Clutter brings stagnation to the chi energy, making it unable to move through your home, and these free clutter tips can help restore balance. Blocked chi energy can prevent opportunities from reaching you, increase debt, and even destroy your health. Most of the techniques you can use to free your life of clutter are basic, logical things you may forget to do. Life can become hectic and as a result your home can suffer because you have less time to do the necessary things to assure a healthy feng shui home.
Get Rid of Paper Clutter
Don't let newspapers, magazines, or old bills accumulate. Stacks of paper are clutter and will prevent the flow of chi energy throughout your home.
- Donate used newspapers to the local recycling station or help a local school drive.
- Designate a place in your garage or outbuilding for used newspapers.
- Take newspapers to a recycling bin regularly. This will keep the stacks from growing into unmanageable clutter.
- Clean out drawers. File loose receipts and valuable paperwork. Throw away unnecessary paper scraps.
- Go paperless as much as possible. Consider scanning receipts and other paper clutter and keeping it neatly stored on your computer, cloud, or a thumb drive.
Sort Through Drawers, Closets, and Cabinets in Every Room
Organizing your home is vital to becoming clutter free. Everything must have a designated place and returned to it after use.
- Start with one room and work your way through the entire house room by room.
- Designate piles to throw away, recycle, donate, or keep. Sort items into each pile.
- Give away those you never use. A good rule of thumb is if you haven't used it for a year, then get rid of it.
- Recycle whenever possible.
- Designate a space for everything you keep. Learn to return items to the proper place for storage.
- Use a variety of bins and containers to neaten up cabinets and drawers.
- File loose papers in a folder and then place it in a file cabinet or drawer.
- Cull outdated magazines and give them to family members or donate them to a doctor's office, hospital, or nursing home.
- Believe it or not, you can have too many plants, just like anything else. Declutter by redistributing plants throughout the house and place in correct feng shui rooms. If you don't have room for all of your plants, consider gifting friends, nursing homes or other places.
Organize Your Spaces for Optimal Chi Flow
Any form of disorganization is clutter, so you need to create organized, tidy spaces.
Re-Arrange Furniture and Objects
Rearrange furniture for better flow of chi. Remove any objects that create obstacles in traffic flow pathways.
Create Designated Storage Areas
Store boxes and bins out of sight. Stack them in an attic, garage or storage unit. Try to keep items in storage to things you use seasonally or are saving for your children as keepsakes, etc. If you don't have a purpose for keeping it, don't store it; get rid of it.
Choose Collectibles Carefully
Too many nicknacks and collectibles scattered around the house creates clutter. If you're a collector, invest in a curio or shelving to display and protect your treasures. Be sure to dust regularly.
Put Away Your Shoes
Never leave your shoes at the door. This is considered negative to the flow of chi. It's a good practice to remove your shoes whenever you enter your home. Consider where you've walked and the kind of things the soles of your shoes have come in contact with during the course of the day. Remove yours shoes at the front door and store in a closet or chest.
Organize Items You Use Daily
Coats, umbrellas, purses, keys, and other items you use regularly need to be organized, too. Hang coats in a closet out of sight. Add an over the door rack for hanging your purse and umbrellas. Keys can be hung from a key rack or placed in a regular location such as a bowl or key caddy.
Maintain a Regular Cleaning Schedule
Dust, dirt, cobwebs, and other debris are all considered clutter. Cleaning seems so obvious, but many people don't have time to clean regularly. If you don't maintain a cleaning schedule, your home will quickly become overrun with dust. Make the time to dust, vacuum and mop. Allowing dust and dirt to accumulate in your home, aside from being bad hygiene, clogs the chi energy and prevents it from flowing properly.
Clean in Spurts
Break up cleaning chores into ten or fifteen minute spurts. Set a timer and go from room to room. Do this daily and you'll find keeping your house clean is easy.
Organize Your Cleaning Supplies
- Don't let your dusting tools accumulate dust. Wash and empty after every cleaning.
- Don't wait until your vacuum cleaner has no suction to change the bag. Check it regularly.
- Make a list of cleaning supplies needed and keep an eye on your inventory supply. This way you'll always have what you need to keep the chi flowing in your home.
Don't Let Clutter Accumulate
Once you've sorted and organized, then the best way to maintain your clutter-free home is to refuse to allow clutter to accumulate. Set aside five minutes each day to walk through your home and put everything back in its place.
Understanding Chi and Clutter in Your Home
Chi energy is in all things and the best way to visualize it in your home is as though it's an air current. Imagine it entering the front door with you and envision it moving through your home. If it bumps into obstacles, then you need to remedy the flow by removing or correcting the placement of items.
A Clutter-Free Home Is Neat and Organized
There are many types of clutter. Restoring balance and order to your home will assure you feel relaxed whenever you enter. Use these and other free clutter tips to help restore healthy chi to flow through your home.
