How to Get Rid of Clutter for Good
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Not sure how to get rid of clutter and get organized? Neither was I. I am a reformed mess. I spent the first twenty-five years of my life buried under a pile of miscellaneous papers, library fines, parking tickets, missed appointments and lost forms. I regularly dug through clothes on my bedroom floor while getting dressed in the morning and often ended up eating a twelve dollar salad for dinner because there was once again nothing in my fridge.
Then, everything changed. When I found myself teaching full time, taking graduate classes, planning my wedding and renovating a house, I was faced with a choice - either I was going to lose my job, drop out of school and cancel the wedding, or I was going to get organized. Thankfully, I found a way to get rid of clutter and learned that I actually liked to be organized. Truthfully, I found out that I loved it. I get as excited about organizing a closet as some people get about the Super Bowl. Since I am not able to provide each of you, our dear readers with a personal organizational consultation, I am going to share some of the wisdom that I have gained so that you too can be organized, even if you’d rather visit the dentist to have a cavity filled than use a label maker.
Tip #1: Get rid of some stuff.
I know what you are thinking, "The last thing I want to do is part with my belongings!" But, if you have more stuff than you have space, you will never be organized. When I began my battle against clutter, this quote helped me define what I really needed:
“Have nothing in your home that you don’t know to be useful or believe to beautiful.”
With this in mind, and starting with one room at a time, begin to sort items into keep, sell, and give away piles. Be ruthless. After all, do you truly need fifteen purses, ten kitchen gadgets you never use, or toys with missing pieces? If you, your hubby or your kids hardly ever use it, out it goes.
Tip#2: Find a permanent place to keep everything else.
Find a home for everything and teach your family members to use them. It is not for the faint of heart, but if your husband’s keys, your daughter's cleats and the kitchen scissors always go back to the same place, eventually your family will know where to find things and, more importantly, where to put them back. It may sound impossible, but even my one year old son knows where his shoes go and how to find his books.
Tip#3: Use baskets, bins, dividers, and organizers to keep belongings in their places neatly.
You can ask my husband and he will tell you, I am a basket freak. I love them because they are useful and beautiful. The entryway, my son’s toys, and our closets are full of bins and baskets for separate items like accessories, hair supplies, toys, bibs, makeup, shoes...whatever! The drawback to this step is that you will need to spend a bit of money on the front side to purchase organizing supplies (maybe you can use the money you got from selling the extra stuff!). Trust me, it is money well spent. Target and Walmart are great places to start for bins, and I have found that arts and crafts stores usually have the best prices on baskets, especially if you print out their weekly coupon. These stores also carry magnetic lists to hang on the fridge - stay tuned for more on utilizing lists in upcoming articles!
In my next article , I will teach you more about how to get rid of clutter and corral it for good. We'll break down some of the worst clutter spots, like the entryway, junk drawer, and playroom and give you practical solutions. Good luck!
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Tackling Clutter Hot Spots - Organized Living
Tackling Clutter Hot Spots - Organized Living
Becky Cella is Mommy to Gavin, ten months, and wife to Matt, a school teacher in Philadelphia. She taught high school English for six years prior to earning her Masters at Cabrini College and becoming a student teaching supervisor at Philadelphia Biblical Unviersity. In her free time she enjoys helping out with her MOPS group at church and writing about the experiences of being a new mom.
