TheSpruce.com proposes 5 messy areas guests will always notice in your home, According to Organizing Pros.

• Small Piles of Mess
• Bathrooms That Need Attention
• Forgotten Exteriors and Entryways
• Cluttered Closets
• Food Prep Messes

The Fix: Prioritize Spaces Guests Will See

Peter Walsh and Marie Kondo are two prominent figures in the world of organizing and decluttering, each with a distinctive approach to helping people manage their spaces.

Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant, is famous for her KonMari method, as outlined in her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Her method is deeply introspective and emphasizes tidying by category (not by location) and keeping only those items that “spark joy.” The steps of the KonMari method include:

1. Committing yourself fully to tidying up.


2. Imagining your ideal lifestyle.


3. Finishing discarding first before finding a place for remaining items.


4. Tidying by category — clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and finally, sentimental items.


5. Asking yourself if the item sparks joy.

Kondo’s method is also spiritual in a sense, encouraging a respectful and appreciative relationship with your belongings, which includes thanking discarded items for their service.

Peter Walsh

Peter Walsh, an organizational expert originally from Australia, focuses on the psychological aspects of clutter. His approach is more about the effect of clutter on emotional well-being and decision-making. His method involves:

1. Identifying the vision** you have for each room in your home.


2. Considering how your clutter is impacting your life and your emotional state.


3. Sorting items into defined categories like trash, donate, or keep.


4. Organizing things in a way that respects the space limits of your home.

Walsh’s approach tends to be practical and is aimed at creating functional spaces that help reduce stress and improve the quality of life. He also often addresses the reasons behind why people hold onto clutter, such as emotional attachments or fears, offering strategies to overcome these challenges.

Key Differences

• Emotional Connection: Kondo focuses on the joy an item brings and is more about personal satisfaction. Walsh addresses how clutter affects emotional and psychological well-being, focusing on the broader impacts on life and happiness.


• Methodology: Kondo is very structured, advocating a specific sequence of actions and focusing on categories. Walsh is more flexible, emphasizing the end-purpose or function of spaces and psychological barriers to decluttering.


• Cultural Influences: Kondo’s method has a distinct Japanese influence, emphasizing minimalism and harmony with belongings. Walsh’s method is more Western, practical, and aimed at maximizing the utility of spaces.

Both methods offer valuable insights into decluttering and can be adapted based on individual needs and preferences.

This ApartmentTherapy post is refers to decluttering but I think it’s more keeping order. Perhaps one has to have decluttered to keep order but that’s another story. This rule, which I love, is never leave a room without taking something that doesn’t belong out of it. As stated if every time you change rooms during the course of the day you take something out, by the end of the day everything will be neat.

This rule goes well with my thought that I can pop over at a neighbours and their condo always looks great. Whereas if someone pops into my condo unannounced I’ll be apologizing for the mess. I must instigate this rule in my condo.

I was going to say who writes these things? Then I saw the link autoreviewhub.com. It’s an interesting list; if nothing else it will start you thinking. Their list includes: cars, linen, small kitchen appliances, shoes, sentimental items.

Yesterday, 2 years after moving into my condo, I sorted out the top shelves in my bedroom closet. Some things had been put there immediately after the move, unclear if I would use or not. Well 2 years later safe to say some is not.

Apparently this is a favourite topic of mine. And so here are the links to posts I’ve shared over the course of several years:

• 4 things I decluttered after moving into a new home
• Declutter your home in just 14 days
• The first 15 things to do to declutter your life
• Ideas to declutter your life
• Declutter your entryway
• Declutter your home
• 10 beautiful DIY ways to declutter your closet
• 89 things to remove from your home & your life
• 10 things you could get rid of today
• Swedish Death Cleaning

Apartment therapy has put together a post with 21 laundry room organization ideas. Some are quite clever. I love the framed laundry care guide.

I first posted about Swedish Death Cleaning in October 2017. I’ve just stumbled upon a Swedish Death Cleaning checklist presented by the spruce. It’s a simple checklist to get you started.

I moved almost 2 years ago. Leaving behind my 4 walk-in closets was more of a challenge than I realized. Things are more in their place now and more easily found, but admittedly there could be more space in the closets, in the drawers, so I’m thinking it will soon be time to pull things out and do another sort.

Alof Finance has put together a list of 50 items you should consider getting rid of. That’s quite a list! I’d say a good list to peruse and question what it is you have and what you should get rid of. Of course some of these items you will want to keep, but perhaps then make it a conscious decision to keep and organize the things you do keep. Dare I say organize in the space cleared up by having discarded less useful things.

ApartmentTherapy has put together a post on 4 things to declutter after moving. Having moved a year ago or so and having done the exercise I must say I agree with their suggestions. My new apartment was a similar size to my previous but walk-in closets (4) were replaced with closets with sliding doors. I had a similar or somewhat higher square footage but it was different. My approach was to see what fit, fit property that is and then set aside what did not. There were many trips to the thrift store. At first it was hard but once the process was started it got easier.