http://www.care2.com/greenliving/clear-your-clutter-in-six-steps.html
Clear Your Clutter in Six Steps
Inspired by Teen Feng Shui, by Susan Levitt (Inner Traditions, 2003).
Clutter makes chaos. Susan Levitt defines clutter as items that are not stored properly (so either you can’t find them when you need them or you’re constantly tripping over them), items you don’t need or use that still take up space, and items you dislike that you feel obligated to keep. But you can conquer your clutter!
Here are six steps to rid your home and your life of clutter forever:
First, categorize your stuff.
You can do this room by room, since most of us are overwhelmed by the thought of doing the whole house all at once. Here are the five categories:
Essential: The things you need and use regularly.
Favorites: Your treasured mementos and favorite pieces of art.
Other people’s stuff: Things that you have borrowed, including rented videos and library books, and items that just don’t feel like they should belong to you anymore.
Annoying: Dirty laundry, junk mail, old magazines. It all piles up quickly.
Disgusting: Moldy food, junk food wrappers, that kind of thing. Eww.
Now you’re ready to conquer your clutter.
Ditch the disgusting stuff. This is the most obvious and easy place to start. Wash, dump, compost, or otherwise get rid of it.
Deal with the annoying stuff. Recycle magazines and junk mail, collect and wash the laundry, file, box, and store the things you think you might need, but get all of it out of sight and out of your space.
Donate. Give borrowed items back to their owners. Donate unwanted stuff to a local charity. Be honest with yourself: if you really detest something, even though it was a gift, get rid of it. You will find this to be remarkable cathartic and freeing.
Display. Your favorite things deserve special places where they can go. Honor your jewelry with a beautiful box, place loose photos in an album, make a shelf to show off your collections.
Devise. Your essential things need to be accessed easily, so devise a system so you’re not always fruitlessly searching for them. Keys can go on a hook by the door, bills in a basket on the desk, dirty laundry in a hamper in your closet, borrowed items in a box that you check every time you’re getting ready to visit someone.
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115 comments
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Kabin
Konteyner,Prefabrik
mega kabin
Konteyner
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My problem is I feel overwelmed and unable to part with anything - unread magazines, newspapers etc. and I keep things for work and can't let go of anything in fear I may need it in the future
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I am a packrat and that's it!!! Shame on me!!!
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I have decided that 2009 is my year to de-clutter. Paper is my demon and I have a new shredder ready to go! I'm sentimental and hang on to memory joggers. My idea is that I take photos of items rather than keep the item itself - far less space consuming....and digital photos can be kept in cyberspace!
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Oh gawdess...I need to cast a de-slob spell on myself...I am SO overrun with clutter...so is my family....theres NO room for our "stuff",we have every legit excuse in the book....we WERE gonna move to have an extended family with my brother...now Dad just passed away (I had been helping to care for him).I really think I have a clutter gene.I've always been this way.I'd like to change!
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I think the thing that would help Americans to de-clutter the most would be to recognize when you have "e-Bay disease." Most of the things you own will never be worth all that much. And if they ever are, chances are you wasted more money than they are worth by storing them for years. Stop waiting for things to become valuable "someday" and just get rid of things you don't need. You will feel awesome.
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My friend tells me she scoops all the clutter into a large garbage bag and tapes the date onto the bag which she then puts in the garage. If she hasn't needed to look in the bag in three months she just tosses it without opening
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ha ha i know how you feel. i have a back bedroom that i fear going in !my son moved out and left alot behind , but .............. after reading this i intend to don a pair of rubber gloves and get to it ..........good woman or what ha ha ! kat swansea
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@Lindsey Parkinson: what a great idea! Turning cleaning and decluttering into a game! That would be the way I could probably do it.
I hate to clean and I love games.
I will try this system.
Thanks for the tip.
Also Anny B. Bond's tips are great.
Thank you very much.
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thanks, much needed help my room is a disaster
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