Saturday, July 25, 2009

Basic Principles of Decluttering Your Home

So yesterday I rambled on about tackling your problems in manageable steps...and asked "Where do I begin?"

Personally I always start with whatever is bugging me the most. Is it the dumping ground inside your front door? The dining room table that is used for everything but dining? Kids toys everywhere?

Whatever it is, that's where you should start. Forget about the "make a detailed plan of attack and stick to it approach"...it doesn't work. If you are a life long clutterer, what you need is some instant gratification...visible results of your hard work to keep you going. If you don't see a measurable change in your life as a result of what you've done, let's face it, you're not going to keep working at it.

Regardless of where you choose to begin, I've found there are some basic steps to decluttering that apply to all situations.

First step is to get 4 bins, baskets, bags...whatever works for you. Label them as follows: Keep, Toss, Give Away, Move. The purpose for the first 3 is pretty obvious; the last one, Move, is where you will put all of the stuff that has accumulated in one spot that really belongs elsewhere in your home. Don't worry about returning it to its proper place just now...throw it in the Move bin and we'll deal with it later.

Now comes the part that people find difficult...letting go.

Let's start with Toss. If it is broken, Toss it. If you seriously plan to have it repaired, give yourself 30 days to do so. If you haven't fixed it within that month, you are not going to...Toss it! If it is worn out, Toss it. If it is stained, Toss it. One comment about the Toss bin...please do not throw out anything that can be recycled....put those items in your regular recycling bins.

Next we come to the Keep and Give Away categories. I have a very simple mantra that I use to make decisions on what to keep and what to purge...If I love it or it is functional I keep it; if it is neither, then it goes. When I say "love" I mean "love", not "I kind of like it", or "it's cute"...you have to really love something to keep it. Functional means that it serves a clear purpose in my home in its' current state....it's not too big, or too small or falling apart, or.....

If you stick to these principles you will be able to quickly organize any area of your home.

Oh, back to that Move box....once you have finished sorting and organizing the area in question, then you can walk around the house with your Move box and return all those lost items to the room where they belong. Don't worry about where they are going to go in those rooms...you'll deal with that when you are ready to organize those areas. I keep a small basket (8"x 12") as a permanent Move box. When I do my daily or weekly cleaning I put any items that have wandered from their home into the basket for redistribution back to their proper place. If you make a habit of this you will find your home is much less cluttered. If you have more than one level to your home, keep a Move basket on each floor. Don't make the basket too big or you will just be creating another dumping place...keep it small and empty it regularly.

Lastly, I keep a permanent donation bin. Store this wherever makes sense for you. In my home the dining room table is rarely used so I keep a decorative lidded basket under the table. Whenever I notice something that I no longer love or is no longer functional for me, I put it directly into the basket. When the basket is full it goes to charity. Doing this on a regular basis means you will never have to do a major purge again.

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