Does your life feel like an endless round of Clutter Chess? Here’s how to get ahead of the game.

Have you ever felt like you’re playing a game of “Clutter Chess,” where every move forward reveals another layer of chaos? You go to clear off one area, just to find the closet you’re moving that sweater to is stuffed as well. It seems like this is a game that never ends with no winning in sight! I’m here to tell you how to get to that checkmate: getting ahead of the game and realizing that your clutter actually starts three moves back.

Let’s play a game of “Clutter Chess” together, right now. Imagine your dining room table has become ground zero for a clutter explosion. It’s time for dinner, yet you can only choose two people in your family who can sit down to eat. You can admit defeat and let mail and jackets take your place at the table, or we can break this down and figure out that winning move.

Step one: The Dining Room Table. It’s become a makeshift dumping ground for all the odds and ends that have nowhere else to go. Clothes that never made it back to the closet, toys that long for their playroom, paperwork that is itching to be filed. Once we peel back the layers, we will find that the real culprit lies deeper within your home’s storage spaces.

Step two: The Coat Closet. It seems simple, right? Take the clothes off the dining room chairs, and hang them back up where they belong. Once a beacon of organization, it's now bursting at the seams with unused coats, tools, and who-knows-what-else that’s not supposed to live there. And why is that? Because it's trying to pick up the slack for...

Step three: The Garage. Boxes upon boxes of long-forgotten memories and dusty relics, piled high and gathering dust. There’s no place here for those things that you shoved in your closet, let alone even thinking about parking a car in here! It's the ultimate domino effect, my friend, and it all starts with that innocent little dining room table.

But fear not, for there is hope yet! While the clutter may seem never ending, it always starts somewhere. That somewhere, is three moves back from where it currently stands. Although it is daunting, the way to get that clutter forever off of your dining table is to attack the main source of the problem – the garage. Taking the clutter off the table is haphazardly moving your rook to the nearest square to try to get it closer to the queen; finally decluttering your garage and giving yourself that space back is the real checkmate.

The path to decluttering nirvana may be paved with obstacles, much like navigating through a chessboard filled with traps and challenges. But with a little perseverance and a whole lot of positivity, you'll emerge victorious. So grab your favorite playlist, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and let's banish that clutter once and for all!

*hugs*
Tracy McCubbin