The living room, kitchen, and bedroom are the spaces we tend to neglect the most in our home, according to a survey conducted by the furniture company, Joybird. As much as we like our home to look neat and tidy, the rush to accomplish our tasks sometimes causes us to make mistakes that, no matter how small, contribute to the accumulation of clutter.

Bright Side will tell you about some of the mistakes that make the spaces in our home look crowded with unnecessary things and also how to avoid them.

1. Confusing clean with organized

It is very common to confuse order with cleanliness. Just because a space is clean doesn’t necessarily mean it’s tidy, as you may find yourself with a lot of items piling up or things out of place. Be sure to find a place for each item, one which won’t only make it less likely that too many of them will pile up, but that will also help to avoid disorganization.

2. Not leaving stuff close to where it’s actually going to be used

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Decorating the walls can be an attractive idea that can give life to a home. However, when overloaded with too many pictures, photos, and shelves, far from being functional, the walls can become cluttered. With an attractive element that more or less stands out and enhances the rest, it is enough to give a unique touch to the home space.

6. Using the fridge as a messaging service

Placing notes on the fridge to leave messages is very common, in addition to decorating it with small everyday things. However, this practice doesn’t guarantee that the message will be seen, and as notes accumulate, along with magnets or calendars, the space becomes overloaded with unnecessary objects and old notes.

It’s better to opt for a common area in the house to leave messages or pending bills and be sure to discard everything once it’s no longer needed. Also, leave only a minimal amount of magnets on the refrigerator.

7. Piling up more than necessary

Stacking a lot of things on top of each other doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily tidy. A tower of books or papers on a desk, no matter how nice it looks, is still a tower. That’s why it’s better to go paper-free and have all your documents stacked on your computer.

8. Accumulating objects in the kitchen

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When we end our day tired and overwhelmed, it’s normal to leave our things cluttered by the bedside. But the laziness of that moment of tiredness can lead us to be more overloaded when it’s time to continue with our routine. This also makes the bed look crowded and messy. It’s better to keep everything in its place so you won’t regret it later.

What space in your home do you hate to see cluttered? What is your favorite method for maintaining order?