Has your living room been hidden beneath clutter so long you’ve forgotten what your coffee table looks like – or whether you have one?

Hint: If you’ve been contacted for an Oprah Horror Hoarders taping then the answer is probably oh yes.

During the festive season people like to entertain, visit family and friends, share meals together. Such socializing requires the ability to locate seating not allocated to ancient magazines and to talk to people, not teetering laundry piles.

If neither has been feasible in your living room since the late nineties, yet you find yourself unable to see how to improve the situation, then you may be suffering from a common malady known as clutter blindness.

Clutter Blindness

Clutter blindness is defined in your better medical journals as ‘continual clutter exposure causing the eyeballs to lose all ability to perceive the source of, or solution to, said clutter’.

Fortunately, clutter blindness tends to target certain items, so you can attack the known offenders even without recognizing their clutterly quality.

15 Targets for Clutter Blindness

Here are 15 of the most common sources of clutter blindness and suggested solutions.

1. Excess furniture – return it to the proper room or get rid of it
2. TV in dominating place – see if you can rearrange your sofa and chairs to create a relaxing space for conversation
3. Computer or laptop – return it to your office or workspace and remove from your socializing area
4. Work projects – ditto
5. Exercise equipment – if you don’t use it then sell it, return it, etc; if you do, then move it to a corner or other room so your guests have some space
6. Games consoles – place in an entertainment cabinet or other storage space when not in use
7. Paperwork – create a space (in your office, ideally) where you can store papers out of sight and in an orderly way
8. Toys – back to the kids’ rooms they go
9. Uncared for plants – if salvageable, offer to friends, otherwise let them go
10. Pet clutter – consistently place pet paraphernalia in a corner of the laundry, kitchen, etc
11. Too many books – keep a few books around if you like, but return the others to your bookshelves or the library
12. Too many magazines – keep the current issue of magazines you genuinely read, recycle the rest
13. Newspaper piles – unless you’re planning future activity as a serial killer, recycle the lot
14. Tossed bags, coats, etc – hang in the wardrobe
15. Laundry/ironing – place in baskets in the laundry till ready for ironing, folding, etc.

It might take a little time to de-clutter your space, but you’ll be rewarded with a lovely, welcoming living area. And you’ll once again be able to welcome family and friends into your home this festive season.

Image by tifotter

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1. Organize Your Living Area [Mission #31]
2. 30-Day Organize-athon | Day 1: Declutter Your Living Area
3. How Clutter Can Hold You Back – From Love, Success & Health