10 Helpful Organizing Tips To De-Clutter Your Home!

1.  Plan, plan, plan!  Make sure that you prepare before tackling this time consuming task of organizing your home.  Start with the most cluttered room first and make sure you have enough storage products, plastic storage bins, storage boxes, shelving, garbage bags, markers to label each box, cleaning products so when you remove something you can clean the area before you continue. You can never buy too many home storage bins, error on the high side – you’ll always be able to use them in the future.

2. Consider simplifying your life. The less stuff you have the better it is to maintain a clutter free life-style. One of the key rules is if an item/items are easily replaceable and you don’t use them anymore,  donate them to someone who can use them on a regular basis or simply throw the items away. The next time you buy something consider the practicality of the item and the real cost to your time to take care of that item.

3.  When you get started organizing your home take baby steps - do just a few things at a time, make sure that your realistic with your approach and just spend perhaps an hour a day on one room at a time and stick with your new regiment – you’ll be surprised on what you can accomplish.

.

4.  For each room, sort your items into four piles, one pile for donating, a pile for recycling, a pile to throw away, and a pile that will be stored in another room in your home, like the basement, storage area, or the attic.  What’s left hopefully will be a lot less to organize, thus, organizing your home won’t be as hard as you thought.

5. Be Patient - Rome wasn’t built in a day, it took you years to accumulate the clutter, it is not going to go away instantly.

6. Stay focused with your goals to de-clutter your home, make sure the hour that you commit each day to this project is uninterrupted time and that you don’t get distracted. Make sure you plan your time accordingly and you should plan your hour the night before to make sure that you have no other projects during that time-slot.

7. When in doubt about keeping something?  Put it in a box and label with a date 3-4 months into the future.  If you forget about the box, the stuff inside probably wasn’t too important so consider throwing it out or donating it.

.

8. You know you don’t wear all the cloths in your closet, right?  If you want a quick way to see what you wear turn all your hangers backwards on the bar. Then as you wear clothes and return them, put the hangers in the normal direction. Now you can clearly see what you have worn. Consider donating or throwing away the cloths you don’t use so you have more room for things you really wear.

9.  If your kids have too many toys, explain how fortunate they are to have so many wonderful things and teach them about donating a few items to less fortunate children who would love to have toys of their own.   They’ll feel better knowing that their toys are going to children who can really use them.  A good time to do this is before the child’s birthday and Christmas. Kids are more willing to give away to others when they know new toys are on the way.

10. If this organizing project is driving you crazy - hire a Professional Organizer. They are experts in dealing with clutter. They are also not emotionally attached to your stuff, so they can help you make better decisions.

Call Home-Works, Home and Office Organizing Services at (860) 404-0234.

noclutterzone@yahoo.com