Clutter can easily take over your life if you let it. When there is more than one person in a home, that compounds the amount of clutter you can accumulate. Think about how your life will change when the clutter is gone - you’re able to clean your home without moving stacks of papers, and the whole atmosphere will be more peaceful.
Getting rid of clutter is important for a number of reasons. Clutter eats at your time because you can’t find what you need, it causes stress among your family members, and you may even feel ashamed to let friends or family come and visit. Any one of these reasons may be enough to lead you to start purging your home of the clutter that’s dragging you down.
De-cluttering your home makes organization easier. Start by going through your home and taking things you don’t use, don’t love, or which need repairs, and put them in bags or boxes. This will begin the de-cluttering process, but don’t stop there.
After you have gotten rid of the initial clutter, you can take more time making decisions about other items in your home. Clothing, books, magazines, music, knick-knacks, tools, and other items that aren’t being used or have been outgrown are fair game. Of course, you may have disagreements about some items, but hold your ground for the sake of your home.
Go to each room of your home with a laundry basket. Take everything that doesn’t belong in each room and put those items in the correct place. Remove the papers from the counter top, desktop, and wherever you’ve been hiding them. Put all of the papers in a box so you can file them later, and then don’t forget to do it.
Use containers to corral small items in kitchen drawers, cabinets, the bathroom cabinet, and in your desk. Silverware, spices and flavorings, medicines, pens, pencils, and paperclips can all be bothersome if they’re allowed to remain free, so organizing them and putting them in containers is a great idea.
Maybe you’re having problems letting go of things. Call in the reinforcements! Ask a friend who isn’t emotionally attached to them to come and help you make decisions. If the de-cluttering isn’t the problem but cleaning is, you may consider saving up to hire a maid service to help.
Cleaning and organizing go hand in hand when you’re trying to get your home in order. Do what you can to get rid of things you no longer need, organize what’s left, and then clean up. Before too long you’ll find your house is a joy to live in.
Showing posts with label Decluttering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Decluttering. Show all posts
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Home Organization 101: Easy Steps to a Clutter Free Home
When you first move into your home it seems like you have so much space. As the years pass, you might find yourself becoming a pack rat. What are you going to do with all the stuff you have accumulated? Perhaps it’s time to weed out the unnecessary items and organize your home.
Home organization is a step-by-step process. It will take more than a day or even a week to get everything to a manageable level, but once you do staying organized is an easier task. If you have a family, enlist their help. They can pitch in and learn a thing or two about controlling clutter in their life.
1. Start with the high traffic areas.
The living room and kitchen are usually the two most used rooms in the house. Everything gets dropped on a counter or the couch in these two places. Concentrate on getting everything set up the way that you like it before moving on to another room.
2. Use storage containers.
Over the years, the style of storage containers has upgraded to be pretty as well as functional. Instead of storing containers in stacks in the garage, purchase ones that match your décor in each room and integrate them so that no one would even notice they were being used for storage.
3. Divide items into categories.
You can use heavy duty trash bags for this part. Everything that you find can go into a pile: KEEP, THROW AWAY, GIVE AWAY, and RELOCATE. Items that will stay in that room are to keep. Things that you don’t need or are broken can be thrown away. Clothes or furniture still in great condition can be donated and scheduled for pickup by the Veteran’s association or Goodwill. Anything that definitely belongs in another room can be labeled for relocation when you get to that room.
4. Remove everything from drawers and cabinets.
This is a time-consuming process but it is easier to start with an empty space and fill it instead of simply pushing things around. If you line things up on the counter, someone else can help by putting the items in some type of order.
5. Make use of all of your available space.
In the kitchen, for example, appliances or extra containers can be stored on top of the cabinets provided they don’t extend all the way to the ceiling. That’s extra storage space without benefit of a storage container. Also use the top of the refrigerator for cereal boxes and breakfast food like boxes of instant oatmeal or grits. In the bedroom, shoes and winter clothes can go into flat storage bins that slide easily under the bed or the dresser.
6. Label your containers.
Use tape and a permanent marker to identify the contents of your storage containers. Avoid writing on the actual container in case they are reused and the contents are changed. Labeling also makes for easy identification if you decide to sell or give away a container of books or something. You won’t have to open each container to locate them.
Organizing your entire house takes time. But, once it is done, returning everything you use to its proper place will maintain that same level of organization.
Home organization is a step-by-step process. It will take more than a day or even a week to get everything to a manageable level, but once you do staying organized is an easier task. If you have a family, enlist their help. They can pitch in and learn a thing or two about controlling clutter in their life.
1. Start with the high traffic areas.
The living room and kitchen are usually the two most used rooms in the house. Everything gets dropped on a counter or the couch in these two places. Concentrate on getting everything set up the way that you like it before moving on to another room.
2. Use storage containers.Over the years, the style of storage containers has upgraded to be pretty as well as functional. Instead of storing containers in stacks in the garage, purchase ones that match your décor in each room and integrate them so that no one would even notice they were being used for storage.
3. Divide items into categories.You can use heavy duty trash bags for this part. Everything that you find can go into a pile: KEEP, THROW AWAY, GIVE AWAY, and RELOCATE. Items that will stay in that room are to keep. Things that you don’t need or are broken can be thrown away. Clothes or furniture still in great condition can be donated and scheduled for pickup by the Veteran’s association or Goodwill. Anything that definitely belongs in another room can be labeled for relocation when you get to that room.
4. Remove everything from drawers and cabinets.
This is a time-consuming process but it is easier to start with an empty space and fill it instead of simply pushing things around. If you line things up on the counter, someone else can help by putting the items in some type of order.
5. Make use of all of your available space.
In the kitchen, for example, appliances or extra containers can be stored on top of the cabinets provided they don’t extend all the way to the ceiling. That’s extra storage space without benefit of a storage container. Also use the top of the refrigerator for cereal boxes and breakfast food like boxes of instant oatmeal or grits. In the bedroom, shoes and winter clothes can go into flat storage bins that slide easily under the bed or the dresser.
6. Label your containers.Use tape and a permanent marker to identify the contents of your storage containers. Avoid writing on the actual container in case they are reused and the contents are changed. Labeling also makes for easy identification if you decide to sell or give away a container of books or something. You won’t have to open each container to locate them.
Organizing your entire house takes time. But, once it is done, returning everything you use to its proper place will maintain that same level of organization.
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