The Art of Tidying - Clear Your Clutter With These Simple Tips

Between your jam-packed schedule, never ending to-do list, pets, and kids—it can be challenging to keep your home organized. Even if your home is clean, it could be disorganized and overflowing with items you really don’t need. Set aside a day, gather your family—and clear your clutter with these simple tips.

Pull Everything Out

The number one rule to remember when cleaning out or reorganizing your attic, basement, garage, overflowing closets, or messy room—is that it will get worse before it gets better. If tackling a large area with multiple types of items to store and organize, you may need to work one section at a time.

Sort Items Into These 5 Piles

Once you begin going through boxes, drawers, and containers—you want to sort things into one of these 4 relevant piles:

Keep—these are items that will be part of your new clutter-free system. You may have to practice some serious discipline here. For example, if you forgot you owned it, or haven’t used it in a year—in most cases it is not a keeper.

Donate—this pile is for items that can be donated to a Huntington Beach non-profit, artist, friend, or family member.

Sell—if you have the time in the next few weeks consider hosting a garage sale, or selling items you no longer use on Craigslist or eBay.

Recycle/Toss—some items simply need to be thrown out. Be smart about what you toss, by shredding sensitive documents—and recycling and upcycling any eligible items. You might be surprised at the number of items that can be recycled, like electronics, old tennis shoes, or broken furniture.

Storage—there are items (such as seasonal clothing, seasonal sporting equipment, and keepsakes) that fall into the Keeper pile, but don’t need to be taking up prime real-estate in your house. Instead, put them in an organized and labeled storage area in the garage, attic, or rented storage space.

Head To The Store For Organizational Items

Now that you have identified your Keepers, it is time to invest in some tools that will prevent future clutter. With the right selection, you can increase storage by as much as 50%, or more! Head to your local home organization store in search of:

·         Closet organizers

·         Desk organizers

·         Kitchen and cabinet organizers

·         Drawer organizers

·         Decorative storage boxes

·         Furniture that with built-in/hidden storage

·         The endless options in item-specific storage, hangers, and organizers

Once your new system is in place, keep clutter to a minimum by cleaning as you go, and practicing the “one in, one out rule”—every time you buy something new, you donate or sell one item.