clutter be gone!
March 20th marks the official beginning of Spring, this means spring cleaning is just around the corner. As part of the spring cleaning ritual I’m suggesting that we become more organized and do some decluttering that will benefit our productivity, energy level as well as our pocket-book.
Most of our lifestyles do not mimic a living standard that looks like a model home or one of those pristine photographs in a magazine, and each persons acceptable level of clutter can vary, but with a few organization tips and taking a bit of action we can eliminate some of the negative impact clutter has on us all.
There are many positive benefits achieved by decreasing clutter. It can increase your free time by decreasing the amount of time spent cleaning, provide more useable space by eliminating unnecessary objects. Reducing clutter can make you more productive, increase your level of concentration, give you peace of mind, elevate your mood and even help you relax. It has been known to lessen discord in the home as one scrambles to find certain things and it could even increase your inclination to entertain. Freeing up space and decluttering can actually help you breathe better.
If those benefits aren’t enough reducing clutter can also be very profitable as you decide what to do with unnecessary items. Revenue can be generated by doing a yard/garage sale or for the more electronically savvy placing them on the internet through eBay or Craig’s List. For those of you who don’t want to actually do the work yourself there are many consignment shops that will share the profit or you can provide those items to non-profits as a donation.
A quick and easy way to organize is to have on-going boxes (or in my case piles): things to keep that don’t have a “place”, things to store, those items not used but you want to keep, things to consign or donate and things to throw away. Keep in mind, if you don’t need it or love it, consider getting rid of it.
If you place those things together as you go through the week and then take a few minutes each week or even monthly to take care of them the task may not seem so daunting. First find a permanent place for items that need to be kept such as a dish for the keys near the door, or baskets for the kids toys, wrap and box things to be stored, take to the consignment shop or donations center things to be rid of and toss the others on trash day, you should have your home decluttered in no time.
Happy Decluttering!
