How To Organize Clutter
Most people lack the knowledge of how to keep their homeuncluttered. Clutter is the major problem to keeping a home organized and clean. Once someone allows their home to become too cluttered, there is not enough time to do the real cleaning like dusting and vacuuming. The person doing the cleaning spends so much time cleaning up the clutter, they are either too tired or there’s not enough time to finish the real cleaning. But, as overwhelming as the clutter may be, there are ways to control this clutter.Papers are the most common thing that clutters people’s homes. Whether it’s the mail, newspapers, work papers, or the children’s school work and other projects they bring home. There are several ways to organize things to avoid this clutter. When you get the mail, take the time to go through it as soon as you get it. A small garbage can or bag placed at the front door can be used for junk mail you don’t want to open. It you use a mailbox, don’t even bring junk mail home. Use their trash cans.
Place bills that need to be paid in a “to do” file immediately. Place this file in a basket on your desk or near the computer if you use it to make your payments. File other important papers right away instead of leaving them in a pile to do later. Things left to do later become clutter. This is even more important for work papers kept at home. It’s of utmost importance to file these “to do’s” in one spot immediately. It’s also a really good idea to place a container to hold old newspapers and other recycle material next to the garbage can. This makes it very easy to take out the garbage and the recyclable items all at the same time.
Almost every student, especially the younger ones, brings many school papers home every day. When the children are young, many parents have a problem deciding what they want to keep and what they should throw out. A small plastic storage bin kept in a cabinet or closet close to where they keep their backpack can be used to place important projects that you would like to keep. Throw away the rest. A larger bin can be placed in a basement, under a bed (someplace out of the way), to empty the smaller bin into. Use this bin to permanently hold those momentous items and papers that your child will love to look through one day.
Some other things that you should always think about when trying to control clutter. Is this an item that you will use again? Be honest with yourself, most likely if you haven’t used something in a year you will not use it again, so get rid of it. If it is still working, clean it up and sell it or give it to a charity. If the item is used infrequently and you can’t decide what to do with it, keep track of it for six months. If you don’t use it within that time, get rid of it.
Keep seasonal items stored in an attic, basement or other out of the way storage space. A very good idea for storing smaller items, are large storage bins that can be stacked on top of each other and used as drawers. These can be purchased for very little. Plus, if the drawers are clear, you can see what is inside them easily. So when it comes time to decorate for the season, etc. you can easily find the items you want. If something is broken, damaged or stained, fix it to use or throw it out. You don’t want to waste your time and effort trying to work around something that should be in the trash.
