Organize + Energize: Mice and Clutter!

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Kristin MacRae, GoLocalWorcester Organizing Expert

If that title didn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will! If you’re disorganized and have clutter in different areas of the home, you may have seen mouse droppings or even a mouse here and there. Where there is disorganization, there is clutter and occasionally, more often than not, you’ll have these little visitors.

Mice love finding hiding places near paper, food, and cluttered areas. You’ll usually find their droppings in garages, attics, and basements, but if you have cluttered spaces in your living areas, you can find them nesting in those areas too.

Mice don’t discriminate. If you have clutter, they’ll find you. All homes with clutter and disorganization are all fair game for these critters. They’ll look for anything they can munch on or use for nesting material and they love clutter. You don’t have to be a hoarder to have mice in your home.

When a home is organized with systems in place, clutter will not form. Mice won’t have a place to nest or they won’t be able to find food, so they’ll move to your neighbor’s cluttered house and set up shop there. When there isn’t clutter around, it’s easier to clean your home and under and around furniture so you can keep a close eye on what’s going on in your home. Mice don’t like organization and streamlined spaces.

Take a look around your home and find those cluttered spaces. How long has the clutter been stagnant in that space? It could be the piles of paper in your home office, or the clutter in your closets. If you’re overwhelmed, grab a pen and paper and walk into every room and take a look around or snap some pictures. Jot down where you see piles of clutter forming. It may be an entire room like a spare bedroom that needs to get tackled or it may be one pile of a clutter in the bedroom.

How long have these piles of clutter been hanging around? Has it been weeks, months or years? You don’t know what’s hiding in those piles, and I’m not talking about that shirt that you forgot you had. If you have anything stored in cardboard boxes, get rid of the cardboard boxes. These rodents love to get in and start building nests or using the material for nests. Purchase plastic seal tight bins to store your belongings.

If you don’t have any motivation to get your home organized, I hope this article gives you that little push that you need. The last thing you want in your home are these little critters running around.

Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, is an organizing & efficiency expert and owner of Organizing in RI. Kristin teaches her clients that living an organized lifestyle will save them time and money, decrease their stress levels and help them become more efficient and productive. Her articles have been published in local and national magazines. She has also given over 70 presentations throughout the state. Watch Kristin LIVE every Thursday at 3pm here on GoLocal LIVE with Molly O’Brien.

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