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It’s tough to face the facts sometimes, but the vast majority of us are pack rats in some way or another. We may not hoard items on a scale alarming enough to get us on TV, but we all accumulate things we don’t need and build sentimental attachments to them. Whether we realize it or not, we have tons of junk in our homes, and it’s dragging us down. In order to make the most of your home living space, it’s important to get rid of clutter and organize. This can seem like a monumental task, but taking it step by step will make it much easier.
One of the biggest clutter culprits in homes everywhere is paper. Stacks of unopened junk mail pile up on our desks and shelves and never seem to disappear. Paperwork and documents are everywhere, but they’re so disorganized that it becomes impossible to find the one receipt or bank statement that you actually need. Cut down on cluttering paper by first switching to paperless billing. You can make most of your bill payments electronically, which makes it much easier to stay organized and reduce clutter. Next, buy a paper shredder and a filing cabinet. Go through all of your mail as soon as it comes in, shredding what you don’t need, and filing what you do need.
Now that you’re on the road to reducing clutter and becoming more organized, start a regular cleaning regimen to get your project going. Go through all of the common areas in your house, cleaning and organizing a little bit at a time. As you go along, think about all the things that are blocking your way. Some of the things you have lying around may be broken and unusable. Throw these away. You may tell yourself that you’re going to fix them and use them again, but this will probably never happen.
One of the biggest obstacles to removing clutter from a home is the inability to store things in an organized manner. For every item in your house, ask yourself–does it have a right place? If an item doesn’t have a place where it goes, either it is unnecessary and can be thrown away, or you don’t have the organizational resources you need. Free up space in your existing drawers and shelves by getting rid of the things you don’t need, and pick up more organizational supplies if you need them. You shouldn’t need a junk removal service. Just dedicate yourself to removing clutter and getting rid of unnecessary items in your house.
Be sure to take it easy when you start on your quest to reduce clutter. If you try to do too much at once, you’ll either get daunted and give up, or burn yourself out on a cleaning spree and give up. Set aside a little time every day to devote to your organizing efforts. Don’t plan on organizing your whole house, or even one whole room, in a single day. Once you reach your goals, maintain your organization by keeping unneeded junk out of your home in the first place. Reduce your clutter intake and gradually cycle things out of your home as they become broken or fall out of use. Organization is not out of reach, you just have to work for it.
Great article! This is my goal to “get rid of this year” instead of ten lbs like every other year. This way, I figure I am way ahead getting rid of hundreds of pounds of clutter, vs ONLY 10 lbs on ME. And, I might just work off that weight while I de clutter and clean.
I’m so looking forward to spring cleaning and decluttering this year. Our biggest problem, as you mentioned, is storage. We are renovating right now so our storage space is at a minimum.
I definitely think doing too much does make it overwhelming. A little at a time works best for me.
I am going through baby clothes that I thought I just HAD to keep. Now I have a year more perspective and realize that we might not need to save quite that much!
I am in declutter mode too right now. I am making some trips to Good Will to lighten our load.
I have a horrible time organizing the papers in our house! Bills, we have under control, it’s everything else…owner’s manuals, contracts/agreements, greeting cards, etc.
We are working on decluttering our home, and just this weekend, removed two bags of trash and one bag of donation items!