WFWM: Clutter-Free Spaces

Since finishing my 40 Bags in 40 Days project during Lent, I have only redoubled my efforts to declutter.  It's addictive - once I start getting rid of stuff I want to get rid of more, and I find I am thinking twice about replacing it.

One strategy that is working well for me right now is to keep certain spaces in my house permanantly clutter-free.  One big one for me is the surface of this buffet in my kitchen/eating area:

This used to be where my household files, piles of mail, and many other random items permanently lived.  Yes, I only moved some of those items to other areas, but I find that each time I move things around, I am able to discard or consolidate some of them and better organize the others.

In the past, I have felt that keep spaces empty was just wasting them, especially in our small house where storage space is at a premium.  But now I am finding that in many cases the opposite is true.  Not only is it calming and visually pleasing to have the empty space as a fairly permanent fixure, but the space actually becomes more useful for temporary needs - in this case to hold a lunch buffet or as a place to dry art projects or cool cookies.

I freely admit that this surface does not remain 100% empty all the time.  Stuff can definitely pile up over the course of the day or even a couple of days.  But my goal has been to clear it off each evening, and I have now kept it pretty consistently clear over the past few months.  Now I'm looking for other spaces in my house for which I can do the same thing.

Designating empty spaces Works for Me.