family features
Life Organization & Planning
Clearing the Clutter Setting Small Goals to Conquer Big Messes! By Stephanie J. Salisbury
This is just about the time of year when I step back and stare at my house, thinking, I have got to get this place in order. The holidays have long since been over, and I have no excuse for the clutter. There’s just so much… stuff! It’s the whole reason we have a house to begin with, you know. George Carlin said it best: “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” For those of you who are tired of losing papers, misplacing keys and tripping over jackets, reclaiming control of your home is easier than you might think. All you need to do is set small goals and work from there. As someone who has cleaned houses professionally for over 17 years, I can tell you that if you try to tackle the entire house as a de-cluttering project all at once, you will lose your momentum in a couple of hours and get very little accomplished. It took at least a year to accumulate, so it stands to reason that it’s going to take a while to make any real headway. To help you on your path to clutter-free living, here are some tips to get you started an hour or two at a time!
On the Surface
The quickest, easiest way to make a cluttered home appear tidier is to get rid of surface stuff. I have a tendency to toss mail, newspapers, magazines, kids’ school information, tax forms and receipts on the counter when I walk into the kitchen. I shove things aside while I’m trying to cook, I sort through it again when I’m looking for something in particular, and I’m forever frustrated that I can’t find what I need when I need it. The best solution? Try using a set of vertical files which you can buy for just a couple of bucks. Even one vertical file and a few manila envelopes (labeled Bills, Kids, Receipts) can do wonders. By standing up your paper clutter in the corner, counter surface stays clean, and you can easily sort through and find particular pieces of information when you need them. 32 THE FAMILY MAGAZINE | MARCH 2012
Skeletons in Your Closet
Clothes closets, linen closets, all-purpose closets – they tend to get things shoved into them but never in any sort of organized order. I find it best to use the two-pile method: a pile for keeping and a pile for donation or a yard sale. Pull everything out of your closet and begin to organize it into these two piles. If you haven’t worn a piece of clothing in a year, chances are you’re not going to, even if they’re your “I-will-get-into-these-size-0-jeansagain-someday” jeans. It’s good to have a dream. It’s not good to have clutter. Be honest with yourself. If you become a size 0 again, will those jeans even be in style? If you are in the mode to clean out and clear out, then donation is the best idea. Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other local shops will take clothes, games and other household items off your hands and give you a tax-deductible receipt for your donation. You may also be interested in organizing your goods for a yard sale, or taking them to a local consignment shop where you get a percentage of the sale but don’t have to go through all the work of holding your own sale. Consignment shops are different from resale shops. At a consignment shop, you take what you want to sell, and if it sells, you get your money and the shop takes a percentage of the price. At a resale shop, however, they choose what they want out of the items you bring, and they pay you up front. There are even genre-specific resale shops for older items, such as Mod Closet on the lower level of 201 E. Main Street in Elkhart. Shop owner Doni Funkhouser focuses almost exclusively on clothing and accessories from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. “We try not to go beyond that,” she laughs. “I need to have parameters or I’d be a hoarder!” In addition, consignment and resale shops are a great idea because, in Funkhouser’s words, “It reduces our carbon footprint