By Amy L Hatch
It’s hard to think in a cluttered house.
The chaos reached a tipping point last Saturday, and I finally tackled my kitchen-counter woes — remember? That crazy-cluttered area I’m supposed to use as my workspace?
Two weeks ago, Sarah Welch from Buttoned Up told me that all I needed to do was follow the 80/20 rule. In other words, 20 percent of the junk on that counter was creating 80 percent of my problem. She said I could tame that mess in 20 minutes if I just followed that simple rule. I gave it the old college try.
Did I succeed? Watch and find out!
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Hey Amy, I may have a couple of ideas for you. First, my husband and I keep our incoming papers in our “white basket” – which is a Sterlite White Ultra Basket, about 6 inches deep. Search online to see a pic and then you can go find one at Big Lots, Target, Walmart, or other similar stores.
This basket should go someplace where it makes sense for incoming mail, papers, coupons, and other stuff to be sorted through later. Maybe on a table just inside the door, on top of the refrigerator, on the kitchen counter… just someplace where you’ll be able to stash stuff as it comes in. Keeps all that stuff from becoming a horrid teetering pile.
Then set aside a time each week to sort through the basket. Pick a time that works with your schedule and then stick with it. My husband and I sit down Saturday morning and sort through the basket, discuss our budget, allocate money for bills, and plan or discuss appointments, activities, or shopping for the coming week.
Second, is any of the space in the drawers below that counter and/or the cabinets above it available for some of the “work area” stuff? You can find very inexpensive office-supply drawer organizers at Walmart. One could go in one of the drawers and contain some of the work area supplies (and still leave room for other things in the drawer). If there were room in the cabinet, a second white basket or something similar could go in there to contain some of that stuff.
With these two ideas, the surface itself might stay neater. Hope these ideas help. –Anne
It’s me again with another idea! To help organize this area, you could also get magnetized “locker organizer” things that would hold pencils, pens, and other stuff. Some of the stuff in that jar on the counter could then be off your work surface but still handy.
We have two of those on our refrigerator. One is at knee level and holds white board markers for our 2-y-o granddaughter to use when she comes over (with a little whiteboard right next to it for her to draw on). The other is higher and has pens and pencils in it so we can grab one when we need to make a quick grocery list.
You are too adorable — I think you’ve caught the vlogging bug? Much easier than writing, IMHO. I am trying harder on this, too. It is easier to write without so much junk in your face!
I found a great book, “The house that cleans itself”! The idea is to adapt your house to fit your behavior – and it *almost* works miracles! I transformed my bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dinning room, and living room in the last 3 months and it has been going well so far. But I had the true test yesterday! 3 of my 4 children (8 yrs and under) and I have been sick with the stomach flu for the past 5 days and my house turned into a complete wreck! I was pretty depressed last night when I started feeling healthy enough to finally face the issue of cleaning our huge mess…
But, with my “newly adapted” house, it only took 2 hours to restore my house to a better than the pre-sickness state!
I couldn’t believe how easy it was to come back from such disaster. I’m recommending this book to EVERYONE!
Kate, thanks for that suggestion! I totally need to get that book. Maybe a review for one of my Living With Less posts!