Organizing Home Clutter
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Organizing the Chaos
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Over the years a recurring discussion among my friends and me has been about how to organize our homes. A helpful way to get started is by identifying what types of clutter there are in your home. Divide the clutter into groups, such as stuff that doesn't belong here, household chores left undone and infiltrating clutter like mail, newspapers and packages brought in on a daily basis.
Dejunking One Room at a Time
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Pick a room, grab an empty laundry basket and collect everything that does not belong in that room. Put each item away and don't stop to pick up things from other areas. If you don't have a place for some of the items you've collected, put them in a box to be sorted out later.
Assign specific rotating tasks to a day to keep household chores in check. Develop simple routines for looking for stray dishes before dinner, straighten common rooms and collect dirty laundry before bed. The few minutes it takes for each helps control the clutter of day-to-day living. Make sure everyone in the family pitches in and helps.
Open and sort mail as it arrives each day. Use a paper shredder for those things you don't need in order to keep your personal information safe. Only keep copies of paid bills for a year at a time. Break down shipping boxes for easy storage or recycling.
Determine what to keep and what to throw out by asking a few simple questions: How often do you use this item? If you want to keep it, where will you put it? Are you hanging onto it for sentimental value? Memorabilia is hard to get rid of because it is all of those precious things our loved ones give us; but try to find one or two things that mean the most and get rid of the rest.
Go through drawers and closets for unused clothing, dishes, linens and handy do-dads that looked like a great idea but were seldom or rarely used. If it's been in there for over 3 years, it's highly unlikely you'll need it again.
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Garage Sales and Charity
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To bring in a few extra dollars, hold a weekend garage sale. You can advertise it in your local newspapers; some are on-line now for free. Post a sign at the end of your street to let neighbors and through traffic know you're having a sale.
With unemployment on the rise and more and more people in need, consider donating to your local goodwill centers. Donating to charity helps in two ways:
your home will feel a lot more peaceful without the chaotic influences of clutter and you will be helping those who are need.
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