Helpful tips to clear the clutter

Enter any room in your home, your living room, bedroom, kitchen, home office, garage, kids’ rooms, or family room. Do you see? How does it feel? All you see is clutter, lots of stuff, stuff that doesn’t belong there and you can’t really see past all the stuff! You feel overwhelmed, chaos surrounds you, and you don’t know what the end is. Let me start by saying that at least you found this article that will help you start tackling these challenges: clutter and organization.

Instead, your mind is interrupted by the expanding chaos that threatens to consume your home or office. You look to your left and notice books, stacks of books, bags of things, shoes and jackets. You will notice a lot of paperwork and newspapers that are not exactly what they are about or the last time you looked at or read them.

Now you glimpse to your right and notice your children’s toys lying everywhere, the empty pizza box. There’s trash, maybe a bunch of miscellaneous stuff scattered about; a hairbrush, assorted clothes, the children’s school bags. And is that the birthday gift you couldn’t find to send to your mom that’s sticking out from under piles of dirty laundry unfolded on a chair?

You may be confused about how to proceed first. Do you hold your head and cry? Set everything on fire? The fact is, there is no easy way out. Burning down your house or crying will not help you achieve anything. As long as you don’t burn down your house, there will definitely be clothes to put away, books, documents and mail to sort, trash to take out. The clutter is there and you will have to clear it, organize it, make a place for things so that you know where to find them the next time you look for them.

As daunting as it may sound, clutter cleaning isn’t all that challenging. The main thing you have to do is stay focused. You’ll want to put your mind and heart into it to help keep you on task. You have to prepare both mentally and physically. You will need some blocks of uninterrupted time, some organizational items like bins, boxes, shelves, cabinets, etc. and a plan. If possible, send the little ones to a friend’s or relative’s house to make sure they can act in peace and undisturbed.

After that, record all the clutter you see, prioritize the list from highest to lowest. Where is the biggest mess? Where is the minor? This will help give you focus on what you need to pay attention to first. Is it the living room or the family room because that is where you spend most of your time? Maybe the kitchen is so chaotic that you are afraid to prepare food? Choose a starting place. Before you know it, you’ll realize that you’ve made great strides and removed much of this clutter.

After setting your priorities and deciding where to start, move everything out of that area to give yourself some space to work. Start sorting all the items by putting similar things together to make it faster to put away. Put things you no longer want or need directly into large bins for eventual sale, donation, or trash. After that, gather all your cleaning supplies. Once the location is clear of items, sweep or vacuum the floor, dust shelves or cabinets, use glass cleaner on any mirrors or glass surfaces.

One project will lead to the next as you start putting things away. You will probably find that to store the children’s toys you will have to clear and organize some space in your bedroom or playroom. Sometimes simply removing things that kids have outgrown or no longer play with will free up enough space. You may need to designate an area for folding clothes so they are not scattered all over the house. Something as simple as always putting mail in a specific mailbox when it’s brought home will help make sure you don’t lose important things like bills you need to pay.

You’re starting to get the idea now. While decluttering your home or space can be a difficult process, it’s a good one and worth doing. Remember that it is a process and it takes some time and focus. Once you’ve experienced the positive results of having a clean and well-organized home, you’ll feel better about yourself and your home. You’ll be glad you took the time to get rid of the clutter.