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How To Successfully Organize Clutter
1. The best thing to do with clutter is to get rid of it. We all own too much stuff. So, in any plan to organize your clutter, make it your primary goal to remove as much of it as possible. Now, if it is real junk, then it should go into the trash. If it is “useful” then take it to a charity. And here is a hint: if you have enough stuff, then it may be worth recording what you give to charity; though each piece may be not worth much, they do add up, and you can get a tax deduction. 2. Now, if you succeeded in doing step #1, you are left with fewer pieces of clutter (hopefully many fewer things) that you want to keep. So here is the mindset you need to have: if you are going to keep something, then you need to take care of it; it needs to have a suitable home. Think about this: Piles are not good homes. Unlabeled boxes are not good homes. Stuff that gets moldy and dusty is not being taken care of. So, if you really, really want to keep something, then plan to organize it and take care of it. (Hopefully, thinking about this has made you reassess some of the things you decided to keep. Get rid of some more, and then go to step #3) 3. Now, you have an even smaller pile of things to keep, and you are committed to taking care of them. So now you have to find a place for everything. Your stuff may cramp your style (and encourage you to get rid of still more), but you have to make storage areas. This may mean that you need to go to a home improvement store and buy heavy duty shelves – to install in your basement or spare bedroom. So be it. 4. Put books on bookshelves. 5. Build a pegboard in your garage for tools. Build another one in your kitchen for tools. 6. Buy the additions for cabinets that allow them to be sliding drawers; or put extra shelves inside your cabinets. Things should be stored, not “piled.” 7. Remove the word “stash” from your vocabulary. Corners and crevices and spaces between books are not suitable places for storing things. Give things a home; create a new home, and use it – always! 8. Organize your hobbies by topic. Buy bins for each hobby. Whether it is a small bin to hold your spools of thread or a large crate to hold your daughter’s hockey gear, everything needs a home of its own. 9. If you are keeping old school papers, then put them neatly in a box. The better thing to do would be to put them in an album. For sure, “stashed” or “dumped” into a box is not acceptable. 10. For some categories (such as clothes) you may need to have 2 homes: one for this season, and another home to store what you will use for the next season. It is alright to designate things for “long term storage,” as long as they are properly packaged and labeled. That is, take care of them! (Have I drilled that into your head yet?) With these 10 tips, you ought to be able to make significant progress in organizing your clutter. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Penelope Pettikrew is known as the Speed Cleaning Queen. She has spent over 25 years optimizing her cleaning methods. In her latest book, "Speed Cleaning Secrets Revealed," she shares her techniques for getting the maximum amount of cleaning done in a minimum amount of time. Visit SpeedCleaningCentre.com for more clutter organizing tips. |
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