Contents
Introduction
To many people , a clean home means an uncluttered home. An uncluttered home certainly looks cleaner. And less clutter makes cleaning a lot easier. Plus, less mess also means less stress and that makes for a happier home.
Im excited to share with you hundreds of my favorite tips for everyday decluttering, organizing, and cleaning. Many of these tips focus on ways to save time, reduce those piles of clutter, and help you keep your home more organized with less effort. After all, theres more to life than good housekeeping and the quicker you get your chores done, the quicker you can have fun doing whatever you love doing.
Every tip can be read in a matter of seconds; many can be implemented in as little as one minute. I guarantee that if you adopt even some of the tips in this book, you will soon be enjoying a cleaner, less cluttered home, which will create greater happiness for everyone living there.
Donna Smallin
Part 1
Clear the clutter, clear your mind, be happy!
Often, the biggest obstacle to a goal is ourselves.
Get your brain in gear and ask, What could I be doing differently to obtain the results I want?
If you want a cleaner, happier home, stop wishing you had a magic wand; become the magic wand.
Where to start? You dont have to stop everything to get organized; you just have to start. Start somewhere right now.
Start with the most visible. Tackle the stuff on the floor and countertops, for example. Then work your way inside cabinets and drawers. Seeing clear and obvious results will boost your confidence.
Start with something small. Choose a purse or glove compartment or junk drawer. Empty it completely. Sort into four categories: keep, toss, relocate, or donate/sell.
Start with one thing. Do one thing that will make your life easier. For instance, if you are always searching for your keys, put a hook or basket by the door for them.
When you feel overwhelmed by cleaning or organizing chores, pick a specific task and set a timer for 15 minutes. Work uninterrupted until the timer goes off. Take a short break and then begin again or start another task.
Every time you cross a cleaning or organizing chore off your to do list, reward yourself by doing something on your cant wait to do list!
Ask Yourself
If I had 20 minutes to evacuate my home and could take only what fits in my car, what would I take?
Most things can be easily replaced. Once you realize this, its easier to lighten your load.
Look at decluttering as an opportunity to share your abundance. There are people who could really use the stuff you arent using.
Clutter serves no purpose; it just takes up valuable space in your home and creates unnecessary stress and extra work. Clutter is what you end up with when you have more stuff than you need.
Break It Down
Breaking big projects into mini-projects to complete over several sessions makes it much easier to accomplish your larger goal. For example, to declutter your closet:
- Move the clothes you love and wear to one end of your closet. Then, working for just 15 minutes at a time or by the yard on your closet rod, place clothing you have not worn in a year or more in a box or bag.
- In your next decluttering session, pick up where you left off. Spend one session focusing on shoes and accessories and another on the piles of stuff on that top shelf or those boxes that have been buried in the back for so long.
- Finally, if you really want an organized closet that makes it easier to find what you want, arrange items by type of clothing (blouses, skirts, slacks) or by color or by type and color if you have a lot.
If I acquire as much as a stone, it owns me because I will have to dust it.
Henry David Thoreau
Schedule time to play dress-up. Try on everything you own. If it fits and makes you feel fabulous, hang it back up. Its a keeper. Donate or sell anything that doesnt make the cut. Invite a friend to help you make decisions, then do the same for her.
Sort clothing into piles A, B, and C.
- The A pile is for clothes you definitely want to keep.
- The B pile is a maybe pile.
- The C pile is the stuff you no longer love or never wear for whatever reason.
Go back through the B pile and put items into either the A or C pile.
Get rid of the C pile.
Take five
every night to pick up
and put away items,
fluff pillows,
and generally tidy up.
Be happy with what you have. It is more than enough.
Change your surroundings and you can change your life. You might find that letting go of clutter is the start of a new you!
Its very nice of you to keep things that rightly belong to your grown children, but if they really wanted that stuff, they would come and get it. Set a time limit and let them know that you will donate everything after the deadline and mean it!
Good idea!
Letting Go
If you are reluctant to let go of some things, box them up, write the date on the box, and store it out of the way. If you need something, you can find it. If you have not needed to retrieve anything in that box after one year, you obviously can live without it. Donate the box to charity.
If you are finding it difficult to let go of an item from your past, such as an old prom gown or childrens artwork, taking a photograph of the item for memorys sake may make it easier to let go.
Dont try to find the perfect recipient for every item.
Donate to a single charity that will accept everything and let them find recipients for you. Goodwill and the Salvation Army are good places to begin.
Post any item you are willing to give away at www.freecycle.org , a community-based recycling resource. If someone wants it, they will contact you via e-mail and you can arrange to put it on the front porch or at the end of the driveway where they can pick it up on a set day.