Today I’m going to give you a simple mantra to help keep your floors free of clutter: Hang It Up! Feel free to abbreviate this to HIU, if you like. Who knows, maybe it will even become the new LOL? Who knew being clutter-free could be so trendy?

I took HIU to heart when I looked at my bedroom and realized that some of my items’ “homes” were actually the floor. Not good. One of my minimalist goals is to have my floors reserved for two Fs: feet and furniture. Keeping my school bag and my laptop permanently on the floor wasn’t exactly helping me reach that goal.

Luckily, my dear father had somehow predicted this when he installed some closet hardware for me a few years ago. He went hook-crazy at the Home Depot and installed hooks in every closet nook and cranny. I had never fully taken advantage of these hooks. But now, instead of loitering on my floor like bored adolescents outside a mini-mart, my school bag and laptop reside neatly here:

I also carried my HIU mantra to the bathroom, adding some order to our potty training efforts by doing this:

A simple Command hook keeps the potty ring off the floor, which is not only more hygienic, but also more easily accessible. (Now, if only HIU could actually convince my kids to use the potty on a regular basis… but that is another subject entirely!)

The nice thing about hooks is that they are easy. Even someone like me, who can barely operate a screwdriver, can install them. Can you use HIU to declutter some floor space in your home?