admin I am fascinated how sometimes we use words that can be misleading or rather misinterpreted. One of these words is the word ‘declutter’, and I think in many cases we do a literal translation from Maltese to English (tiżbarazza).
In fact I am baffled when someone says that prior to leave home for work, they go round the house and declutter. Well, if you manage to do so….congratulations you are a supermama.
What I think some actually mean, is that they tidy up a room and not actually declutter. Although it is possible to do a 15min decluttering session, for me there is a difference between tidying up, decluttering and organizing. They are three different and distinct concepts and one does not necessarily depend on the other.
Let me first start off by giving the definitions according to the Cambridge English Dictionary of these three simple, and yet confusing word.
Tidying Up: “to make a place or a collection of things tidy”. When you tidy up or tidy a place up, you put things back in their proper places so that everything is neat.
Declutter: “to remove things you do not need from a place, in order to make it more pleasant and more useful”.
Organizing: “to do or arrange something according to a particular system”.
Now let me go deeper into each meaning.
Tidying up: As per the definition above tidying up is when you are putting things back where they belong. It has nothing to do with decluttering or organizing. For example, if the night before you left the coffee outside on your kitchen countertop, putting it back in the cupboard is tidying up. Putting pillows back on the couch, or putting toys back in their place is tidying up and not decluttering.
Decluttering: Again, as per the definition above, when decluttering you are removing things you do not need from a place to make it look more pleasant. Decluttering can be two fold: (1) when you declutter your surfaces, so as to have a clean space, for example removing the toaster from the kitchen countertop and placing it in the cupboard. You remove any visual clutter (2) when you go through items, and decide whether you to keep it (because there is use for it), throw it away (because it is broken), donate (it still works but you no longer use it). When decluttering, there is an element of decision making and takes a bit of time.
Organizing: Organizing it a totally different game….not everyone is organized by nature but that does not mean that they cannot have an organized home. Organizing is when you are implementing systems, that are intentional and have a purpose. Everyone has a different organizational style, it is not a one size fits all. When you organize you make things functional, pretty and easy to find.
So what do you do in the morning….tidy up, declutter or organize?
Love
Strugglingmum
If you are struggling with decluttering /or organizing, feel free to message me.
