1. Take time (even just 5 minutes!) at the end of the day to put away items and to make your to-do list for tomorrow. Once you have a clear countertop, keep it that way by routinely maintaining your clear area. Tomorrow will be easier to manage without having to take time to de-clutter and figure out what needs to be done.




5. Try the hanger experiment to help you pick what wardrobe pieces to clear out and donate. All of your clothes that require hangers should be in the reverse direction from how you normally hang them. After you wear something, put it back in the your closet facing the correct direction. After several months, you’ll be able to visually identify how much of your wardrobe you wear. This could also be applied to other items in your home.
6. Go wireless with what you can. For those items where it is impossible to go wireless, organize the cords so they are out of the way.
7. Clean up your inbox and virtually de-clutter yourself. Are you one of those people with 200+ e-mails in your inbox and don’t know where to start? Immediately discard junk e-mails and set up folders for other e-mails to be stored. Delete routinely. There are several sources to help corral your virtual clutter: unroll.me, Google Inbox, and Mailstrom are great tools to help simplify your computer life.
8. Keep like with like. Whether it is in your closet, cabinets, kitchen, drawers, etc., keeping scissors with scissors and jackets with jackets is your best bet for easily locating items in the future. Make sure items are easily visible and accessible. If they are not, invest in a storage system that allows them to be, or donate/get rid of what you do not need.
9. Teach your children or significant other how to put back items where they belong and encourage them to take five minutes a day to clean up. The process will go much faster with more hands, and this also ensures that everyone knows where to put items so they are easier to locate in the future.
10. Physically make a clear path! De-clutter your mind by de-cluttering the floors of walkways in hallways and rooms. In addition, you will be better able to focus in your office with less stuff and “noise” going on. Less is more when it comes to de-cluttering.