My oldest daughter was in kindergarten and I took her to a classmate’s birthday party.  The house was big and beautiful and I still remember the thought that entered my mind as we traversed on our way through the house to get to the backyard:

There isn’t a bunch of CRAP in here.  There’s so much clean, open SPACE.

There was furniture for sure, and the rooms were decorated, but there were loads of completely empty flat surfaces.

It is way easier to prevent ALL clutter from collecting on a surface when emptiness is expected on that surface.

Does this always work?  No.  It works for my kitchen island and is DELIGHTFUL.  But even with lots of decluttering (I don’t live alone), we need counter space for things.  I found a home in a cabinet for our toaster, but we use it EVERY DAY and it’s a pain to get it out and put it away without getting breadcrumbs everywhere (yes, I dump them somewhat regularly).

So it’s not always possible or practical, but when and where you can do it, you’ll LOVE it.

I pinky swear.

You’ll see your happy, usually clear space being overrun by junk and clear it off much more readily than a space that always has a few items there.

Here’s my rant about floors:

Floors should have furniture on them or nothing at all.  (Unless it’s your friend’s purse, during her visit.  That’s OK.)