In Lessons from Madame Chic we learn that clutter is so not chic. Today we are going to discuss the Madame Chic method for ridding your home of clutter once and for all (hint: it's an ongoing process).
Hot Spots are the high-traffic areas in your home where clutter easily accumulates. The clutter might rotate here… but it is always there. Identify where your hot spots are. Be aware of them. Aim to sort through these every day. Don’t become accustomed to them. Work together with your family to keep these hot spots under control. Likely they will always be hot spots in that they are in high traffic areas, but they don’t have to be a disorganized mess.
Stagnant Spaces These are the out-of-the-way areas that accumulate clutter. This clutter tends to sit there waiting for something to happen, but it never does. This is the area I have always most struggled with and continue to do so today. Because sometimes when you are clearing your visible hot spots, you cram the clutter you don’t know what to do with in your stagnant spaces. Schedule regular times to go through these spaces. Listen to a good audiobook so you don’t feel it’s such a chore and actually look forward to going through the hot mess.
Look at your home with new eyes
This one is big. BIG. We all become accustomed to how our home looks and we become comfortable with the clutter. In the beginning you might be annoyed with that perpetual pile of clutter in the corner or the pile of things you have to go through, but over time you become desensitized to it and these piles might start to build up and accumulate. Soon, it just doesn’t bother you anymore. But you might become hyper aware of your clutter zones when a new person comes to visit your home. So an exercise I put forth in Lessons from Madame Chic is to walk into your home. Physically do it. From the front door. And look around as if you were entering for the first time. Maybe as a potential buyer for a home. You would instantly notice places that were off or the clutter you got so used to would become unsightly for you.
Check the flow When I lived in Santa Monica, I had a good friend, who has since passed away, and she was a Feng Shui expert. She taught me so much about the importance of energy and flow in a space. Some people think that a space that’s properly “feng shui-ed” (is that even a word?) is very minimalist, but that’s not true. Any space can employ the principles of Feng Shui. Madame Chic’s apartment had such a wonderful flow. There was absolutely no clutter to obstruct energy. Clutter is considered negative in the world of Feng Shui because it causes congestion in the overall flow of a room and we want rooms with beautiful free-flowing energy. Even without being trained in the art of Feng Shui, you can probably look at the room you’re in now to determine if there is a good flow. Or is there a pile or clutter or an object or two that you need to remove from the space.
Is it beautiful?
This could be the biggest Madame Chic method principle. Is your room beautiful? This matters, you know. Women, especially, are very visual creatures who need to be surrounded by beauty. Clutter often destroys the beauty in a room. I think of it like a beautiful outfit with a big coffee stain on it. The stain is the clutter. You deserve to live in beautiful surroundings. You shouldn’t wait for this to happen “one day when the kids are older” or when XYZ happens. No, it can happen now. I don’t mean to go have a shopping spree to redecorate. I mean to fix your space now. Do you need to rearrange the furniture? Are you finally getting things out of that room that don’t belong? Are there school supplies in the kitchen that should be in the homeschool room? Is your entryway crammed with coats and shoes you don’t wear right now? Are there toys that don’t belong on the coffee table? Create beauty with what you have already by clearing the clutter in your home.
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Erica writes, "I am rereading Polish Your Poise With Madam Chic after a few years and am loving it again!
I like to incorporate nautical elements in my spring and summer wardrobe, like red, white, navy blue, and gold accents."
Hi Erica, I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic again! I love your incorporation of nautical elements into your wardrobe.
I hope you enjoyed today's video, everyone. I would love to know about your clutter triumphs and failures. Let's all work on it together. Love, Jennifer
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Jennifer L. Scott is the New York Times bestselling author of Lessons from Madame Chic, At Home with Madame Chic and Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic
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