A lot of us are familiar with the old adage “out of sight, out of mind.” But this piece of advice doesn’t just apply to breakups or work worries—as helpful as it may be for those areas of life. “Out of sight, out of mind” can also serve as a great guiding principle for when we declutter and organize our spaces.
What it means and why it’s helpful
“Out of sight, out of mind” generally refers to how our brains are affected by our environment. What we are surrounded by directly affects what we think about. In simpler terms, we forget what we cannot see and we keep in mind what we do see.
Not sure what “out of sight, out of mind” looks like in terms of decluttering and organizing? It only entails that you store away (or dispose of) unnecessary, unsightly items while displaying the items that you want to see and use frequently.
But what does an “out of sight, out of mind” philosophy accomplish in our spaces?
It readies our surfaces for various activities.
An uncluttered space is a space rife with potential. Imagine this: Your desk is no longer just a dump zone of “things you own,” it’s a place where you can actually work. Your coffee table becomes a new hang out spot for your feet, not just your magazines. You’ll no longer be restricted to what your space can accommodate—your space will start accommodating you.
It helps to manage distraction and improve concentration.
Have you been spending too much time playing video games? Hide the PlayStation and keep the guitar you’ve been itching to learn within arm’s reach instead. You can turn your bad habits into good habits with a simple shift in your environment. According to happiness and habits writer Gretchen Rubin, changing your environment is much easier than changing your natural tendency. It’s one of her Secrets of Adulthood: “Make it easy to go right, and hard to go wrong.”
It can protect us from negative emotions.
Similar to what an old flame’s belongings can do to a person’s fragile heart, our clutter has a way of accusing us of the things we have failed to do. The paperwork we hate to file, the gifts we don’t plan to use, the clothes we never wear, the passions we can’t seem to make time for—we can see our guilt in the form of our possessions. And too often, we have our guilt on display.
But instead of living peacefully with our guilt (see: impossible), we can confront it. Striving to keep things out of sight is a striving to keep things out of mind. Clearing your counters can serve a purpose as noble as clearing your conscience.
On a lighter note, it’s just nice not having to see mops and brooms and things when we’re not using them. No one needs to know what brand of all-purpose cleaner we use for the house. Let’s keep that stuff in the closet.
