I am embarrassed to admit that candy was overtaking my house. I had some candy stashed in the kitchen. Some had overflowed into my office. A lot of candy bars were upstairs where I shoot the photos. It really was kind of frightening – candy was spreading everywhere!
Do you have something overtaking your house? Maybe books, kid’s toys, CDs, shoes, candles, beauty products, tools … name your clutter. These steps to clearing clutter work. They even work with electronic clutter – documents or e-mail messages. So let’s get started!
1.) Get it all in one place. Gather all your related clutter in one area.
2.) Trash the expired and the duplicates. Do you have magazines that are more than a year old? They are obsolete. Those jackets with giant shoulder pads from the 80s? Please. And do you need 10 yellow highlighters or 45 versions of a contract?
3.) Organize it. I grouped all the peanut butter candy, the coconut candy, and on and on. You can group all your e-mail about a project or all your anti-wrinkle creams. Group those dang financial papers. Group things so it makes sense to you and you can find items if you need them.
4.) Contain it. I am not a fan of buying fancy baskets to put stuff in. I’d rather just throw it away. But if you are going to keep things until you can go through them or for any length of time, they deserve a decent container. I bought a some cheap plastic see-through drawers to put the candy in. Do this with shoes that are out of season or papers that you want to keep. At least you will be able to see what is inside!
5.) Set limits on the inflow. My new rule is no more candy until there is space in the containers. I will get this clutter under control! I also do this with books. No more bookshelves! If I buy books, I have to get rid of books. This is also known as the “one in, one out” rule.
6.) Go through something every day. If you clear out the clutter a little bit every day, you will start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
Your reward for all this? Stop can by my house and get some candy – please!
How to control clutter and hoard no more! #organizing #tips Share on X