Over the years, I’ve written about clutter a number of times. Although I’m making progress, I still have work to do.
My best five tips include:
- Using a daily planner to keep track of activities.
- Sorting the mail when it comes in rather than letting it stack up.
- Nixing garage sale purchases.
- Putting my photos as I get them in archival sleeves that go in notebooks organized by year.
- Cleaning the kitchen throughout the day.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the information coming into a home. With the arrival of copy machines, computers, and junk mail, people’s homes are overflowing.
If clutter is a problem for you, try visualizing what you’d like your home to look like.
Check local bookstores, libraries, or the Internet for books to help you. Some examples include:
- “Clutter’s Last Stand: It’s Time to De-junk Your Life” by Don Aslett.
- “Organizing From the Inside Out: The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life” by Julie Morgenstern.
- “1001 Timely Tips for Clutter Control: Knowing What to Keep, When to Toss, and How to Store Your Stuff” by Frank W. Cawood.
You can also hire a professional organizer to come to your home and assist you. See the Web site of the National Association of Professional Organizers for a listing of organizers in your area. Or check the yellow pages of your phone book under Organizing.
Good tips! Don’t forget to periodically go through your book shelves, closets, and desk to weed out unneeded items. Here in Miami we can donate books to the local library, and there are plenty of services that will pick up old clothes and household items. Take the time to review papers, magazines and keepsakes – something you thought you couldn’t live without six months ago may be something you’re willing to recycle now.
Lisa
Thanks for the ideas. Regularly going through book shelves, closets, and desks is a super suggestion.
Here in Washington state we can also donate books to the library. After writing one clutter article, I sorted my books. I’d read in my research that the world wouldn’t stop if you gave away books. So I did it! Nothing earthshaking happened.