The majority of us mean to be organized in our homes, our careers, our families and how we live. With so much hustle and bustle, the continual rushing, and merely trying to maintain day to day activities, it is easy for our homes to fall into disorganization. Once clutter starts, it can quickly turn into a viscous cycle; the more the clutter builds, the more overwhelmed we come to feel. The more overwhelmed we feel, the more impossible the problem seems and the less likely we are to be up to the job of decluttering. The best time to start is before it gets too bad, but even for people whose disorder has grown out of control, it’s not too late. With these tips, you can be on your way to an ordered home.
Beginning in your own bedroom is a good tip because that means you can always rest in a tidy area at the conclusion of a hard day. If you start out with your closet and get rid of everything that does not fit or that you don’t regularly wear, you will free up oodles of space that you forgot you had. Of course, sort out the items you can give away to charity and the items you plan to throw away. Many people use the rule that when something hasn’t been worn in a year you should get rid of it.
Using storage containers or packing containers is the way to go; you can find ones that stack and store them in freshly purged closets, ones that slide below the bed, or ones you can put out of the way on shelves. This will clear up a lot of space and will reduce the possibility of things becoming scattered yet again. When you’ve dealt with clothes, books and everything else that was laying about in your bedroom, you need to clean up the room.
The second highest priority room to declutter would be the washroom. Go through your drawers and be utterly ruthless about getting rid of stuff. Chances are, you have a great deal of items that you don’t use or need. Make a contest for yourself, challenge yourself to stuff a full bag of things to clear out. You might use a drawer organizer or small containers to organize the things you want to keep. Just like you did in your bedroom, give the bathroom a washing when you are done.
Use the same system for all of the other rooms in the home:
- Get rid of whatever isn’t used regularly, and either sell, donate or trash it.
- Use containers to store the things you are keeping.
- Clean the room up as best you can.
You shouldn’t rush the job! You want to do it well, and do it the right way. Many people will simply just shove stuff in closets, drawers or cabinets just to get the mess out of the way. This is only masking the problem, kind of like spraying perfume on stinky clothing. The important thing is to just get started.
Overcoming clutter is incredibly hard! Many of us need help – you don’t have to face it alone! You can find Free Clutter Help at cluttertips.org, or Visit The Clutter Tips Blog for inspirational stories and tips to overcome clutter in the home.