, get accountability from someone to get that task done, or make
that decision.
The third thing you can do is look for themes or trends.
So let's say your dining table is piled up high with stuff and you decide that as a project
you're going to take this on, let's say next Saturday, and as you're going through all
the stuff and making those decisions and taking those actions, look for those themes and trends
and categories of things that are on the table.
So, for example, you may find there's a lot of unsorted mail on this table.
You may find there's a lot of stuff there that belongs to your daughter.
You may find that there's a lot of stuff [POP] there that needs to be returned to the stores,
or errands that need to be run.
So when you identify what those categories are, you may be able to cut [POP] that clutter
off at the source and figure out another solution for those categories of items.
You might need to have a basket somewhere else where all the unsorted mail goes when
it comes in from the mailbox.
There are things like that, that you can solve and eliminate some of the stuff that's ending
up on the flat surfaces.
All right.
So the next thing you can do is discuss this problem with everyone who is involved.
So obviously you're living with other people in your home, you've got your family members
that are contributing this problem.
Once you kind of figure out what's going on with it, and maybe you have identified some
of these themes and trends, you can discuss them with the other members of the family.
Not in an accusatory way, not in a way that puts them on the defensive, but just bringing
them in on the problem and problem-solving together so that people are bought-in to the
process and they are bought-in also to the solution.
So this might give you more fresh ideas and it certainly will help with the maintenance
of the space when it comes to other people's contributions to it.
And then the last thing you can do is make a rule for yourself and for the family about
this surface.
So you may decide that this surface needs to be cleared off daily.
So for me, kitchen counters, they're cleared off daily.
Dining tables, other spaces that are not as crucial or often used or looked at, they could
be cleared off weekly.
You can decide what makes sense for your family and your home, but make those rules and start
sticking to them.
At least if you pile things there "for now," you'll have the knowledge that later on it's
going to get cleared off on Saturday, so it's probably going to be okay.
If you've enjoyed this, I would love to ask you to share our videos with a friend.
You know, we have a lot of viewers, we get a lot of comments, but we know that we are
not a dramatic chipmunk here, I'm not going to be a sneezing panda or I'm not going to
bite anybody's finger, so we're not as likely to go viral or anything like that, but I feel
like we have a lot of good material here that people would enjoy, so if you are so inclined,
we would be honored if you would share our channel with your friends.
It's really easy to tell them to go to http://www.clutterdiet.tv and that brings them right here to our You
Tube channel.
We'd really appreciate it.
Thanks so much, and may you always be happy and grateful for having more than enough.