Wendy Rose Gould, RealSimple.com, Living Space

A few months ago, you proudly nixed a ton of excess clutter in your home and happily basked in the joy of tidy surfaces. But today, as your eyes shift around your space, you realize you’re somehow surrounded by a muddled mess again. What gives? You’ve probably got a case of clutter creep, an ubiquitous conundrum that affects even those with the best intentions.

Why clutter creep happens — even in organized homes

Clutter creep is a slow accumulation of clutter over time that sort of sneaks up on you. One day, your home is tidy, and the next, you’ve got rogue piles and littered surfaces working against your #organizationgoals.

“It’s a slow, almost invisible buildup of stuff that happens when we’re not paying attention,” says Anita Yokota, a

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