How to Control Clutter in Your Home with the 5-Things Method
Miscellaneous / / April 08, 2023
The approach to cleaning from a professional psychotherapist.
What is the "Five Things Method"
This is the approach to household chores that came up with KC Davis, a licensed psychotherapist, TikTok blogger with 1.5 million followers, and author books “I hate cleaning. A careful system of restoring order for those who do not have the desire and strength for this. When it seems that the clutter in the house is getting unmanageable, she suggests focusing on just five categories:
- Garbage.
- Clothes to be washed.
- Dirty dishes.
- Things that have their place.
- Things that have no place.
Davis is confident that this approach allows you to cope with any mess. When you start sorting things in this way, moving around the house and focusing on only one categories, you will feel relieved no matter how many rooms you have or how much you have to do. Finally, you will realize that you are in control of the situation.
How to use it
The implementation of the five things method in practice can be seen in a TikTok video
, in which Casey Davis herself explains the main idea behind the approach. The algorithm of actions looks like this:- Go around the whole apartment, find and throw away the garbage.
- Walk around the apartment again, but this time collect only dirty clothes and shoes in the laundry basket. Ignore everything else.
- Then focus on the dishes. Dump dirty plates and cups into the sink or dishwasher. You don't have to wash everything right away.
- On the next lap, look at the rest of the things and put the ones that have a certain place back where they should be.
- Finally, gather things that don't have their own place in the house. Once you clear the space, you can decide what to do with them.
According to the creator of the method, it is not necessary to perform all the steps in one fell swoop. If you don't have the energy, you can go through the stages during the day or even split the process over several days.
Disorder in the house is not an indicator of moral decline. Maintaining a tidy appearance of rooms can be difficult for various reasons: for some, household chores are difficult due to stress, it is not easy for someone to combine putting things in order with raising children. A simple and effective 5-Things Method helps make a space more livable. Once you understand each category and your home is like this, a more thorough cleaning will be much easier.
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