De-Cluttering Your House 101 ~ 5 Places to Start Right Now!

In some ways, a house is much like an internet browser. There's an interesting page, it gets bookmarked and then is forgotten about. Months go by and one remembers that interesting cake recipe that was bookmarked. So the bookmark page is opened up and there it is. Somewhere. Somewhere it is buried amidst 150 other bookmarks.

Houses do the exact same things; or actually, people do it to houses. Things get saved and tucked away because, ‘this will come in handy some day.' Some day never arrives. So, eventually one gets fed up with having absolutely no closet, cupboard, or drawer space left, and it is time to de-clutter.

Here is a check list for a good start on de-cluttering.

1. CLOTHES

Well, what better place to start? It is no use thinking that chic little outfit from 1987 will come back into fashion, because it never really does. Designers always apply slight differences. Two good rules are: ‘If you haven't worn it in two years you never will again' and, ‘When you buy some new item of clothing, make it a replacement for something that is now going to the thrift store.'

2. TOYS

Place the children's unplayed with toys into cartons. If a given toy is not sought or asked about for six months, send that carton off to a charity.

3. PAPER

When the taxes are done each year, take that vitally important paper, put it in a large manilla envelope and tuck it away in a banker's box. Better yet, scan it, and save it as a digital file on a CD and store it in a fire safe box.

4. THE KITCHEN

Take a look at what is in the back of the cupboards. Does the expiry date begin with the number 19? Get rid of it. Are there a bunch of mugs that were gifts from a favorite person but who it was has been forgotten? Bye bye. There are only so many cups and glasses needed in a home.

5. THE BASEMENT

Ah yes, the basement. Otherwise known as The Land Where Things Go to Die. It is the repository of old televisions, table games, 49 card decks, and that lamp a maiden aunt gave as a wedding present seventeen years ago. Have a yard sale. Do not use the proceeds to buy more things that will go in the basement! Or throw things away.

When the garbage is collected, consider the removal of items a gift. The gift of space. But whenever possible, recycle: paper, metals, and plastics.

Basically, look at every object in the house the way Ernest Hemingway looked at every word in a page. Demand that it justify its continued existence!