Dealing with clutter in your home

Cleaning must be planned in advance. It must never be done on a whim. Questions need to be asked: How much work is there to be done? How much time do I have? How am I going to dispose of discarded items?

Procrastination is de-cluttering’s Enemy Number 1. Don’t use planning / scheduling as an excuse for postponing the work. Start now.

Don’t try to do it all at once. In some cases you might be able to. But it is best to be realistic, and make a timetable. Make sure to devote the greatest amount of time to the traditional problem areas: garages, pantries, storerooms, closets.

If you’ve got kids, you have to take them – or their toys – into consideration. Lorie Marrero, in her article, “3 Most Common Mistakes: Dealing with Clutter” says that children these days have too many toys, and these can present some of the biggest challenges when trying to deal with clutter in your home.

Learn to let go: Knowing that you can’t keep EVERYTHING, it is important to muster the courage to let go of stuff that can be done without – and you’d be surprised how much that is. (See the box ‘5 suggestions for letting go’)

Tipsinteriordecor.com recommends the “4 container method” for dealing with clutter: When sorting, get large containers and classify them according to the following categories:

• Trash

• Give away / sell

• Storage

• Put away

Schedule regular de-cluttering sessions. Do not allow clutter to build up to a level where you find it intimidating even thinking of dealing with it.

Don’t hesitate to get help. Make cleaning / de-cluttering a family affair – get the children involved as well. Think of ways to make it fun for them (hiding treats around the house is one).

Prevention trumps cure (aka ‘Housing for all’) – The University of Illinois Urban Programs Resource Network says that “If you want to be organised, every item must have a home. You can’t put something away if it doesn’t have a home. If you do, you’re just stashing stuff, and you’ll probably never be able to find it again. Having a home for an item should mean that there is only one logical place for you to look for it.”