Clutter Control

Spring Cleaning is a wonderful annual event. With the rebirth of nature all around us we yearn to have a fresh start ourselves. Out with the old and in with the new. Well…how about just out with the old? No point in cutting the clutter around the house only to replace it with more clutter. Here is a great and easy way to tackle the clutter in your house this spring.

1. Attack one room at a time. Edit out anything that doesn’t need to be in there. Have a trash bag in the room and four bins. Label the bins: “Sell”, “Donate”, “Re-gift”, and “Storage”. Be discriminating and unsentimental. If you haven’t used or worn something in years, what’s the point of keeping it?

2. Take the “Donate” bin(s) immediately to your local thrift store or charity.

3. Plan a yard sale or list items from the “Sell” bin(s) online within a few days of finishing your Spring Cleaning. If you wait longer, the items will just collect dust and probably never leave the confines of your house.

4. Store the “Re-gift” bin(s) in a clean, safe place in your home that is easily accessible. Write a list of the contents and tape to the outside of the bin(s) to refer to when a special occasion arises.

5. Put away the “Storage” bin(s) in a space such as the attic or unused closet as soon as possible and write a list of the contents to tape to the outside of the bin(s).

Even though the term is “Spring Cleaning”, if you really want to keep your house in tip top shape, follow this advice each season!

Put a Price on Clutter Storage

Sure you thought that clutter wasn’t costing you anything. After all it’s tucked away where no one can see it, so who does it really impact? What if someone told you that your wasted space was not only robbing you of shelving but also wasting your mortgage? A study done by Ikea shows that wasted space is equal to wasted money. After all, you could be using it for something productive.

“It’s only when you do the numbers that you realise quite what a waste of money hoarding junk can be,” says Jason Mohr, founder of Any Junk?.

Junk Drawer Wars

Admit it… you have a junk drawer. Is it in the kitchen? Or hidden in your bedroom? Junk drawers are notorious for growing and taking over other drawers. You can combat junk drawer migration by following these suggestions:

Sort: First, you have to know what’s in it. Find a space to dump it out and sort it. There’s stuff that should go in there (in ours: extra batteries, spare keys, friend’s keys, parking permits, a small accordion file for museum membership cards and takeout menus) and stuff that shouldn’t (screws, tools).

Return: stuff that should go elsewhere should go elsewhere. Put the screws and tools back in the toolbox, the working pens in their place, the broken pencils in the garbage, donate the old eyeglasses.

Rethink: for items that should go elsewhere, make sure there’s a place for them so similar items don’t end up here a few months hence. For example, have a place to put items you need to keep for your taxes so old movie ticket stubs don’t end up here again.

Head over to the Unclutterers blog to learn some more great tips to tame those wily drawers!