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Less stuff equals less stress.
Summertime means things are more relaxed—which can definitely lead to some major clutter creep. And if you’re currently dealing with a jumble of sandals and sneakers at your door, a leaky bottle of sunscreen and a damp towel in your car, or a post-vacation suitcase still sitting in your entryway three days after you’ve gotten home, you’re probably in need of a little minimalist intervention.
You don’t have to succumb to the summer mess—with a few smart prevention tactics from pro organizers, you can help keep clutter at bay and live even more easily for the rest of the season. Learn why it feels like clutter gets worse over the summer, and what you can do to stop the stuff from piling up so you can keep your summer chill going straight on through fall.
Meet Our Expert
- Katrina Teeple, professional organizer and founder of Operation Organization
- Tyler Moore, founder of Tidy Dad and author of Tidy Up Your Life
- Jamie Hord, founder and professional organizer at Horderly
Why Homes Get Messier in the Summer
It’s not your imagination that your home gets somehow more cluttered this time of year—and you can probably guess the causes of all this mess.
You’re living differently
If you’re a parent, you’re probably aware of the source of the summer mess. “Summer means kids are out of school and the home is used differently than the rest of the year, with more people cohabitating for more hours per day,” says Katrina Teeple, owner and founder of Operation Organization. “Summer feels less routine, and fewer routines usually mean fewer systems for keeping things in order”.
It’s that lack of routine that leads to the chaos. “The moment you walk back through the door, everything lands wherever it lands: swim goggles, water bottles, sunscreen, sunglasses, umbrellas, running shoes, a sun hat,” says Tyler Moore, founder of Tidy Dad and author of Tidy Up Your Life. “At any given moment, all of it is out, all of it is in use, and all of it is somewhere. We’re balancing vacations, work, kids, schedules, going to camp, days off from camp, the days when you need a lunch, the days when you don’t need a lunch. There are so many moving parts compared to other times of year.”
There’s all new stuff involved
‘Tis the season for all new gear coming your way, and often, that stuff may not have a designated spot in your current organizational systems.
“Summer is really a season of accumulating: supplies for projects, shopping picked up on trips, free swag from events, and souvenirs the kids swear they need,” Teeple says. “Summer brings travel, day trips, and pool bags filled with miscellaneous items that need to be put away, plus activities and craft supplies for the kids’ projects. Bikes, scooters, and water toys migrate from garage to yard to porch and rarely make it back where they belong, and kids grow so fast over the summer that outgrown swimsuits and shoes pile up before anyone has time to sort them.”
It’s too hot to function
Scorching summer days can take a lot out of you—so the last thing you probably want to do when you get out of the heat is clean up. So you’d be forgiven if you opt to chill out with your feet up instead of sorting through the stack of mail that piled up when you were on vacation.
How to Head Off Summer Clutter
Knowing why it happens—and that you’re not alone in the summer mess—may make you feel better, but it’s not going to do the heavy lifting of actually putting a stop to it. So pro organizers have plenty of tips to help you keep the clutter at bay.
Be a bit ruthless
Prevention is so much easier than fixing the problem, so don’t be afraid to stop the mess at its source. “Try to eliminate the clutter right away,” says Jamie Hord, founder of Horderly. “Be mindful of it as it enters the house or get rid of it immediately.” She recommends using the same tools that help you manage mess in other seasons—such as the one-in, one-out rule.
Make an “empty your bag” policy
“With summer comes fun, fashion, and travel bags that get packed but are often left to pile up with empty sunscreen bottles, old snacks, sandy sandals, or dirty laundry from a summer trip,” Teeple says. “Make it a rule that bags get unpacked within 24 hours of coming home.”
Keep things where you need them—and where you can see them
There’s a time and a place for minimizing visual clutter, but the summer may not be it—especially if you have kids and don’t want to hear the constant cries of “Where is my...” Moore is a big fan of keeping everything in sight so kids can help themselves. “Build systems that make things easy to find, not systems that look good but don’t work.”
Another trick? Store stuff exactly where you need it. “We store non-perishable snacks in a basket in our trunk for those times when our girls are hungry and we’re on the go,” he says.
Move out things you don’t need
You (hopefully!) already cleared the deck of cozy sweaters and mittens—but you may need to move other items out of the way to make even more room. “Here’s what that looks like in real life: we normally keep plants in the middle of our kitchen table,” Moore says. “In the summer, those plants move. In their place goes a large antique bread bowl that’s become our beach towel station. Need a fresh towel? Go to the bowl. When the bowl is empty, that’s my signal to wash the towels, refill it, and go again.”
Repurpose storage
If you already have every basket and bin in your home accounted for, you may not have a good spot for the items you’re using this season. But rather than hitting the store for more storage options, get creative with what’s already in your house.
“Shop your kitchen first,” Moore says. “Grab a large mixing bowl, put it on the counter closest to the door, and tell your family: this is where the sunglasses live…this is where the sunscreen goes. That’s it. That’s the system.”
A bonus to using bowls for potentially messy things like sunscreen? “If a bottle leaks, it’s a five-second cleanup—simple, practical, done,” Moore says.
Get everyone involved
It takes a village to make a mess—so make the village help clean it up, too. “To keep clutter under control, give each family member a Put Back Basket to collect their things from around the house that are out of place, then take 15 minutes to put them away,” Teeple recommends. “Make this a ritual once a day.”
Moore is a fan of a twice-daily 10-minute reset. “We do one in the middle of the day and another before dinner. This isn’t about perfection; things will be out, kids will be playing, life will be happening. But a quick reset brings everything back to semi-factory settings.”
Don’t sleep on decluttering
While you may be more focused on sparking joy with experiences rather than Marie Kondo-ing your stuff, there’s a benefit to setting aside a little time from the fun for a quick decluttering project. “Summer rest and ruthless decluttering can both exist at the same time,” Teeple says. “Having less to pick up means more time to have fun in the sun.”
And decluttering could be your secret weapon for making this your best summer yet. “Honestly? Summer is just easier when you can find what you need,” Moore says.
Read the original article on Real Simple
