One of the scariest parts of moving into a small house is dealing with clutter and years of impulse shopping. Does one family really need 38 throw pillows? Probably not, but it can be difficult parting with treasures, even if they don’t mean anything to the other residents of your small home. Here are four ways to beat clutter in your small house this year.

Hot Spots - Most of the time clutter collects in certain spots throughout the day, like mail on the dining room table, keys on the counter or shoes in the foyer. Find stylish ways to organize this clutter like an attractive basket for shoes, decorative piece or pottery for keys and a hat box for incoming mail. The clutter will be in sight, but not unsightly.

The 15 Minute Daily Clean - Instead of waiting until the weekend to do a thorough cleaning that takes hours and wipes you out, take 15 minutes at the end of the day to walk through the house and place everything that needs to be put away into a basket. Then the entire family goes to the basket to claim their things and put them where they belong. Anything left in the basket, goes in the trash (great for teaching kids to pick up after themselves!).

One Year Rule - Trash, donate, or sell things you haven’t used in a year. This may seem brutal, so if you aren’t sure you can handle it, put the objects/clothing/whatever that you haven’t used for a year in a box and store the box for another year, then decide if you really need to keep what’s in there. Chances are you won’t miss the items for another year and realize they aren’t worth storing. This works great for clothes, linens, sports equipment, shoes, and paperwork.

One Item In, One Item Out - If you really must control clutter this rule is perfect. For every item you bring home, you must get rid of one item in your house. Perfect for small things like magazines that tend to pile up.

Photo by Kimberly Hurst

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