Is yours a magnet for clutter?

The kitchen sink that is.

Mine seems to attract every bit of random stuff going.

Not to mention the dirty dishes.

Of course.

So THEN we all end up buying more stuff don’t we?

To keep our sink clutter under control.

Racks. And caddies. And drainers. And mats.

But they don’t help. Obviously.

They just let us pile up even MORE clutter round the kitchen sink.

So today we’re going to stop for a moment, stare out our kitchen sink. And let go of the clutter that’s just NOT helping …

If you’re following along with my quick daily declutter, read on. BUT if you’re new do hop back and read how just 10 things can help you declutter easily.

Just 10 Things  – Kitchen Sink

As always we’ll stick to the just 10 things rules:

• Take 5 minutes or so, 15 minutes max
• Focus on our kitchen sink
• Open our eyes to unused stuff  making the mess worse
• And without yanking stuff out 
• Spot any we’re ready to let go

Keep your eyes peeled for ..

• Grotty old stuff we’d never dream of using but hang onto
• Old products we are never going to use up because they didn’t work
• Organizers & storage we’re actually just storing

And let go of some of these …

1. Washing up bowl
2. Washing up brush
3. Rubber gloves
4. Drainers & draining mats
5. Sink caddy
6. Washing up liquid
7. Dishwasher tablets
8. Rinse aid & salt
9. Sink strainer
10. Pan scrubbers

And whilst you’re at it.

Return lost items round the sink to their real home.

Great. Looks better, huh?

BUT now set yourself a challenge.

See if you can keep the sink area clutter free.

The most powerful trick is shoving the dishwasher on every night and emptying it first thing.

That way dirty dishes never sit on the side.

Or in the sink.

They’re straight into the dishwasher.

Easy.

Keeping the other clutter away is NOT so easy.

But policing that one clutter magnet will help with our other clutter magnets later.

I promise.

Want to find out why?

Read today’s little nudge.

 

A Little Nudge

We all have clutter magnets in our homes.

Kitchen sinks. Kitchen tables. Kitchen worktops.

Bedside tables. Bedside chairs.

And more.

And do you know why?

It’s BECAUSE we’ve dedicated our homes to storage.

And left ourselves NO space to live in.

Lots of professional organisers will tell you, to have a place for everything.

So you can always tidy things away. Easily.

BUT this SO misses the point.

Life isn’t tidy.

It’s creative. And unpredictable.

And at times chaotic.

We need space for change.

We need space for things to go wrong.

We need space for the utterly delightful petal potion in a jam jar our kids bring us with such pride.

For the cardboard box currently on an important intergalactic mission via the kitchen floor.

For the sandpaper and paint pots whilst we rescue that old chair.

With 90% of our homes given over to storage.

We don’t have space for these.

We don’t have space for living.

To truly tackle our clutter magnets we need to turn things on their head.

And reclaim that space.

20%. 30%. 40%.

Little by little.

Until most of our home is free to live in.

All the clutter building up round our kitchen sink tells us something.

NOT that a whole bunch of things need a new home.

BUT that a whole lot of activities need more space.

And to give them that, we need to ditch more stuff.