'The most frustrating clutter challenge.' How to keep the chaos off the counter

SALT LAKE CITY — We have cabinets and drawers and closets and storage rooms, and somehow, it feels like everything still ends up on the kitchen counter.

KSL Lifestyle Contributor Jenny Layton said this is one of the most frustrating clutter challenges. It's not as simple as just "putting things away."

"It seems like it should be. It's not that hard. You just put stuff away," she said. " That kind of clutter's like a boomerang. It comes right back after you put it away."

One reason kitchen clutter is so frustrating is because external clutter creates internal clutter. When your counters are covered with tasks you still need to do, paperwork and out-of-place items, they all compete for your mental attention. You might feel stressed without fully knowing why. Layton said kitchen counter clutter actually represents three different problems.

Things Don't Have a Home

Many of the things living on your counter just don't have a designated place to be.

"If you're looking at your counter, if you're cleaning some things off, you're going to find some things that just don't really have anywhere else to go," Layton explained.

Don't just find a storage spot. Find a home that's convenient enough for the family to actually use. Layton shared an example from her own home. She had a cabinet with hooks specifically for car keys, but her teenagers still dropped them on the counter every day. Instead of fighting that habit, she worked with it.

"I put a little dish on the counter  the first place where they walk in," Layton said. "Now they drop it right into that dish.

Watch what your family naturally does and build systems around those habits instead of fighting against them.

You're Afraid You'll Forget About It

We leave things out because we're afraid we'll forget about them.

"Subconsciously we wanna leave things out," Layton said.

Bills that need to be paid, forms that need signing and returns needing to be dropped off end up on counters because we're trying to keep them visible. But that visibility eventually stops working. What starts as a reminder becomes background noise.

"You pass by that so many times without being able to do anything about it that your brain starts to tune it out," Layton explained. "If it's something you need to do, add it to your to-do list."

Instead of using physical clutter as a memory jogger, put your tasks in a note, an app or in your calendar.

You're Just Too Busy to Put Things Away

The counter is usually the busiest drop zone in the house.

"That kitchen counter really is like the crossroads of all the places that you're coming and going from," Layton explained. "It's too convenient to just drop things there."

School papers get put there. Groceries land there. Packages get dropped there. Bags, purses and paperwork all end up in the kitchen. Instead of trying to keep clutter from showing up, build a routine for clearing it regularly. The hard part is finding the time. Layton suggested one of her favorite organizing tools: habit hooks.

"When you already have something you do regularly, you wanna hook the new thing into it," she explained.

Attach the new behavior you want to start to something you already do everyday.

Examples

• After breakfast, clear the counter.
• After unloading the dishwasher, clear the counter.
• After dropping the kids off at school, clear the counter.

"If you hook those two together, you don't need to really think about cleaning off the counter anymore," Layton said.

Find more organizing inspiration from Jenny Layton on Instagram, @jlthehappygal.

This story originally aired on KSL TV and has been reformatted for a digital audience using artificial intelligence.