Three common traits of people who have uncluttered and organized homes
There are three major differences between someone who perpetually has an uncluttered and organized home and someone who doesn't.
The first difference is that the person with the perpetually organized home has small routines she follows every day to keep the house orderly. When she walks in the door with the mail, she has a routine she follows to immediately process the mail. When she is done with dinner, she has a routine to clean the kitchen. When she gets ready for bed at night, she has a routine to put her dirty clothes in a hamper. There are weekly laundry routines and dusting routines and she always hangs her coat up and stores her keys in the same place. These routines aren't given much thought, they're just a part of her behavior.
The second difference is the person with the perpetually organized home has an emotional detachment to most physical possessions. This isn't to say she is devoid of sentimentality -- she cherishes her photo albums full of family memories and the quilt her grandmother made her -- but she doesn't form sentimental bonds with catalogs or kitchen appliances or most utilitarian objects. She appreciates and uses stuff when it works and meets her needs, but she is willing to part with things when they cease to be useful or she no longer appreciates the item.
The third difference is the person with the perpetually organized home has a sense of optimism and responsibility about the future. She will meet with a financial advisor to make sure she is putting away an appropriate amount of money for her retirement, but she won't save a cupboard full of margarine tubs just in case she might one day have a need for them. She is prepared for the future, but not afraid of it.
Obviously, there are people with disorganized homes who have similar attributes. However, the attributes are slightly different in some way. For example, the daily routines might be to throw a coat over the back of the couch instead of hang it up in the closet or to leave dirty dishes on the counter instead of load them into the dishwasher. There are routines, but they're not routines that help the house to be more orderly.
When I decided I wanted to become an unclutterer, these were the three largest changes I had to make to my life. I had to implement daily routines that helped keep my home uncluttered and organized -- and, I won't lie, putting these habits into daily use took a lot of practice. I had to train myself to look at an object and not attach a disproportionate amount of sentimentality to it. I was constantly reminding myself that the plate my mom gave me was not my mom, it was just a plate, and getting rid of it didn't mean I was getting rid of my mom. Finally, I had to learn to put faith in the future that it would be as good or better than my past. I needed to make responsible choices about preparing for the future, not irrational ones. Surprisingly, this was easier for me to do than implement daily uncluttering and organizing routines.
