It’s no secret that countless families are deluged by household clutter.

Flylady says; “The most common clutter hot spots are children's bedrooms, home offices, attics, and garages.” What does it take to create a clutter-free space? Here are my 10 best home organization strategies straight from my book, The Joy of Being Disorganized.

1. Stop Homelessness

One of the main reasons stuff piles up on counters, dining tables, coffee tables and floors is that it’s homeless. When an item has no "home," it gets added to an IPOD
 (Important Pile Of Decisions). The free chapter I'm giving you has great information about the IPODs in your home and how to eliminate them. That’s why it’s important to make sure everything in your home lives somewhere. “Homing” items in the room where they're used, helps ensure that they get put away when you're finished. For example, I keep a sewing kit in a drawer of an end table in my living room, because I like to mend garments in that room and not in my sewing room in the basement.

2. Stop Clutter at the Cash Register

Use that, waiting-to-buy time when you’re standing in line at the cash register, to re-think what’s in your hands or cart. Imagine it as clutter. What you buy today can turn
into clutter tomorrow. The better you are about keeping things out of your home, the less likely you’ll be to create IPODs when you get home.

3. Baby Step your Way to Clutter-free

Start with the room that’s bothering you the most. (In my almost 40-year career helping moms get organized, the kitchen is the room most picked by baby-steppers.) Marla Cilley, the Flylady
says, “Start by shining your kitchen sink.” That’s so brilliant! In order to keep your sink shiny, you have to keep it empty. In order to keep it empty, you and your family have to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. In order to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, it has to be empty!

We want a happy home.

We intuitively know there is peace when there is order. We want our homes to be peaceful, organized and a joy in which to live, love and play.

In a book called The Tipping Point, the author, Malcom Gladwell, really grabbed my attention when he wrote about the Broken Window Theory. It was the brainchild of criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling. Kelling wrote, “Crime is the inevitable result of disorder.” Getting organized reduces crime.

I’m not saying because your house is a mess you’ll inevitably rob a bank or shoot your husband, but it’s a fair guess you’ve been late for church because you couldn’t find your car keys and broke the speed limit to get there on time, or you’ve been pulled over for driving under the influence when really you were just trying to put a little lipstick on while getting to your meeting.

Wilson and Kelling claim, “If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge.” They tell about the horrible crime in the New York Subways in the 90s and that by cleaning up the graffiti on the outside and inside of the cars, crime plummeted! A cluttered room, among other things is like graffiti. It’s symbolic of the collapse of a system. It sends a message that no one’s in charge and no one cares.

Here are 6 simple household tasks that convey the same message as the graffiti-free subways did.  

Is there a broken window in each room?

Let’s use the metaphor of the broken window in each room of our homes and make “repairs” that will take you less than five minutes each. That means that in about 20 minutes you can fix five windows and you’ll show yourself and your family that you are back in charge and that you care.

We’ve got a whole basket of clever gift ideas in this funny video clip of a national television show way back in the nineties. You’ll laugh at the prices quoted in the piece (like the cost of popcorn at the movies), but the ideas still work today.

This video is from when Peggy and I were on the Mike and Maty show. 

Enjoy!

For most of us, to lose weight has been an ongoing...and losing..battle.

For four years I have maintained my weight right where I want it....okay, okay close to where I want it....and have eaten delicious food. 

To lose weight, cut out anything wheat, white or sweet. Here's a recipe that cuts out the wheat and the sweet, and you and your family will love it.

It's for delicious, healthy low carb flourless tortillas.

They'll chop out about 60 carbs from your day.

That'll help you lose weight and that'll help you be healthier.

This is just one of many of my low carb videos.

Learn a Life Lesson from it and It’ll go Away!

Your clutter has something important to tell you.

If you follow a religion, do you think the guy who started yours had too much stuff? Of course he didn’t. Jesus, Moses, Mohamad, Buddha, Krishna, none of them was bothered by owning too much stuff! So here you are today, sick of your clutter, trying to find peace and joy in your day, as you fight over clutter, look for it, stash it, rearrange it, dust it, and cage yourself in chaos and frustration.

Your clutter will continue to get in the way of your peace until you learn a very important life lesson, letting go.   Here’s an excerpt from my latest book, The Joy of Being Disorganized:

Our lives are hectic in this 21^st century, which makes establishing peace in our homes more of a necessity than ever. We need a sanctuary from the frenzy. When our homes make us feel safe and cozy, they become a refuge where we can recharge our spirits that can get pulled in so many directions out in the world.

Peace is a personal matter. What defines peace for me may not come close to your definition. When I think of peace, a lot of “R” words fly around in my mind—like release, rejuvenate, refresh, relax, and rest. Whatever your definition of peace, consider that you are not just a homemaker or a housekeeper, you are a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. The tone of your home rests in your hands. That’s a tall order, but when you reduce the clutter in your home, it’s much easier to keep the peace.

You have the right to live in it “joy” fully and “peace” fully.

Family members don't pick up after themselves? This FREE game will stop that!

Have you heard about the SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive) 3x5 get organized system for your home and life?

It certainly has had resurgence in popularity in the last few months! It’s an amazing 3x5 cardfile system and millions have successfully set it up including Flylady.  

If you set up the SHE system and it worked for you and your family, but then you quit using it, YOU’RE NORMAL! Nobody sticks to anything forever; it’s just not possible unless you’re a librarian.Things happen. Life happens. And by your very nature, you get sidetracked by those “happenings,” and life presses you on and pulls you in many directions.

Here’s a video clip of Flylady telling about how successful she was with the SHE get organized system when her child was young and then what happened.

Many people have a hard time decluttering, even when their stuff doesn’t bring them joy.

Have you been holding onto stuff that you really don't care about, and it's cluttering up your life?

Would you love to have a turn-around about how you feel concerning your stash of stuff? Did you know it's easier to get organized when you don't have a lot of stuff?

Read what Emily York did that soothed her fear of letting go and gave her the courage to be free of it. All she did was change her mind and she saw her stuff with a new perspective.

Dear Pam,

As I was watching the S.H.E. De-Junking DVD and I heard you or Peggy say that people tell you all the time they are afraid to let go of their stuff because as soon as they do, they will need it. At that point I said to the television screen, "Amen sisters!" Because that is exactly how I felt. THEN one of you said, "You can let go of your stuff and never have to worry again, because it is at the Goodwill and you can go there and buy it back or just visit it!!"

      I realized I'd been running my own personal

                      version of a Goodwill Store!

You’re,

Probably in your jammies or you slept in workout clothes 

You’ve got “rooster” hair and raccoon eyes and you don’t smell like a rose 

You played Candy Crush Saga until midnight, or one

It’s amazing how the time just flies when you’re havin’ fun