Is clutter taking over your home? There have been many television series telling you how to keep your home clutter free. They will show you how to keep things organized, while the experts walk through the cluttered house and neglected clutter. While your house is still in a better condition, you can get the clutter under control before it is too late. With little time and planning, you can control clutter on your own. Here are some simple tips on how to control clutter.
Get Real
- Do you remember the last time when you saw the actual color of your carpet? If you have to step over a pile of paper, clothes and some unidentifiable stuff just to reach your computer; it is the right time to take action. If you are shuffling through papers to read this, before you can select a room to de-clutter, you will have to ask yourself, what is going beneath this clutter?
- Studies have shown that even though the families are small and homes are larger, even with a square feet of living space, many people fill their attic, storage and basement units with clutter. If you want you can blame it on your mentality that more does not mean better. Things will never bring us happiness. If your house is full of mess, all the blessings that you want to bring in will never get in.
- The good part is does not matter where you start. Just get a trash bag and start clearing the mess.
Realize There Are Two Types of Clutter
- Many people have two types of clutter; one is “I may need it one day” clutter. However, every one of us continues to struggle with the ‘lazy clutter’ and that is the one you need to tackle first.
- Lazy clutter is all that has accumulated due to negligence of time. This is the stuff about which you do not care much, so you keep ignoring it. Things like un-filed paper, unopened junk mail, unwanted gifts, junk mails and all the freebie crap. These are the things that you get or buy and never even bother to use it. Lazy clutter is similar to trash and this is one of the reasons why it starts getting accumulated in your home.
- Memory clutter is something that reminds us of an important person or an event that happened in the past. These kinds of clutters are sentimental and often the most difficult to let go. “I may need it one day” clutter is all that you may need or may not. It can be difficult to deal with this clutter so you can leave it aside for sometime.
- First take care of the lazy clutter, then you can go through the remaining belongings logically and methodically. You will understand how you need to balance your stuff with the space you own. Once you have found this balance then you will find ways to keep the stuff. Just get rid of the superficial stuff, which is very easy to clear.
Think Fast
- You must not go out and buy anything new or unnecessary, no sales, retail therapy or great deals! Instead, you must stay back home and purge as much clutter as you can.
- Decide a time when everyone will be free and equally involved in cleaning the house. Remember that cleaning is a family affair, so ask everyone to help you in cleaning the clutter. Leave Saturday and Sunday for leisure activities and take time out everyday to clean the clutter.
- Start with things that you have not used since a year. If something is lying around in the house for more than a year unused, then it is highly unlikely that you will need it in the future or you will be getting enough use of it to justify all the cluttered place in your home. You will have to take the plunge and get rid of the stuff. When you come across any piece of clutter, ask yourself, do I use this? When was the last time I used it? Will I ever use it again? It is worth the space inside the house?
- Always remember that the main objective is getting rid of the clutter and not moving the clutter in another room. You will be surprised to see the number of unused items lying around in your house. Never spend time inventing reasons to keep the unwanted things in the house.
- It is bad to manage your own clutter, but worst is when the clutter is someone else’s. You must not keep anything in the house that does not belong to you. If you have borrowed something, then return it back to that same person. If you have just got out of a relationship or got divorced, now will be the right time to get rid of your ex’s belongings. If you kids are living on their own, then it the right time for them to pick-up their stuff.
- Always keep in mind that, the trash can is your hungry friend. Take full pride in how much you throw away and make fun of it. To make clutter interesting you can have a bet with the family, check who throws away most of the clutter and that person will get a reward. You must remember your goal, you should only keep things, which will make sense and not simply accumulate space.
Learn the Game Rules
- Start the process of de-cluttering soon. The commitment to this project should be your first priority, because you have to create a life for yourself. Ask the whole family to work together, so that you can finish this process soon. Do not argue with one another over whose stuff is taking up most of the place.
- Do not stop, because you don not want to create an even bigger mess with the clutter. Complete your job, bag up all the things and put it in the trash.
Do it All over Again
- Move through every room in your house and clear the clutter until you are done with each room. Now you must get yourself ready for the difficult part, which is getting rid of the clutter that feels important or valuable. The quick purge will be like primer, but it will fill you with excitement and how it feels to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff.
Now, you are done. Look around and try to see how much more space each room has. Have a great time de-cluttering things.
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