Clutter hotspot

What It Means

A clutterClutterA crowded, untidy collection of things, especially things that aren't useful or needed, spread over the surfaces and spaces of a home. See more hotspot is a surface or corner that turns into a catch-all for things that don't have a permanent home. University of Illinois Extension gives the kitchen table as an example, the place where things that don't have a home of their own get dropped. The phrase is everyday organizing language rather than a formal term.

How It Sounds at Home

• "Why does everything end up on the kitchen table?"
• "The stairs are a dumping ground again."
• "I can't see the counter anymore."

The Breakdown

How to clear a clutter hotspot

1. Walk through the house and note every surface where things pile up. The checklist above is a starting point.
2. Pick one small area for today. Both University of Illinois Extension and Penn State Extension suggest working one small area at a time.
3. Clear everything off the surface and sort it: things that live elsewhere in the house, things to donate, and trash.
4. Put each item back where it belongs right away, so the sorted piles don't become a new hotspot.
5. Keep a donation box somewhere out of the way. Illinois Extension calls it a castaway container; when it's full, take it to a donation center.
6. For anything that keeps landing on the spot, give it a home nearby: a tray for mail, a hook for bags, a basket for chargers.

Try it today. Set a timer for 15 minutes, clear the one spot you walk past most, and stop when the timer goes off.

Keep it clear. If the same things keep landing on the spot, they probably need a home close by. A reset of that one spot each evening, a minute or two, keeps a new pile from getting a start.

Good to Know

Ask your local donation center what it accepts before you drop off a full box, so nothing makes the trip twice. Go through papers from a hotspot by hand rather than tipping the pile into recyclingRecyclingCollecting used materials such as paper, cardboard, glass and some plastics so they can be processed and made into new products. See more, since bills and letters that need an answer tend to hide in it.

Related Terms and Categories

• Decluttering

  Clearing out what a home no longer needs by sorting belongings into what to keep and what leaves the house, one small area at a time.

• Clutter

  A crowded, untidy collection of things, especially things that aren't useful or needed, spread over the surfaces and spaces of a home.

• Paper clutter

  Piles of mail, bills, statements, receipts and forms that build up at home, with no system for what to keep, where, and for how long.

• Family command center

  One central spot at home, often a wall by the entry or in the kitchen, where the family keeps its shared calendar, papers, lists and everyday items.

Chores, cleaning and home care