Spring De-Cluttering Tips

The air is fresh, the sun is warm, and it is time to clean up the house for the arrival of spring. While some people do an overall dust and polish, removing cob webs and cleaning windows, others take advantage of spring to truly go to work on jammed closets, over spilling attics and garages that no longer have room for a car. But what to do with all that stuff and how to tackle the great overabundance that most people have can be very stressful. However, the stress that accumulates as your stuff accumulates can be just as dangerous and the stress of facing your clutter. Researchers indicate that an overabundance of clutter and items that you no longer need causes tremendous stress that may go unnoticed but could potentially lead to severe health problems. There are two places in the home where clutter and excess seems to really accumulate, our closets and our garage. Here we can pile stuff a mile high and shut the door so that we don't truly have to deal with what is in there. However, dealing with what is in there is healthy and necessary. Here are a couple of tips for getting to the bottom of your clutter.

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Tackling Your Clothes Closet

Getting by with less is best when it comes to most things, including clothes. Start your closet organizing by setting out three boxes. Label one box as keep label another as give away and label a third as damaged.  As you go through your closet, touch the clothes only one time and make a quick decision on which box it should go in. Keep in mind, if you have not worn the item in the last year it is unlikely that you will wear it again. Try not to let emotion rule your decision including remembrance over how much you paid for the item. Once you have loaded up your boxes go back through the keep box once again. This time make outfits with the clothes that you have left. If you have odd pieces that do not in reality work with anything else – give them away. Putting some space back into your closet where you can actually see what you have is a good thing. If this job is particularly difficult for you, ask a friend to help you make decisions, this sometimes makes it easier.

Finding Your Garage Floor

If you are like many Americans, we stuff our garages so full that we can no longer even park our cars in them. Garages meant to house an automobile become nothing more than glorified storage units to hold the spillover form the house.  The first step to clearing out your garage is to choose a day when you know that the weather is going to be nice. Empty the entire garage of all items and place them on the lawn or driveway. Try to organize as you unload the garage. Keep all sporting goods together, tools and hardware together, lawn and garden equipment together etc.… Just as you did with your clothes, make a discard or better yet, recycle pile, a giveaway or sell pile and a keep pile. After you have made the tough decisions, you can implement some order to your garage space. Use baskets stands and totes to organize your belongings. Once everything has a place, the key is to keep it in its place the best you can. Make an effort to plan a few projects with the recyclable items you have saved. Although you still have the item, giving it a new occupation is a great idea as it saves space in the landfill and provides a practical solution to something you may need.

Roll Up your sleeves and dig in. Are you ready to really spring clean?