Quite a long time ago my friend was about to move house and had an open house. She stated; “The place looks amazing, I just hope none opens a cupboard”. This statement is very strongly related to the Pareto principle, also known as the 80 / 20 rule. Twenty percent of the work will yield you eighty percent of the results. As the example of my friend suggests, it of course relates to organising and clearing your spaces as well.

Using the 80 / 20 rule, we can reduce clutter, hopefully address 80 percent of clutter problems through 20 of effort or look at it from another perspective through 20 percent of all the organising tips and tricks. Most Organisers are refereeing to the Pareto principle, when they are encouraging people to keep their surfaces clear. If we see clear surfaces on desks, tables in living rooms and in kitchens, we feel more in control and it appears there is less clutter. Their might still be clutter in drawers or cupboards but because we don’t see it, for all practical purposes we are 80 percent of the way there.

Here are some quick and easy ideas to clear surfaces

Look for like items, you can remove all boxes or plastic bags from an area and have cleared 80% of a space in no time.
Have a box to walk through your living spaces with and pick up items that belong in another area of the house.
Straighten chairs, pillows and furniture - 5 minutes of effort can transform a room.
If need be stack things vertically, to reduce the horizontal clutter.

Of course, we still need to at some stage organise our drawers and more complex spaces, however, this principle stands nicely as a quick fix to feel and look organised in no time.