www.SuzanneHimka.com

Removing Clutter
for Fun and Profit

Part Two:  Strategies for  Beating Clutter

©2003 by Suzanne Himka
All rights reserved.  Not to be copied or used on another website without permission.

Removing Clutter:
1. Introduction
2. Strategies
3. Profiting
4. Online Resources
5. Personal Testimony
 

One Week Plan

Schedule one week to declutter. Wipe all other activities from your calendar and do a systematic pass through your entire house. Some serious dejunkers even rent a small dump box. You probably will not complete everything in one week,  but it will give you a big boost. You can follow up with one of the following schedules.

One day a week: schedule one day each week to declutter during the summer months.

An hour or two each day (or on several days each week): The consistency of even small efforts -- just 15 minutes to 1 hour a day -- will pay off immensely. Or you could schedule 2-4 hours once or twice a week.

You can go through your house in any order: from "public" living areas to storage, more cluttered rooms first or last, or perhaps a different room for each day of the week.

The Four-Box Dejunking Method

This method is recommended by many experts.

1. Get four boxes and label them:
     Trash
     Give Away (You may also want a box for things to sell.)
     Storage
     Put Away

2. Decide:  as you go through the items in your current work zone, force yourself to make a decision about each item you pick up and place it in the correct box. Indecision is often the biggest problem in dealing with clutter.

3. Dispose:  near the end of your appointed work time (marked by a timer), appropriately dispose of box contents:

Relocate Put-Away items, place Give-Away items in car to take to donation center.  Put Storage items, as well as items for your summer yard sale or eBay sales, in clearly labeled boxes in your storage area. Throw away the rest quickly without a second thought.

Prevent Clutter

To prevent clutter from growing back, try one or all of the following suggestions.

1. Hold Your Ground.
After a particular area (as small as one counter top) has been cleared, do a daily clutter check to make sure no clutter is permitted to return. You might assign a child as a "clutter police" to patrol certain areas.

2. Find a Place for Everything.
Every item needs a home and each member of your family needs to know where that home is.  Keep eliminating stuff until everything fits in the space you have available, rather than wishing for something you do not have -- more space for more stuff!

3. Build Good Habits.
Work hard on the habit of returning items to their homes and dealing with clutter the Four Box way.

4. "One Comes In, One Goes Out" Rule.
When you buy a new item, a like item must be discarded, recycled, sold, or donated. This keeps the sheer number of items below the clutter point. It can also save money as you consider if you really need or want to buy a new item badly enough to release one you already have.

5. Don't Buy It.
It is more cost effective to rent some seldom-needed items or to borrow them from your public, church, or home-school library. This is another way to keep down the volume of material in your home.     Next: Profiting from Your Castoffs==>

Textual Content ©2003-2005 by Suzanne Himka unless otherwise noted.