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Clutter Cleaning: A Comprehensive Guide

By: admin

When you have way too much stuff and no system of organization, you end up with a house full of clutter. It starts to choke you and drain your energy. Only a person who lives with clutter can understand why somebody would hoard their possessions, or even their "junk." A common feeling among people, who have a cluttered house, is that they know where everything is located, and many times, they actually do! What may look like a mess to someone else seems organized to the one living that way. It is actually difficult for some people to get rid of things and they tell a friend, "On my next vacation (or days off), "I'll help you if you help me." It seems like such a desperate job that it looks impossible.

How do I know? Because I am planning on getting rid of most of the things in my home that have been "saved", collected or just not thrown out for years. When your children are growing up, you tend to save things for them but usually in a more organized manner than when they grow up and move out. You are left your stuff and their stuff and lots of stuff that doesn't get used any more. I am going to use this article as a blueprint for the way I attack my spare bedroom. I have decided that I am going to pretend to be moving and I only want to pack the "good, usable and necessary" stuff for my "new place." That is going to be my motive and seems to be a great way to think about the extra stuff in your house once you decide to get rid of the clutter.

Do you know how to separate clutter from what is actually valuable? There are shows on television and books that have been written, that try to help people determine what they should keep and what they should discard. The television shows are interesting to me, for a number of reasons like, there are many people to help you with the process of doing and deciding and there is a monetary gain to receive once the clutter is gone. In case you have never seen the show, the television people will add new pieces of furniture that will help retain the order and the organization of the home. They strive to organize things in ways that will be easy for people to maintain.

The professionals give advice on how to sort all the stuff in your house. They say to separate all the stuff in 3 large areas designated to donate or sale, discard and keep. It is difficult for people to get rid of things that they have been "collecting" for years, especially if those items are attached to a lot of memories. There has to a limit on each thing that you handle so you won't get bogged down in emotional memories.

If you are wondering how to start the whole process, you will need to remove EVERYTHING from a room, including clothing in the closets and furniture.

But first, it is beneficial for you to actually see what you have and how it looks to others. You can do that yourself by taking pictures of the rooms that you want to organize and then take action. They say "a picture is worth a thousand words" and the pictures you take will definitely say a lot to you. We tend to get complacent with what we are doing and get used to the disorder, but other people looking at the pictures will immediately be able to see what needs to be done. That is the purpose of the pictures we take and it will shock us into action. Now you are ready to begin the task of getting rid of the clutter. Now we will specifically explain how to go about completing that.

When you don't have organization skills when it comes to cleaning your house, then you need to just get rid of the extra stuff. As inspiration to stay with the task as we saw above, you will need to take pictures of the rooms you want to change. Post the pictures of the area you have decided to clean so that you can see what other people see. Now we are ready to actually get to work cleaning the clutter. Do one area at a time, like a bedroom or kitchen.

Whichever area is the worst in your opinion, or is the most important to you to correct, is the place you should start. Begin the process by matching up items and getting rid of things that don't match, don't have lids, or are not part of sets (like socks, earrings, or toys). Keep a big, plastic trash can close by to throw things that are obviously not good anymore or broken. Then, begin to remove the "good" stuff. Keep in mind as you remove articles from the room that you must place each thing is its correct pile: donate, discard, or keep.

With all the stuff removed from the room and separated into piles, it is a good idea to go through the keep pile one more time and thin it down to half again. In your keep pile, you probably have a number of pairs of shoes and even extra clothing that you will not wear. Going through the keep pile again will give you a chance to eliminate the extra pairs of shoes that you don't wear but still look good or are band new. If you haven't worn them, then you need to donate them. Only keep the shoes you use that fit neatly into the closet. Clothing that is good or new, or that you haven't worn in a year or more needs to be donated also.

Now that you have all the stuff out of the room and sorted into piles, you can do anything extra that you had been outing off for awhile. For instance, you wanted to change the curtains and bedspread, or change the color of the paint, or replace an old dresser, add shelving to the closets, or even clean the windows so now you have the perfect chance to do any of those things.

It is much easier to do additional work when there is nothing in the way. I am actually going to refinish my hardwood floors once I get the clutter out of my room. That is giving me a great urge to get finished because I know how good they will look. I think I will even paint the room, but I don't think I can do all of it in one day, but the clutter I CAN handle in one day.

That is very important as we clean clutter to be able to change our thinking while we change our actions. Looking forward to an organized room as you expend your energy and channel your efforts in the cleaning process is a perfect motivator. While we start to change our thinking, we need to be mindful to the fact that we should open and then trash junk mail as soon as we receive it. We should read our magazines the day we get them or at least by the next day. We should recycle our magazines to neighbors or doctors offices but we need to learn to get rid of them within 2 days of receiving them.

Once we have painted the room, added new shelves or curtains, and then replaced the important things that we kept back into our room, we need to be mindful of keeping free of clutter. There are some very good rules to follow to make sure that we won't end up with a cluttered room again. We need to put things back where they belong instead of laying them down in a haphazard way or helter-skelter. You know we all were told growing up, "that there is place for everything and everything in its place," and that is certainly true now that we have organized everything.

Resist temptations when you are shopping and never buy duplicates, never buy on the spur of the moment, and don't buy one thing unless you get rid of one thing beforehand. That would mean that you need to get rid of something by giving it away or donating it BEFORE you purchase anything new. That is usually the beginning of hording or collecting junk. Continue to be diligent with your organization by only touching a piece of mail once. If it is trash, throw it our but if it is important, then file it. There are nice filing cabinets that are essential to maintaining order for paperwork. If you have trouble keeping addresses, invest in a rolodex to keep important numbers in and you can add or subtract names with ease.

Now that you know how to go about being a clutter cleaner, you will be so proud of yourself. It is a great feeling to be successful with a chore well done. It is so empowering to have your stuff organized and live clutter free. Enjoy the new freedom that having your home back in the condition that will make you proud if a neighbor shows up unexpectedly and enjoy being able to sit in your favorite chair and read or watch television knowing that YOU DID IT!

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