Clear Up House Clutter – Now!

Save Time and Money-Declutte and Reorganize Your Home Without Stress

© Stefanie Gabrych Fraser

Mar 20, 2009

Clutter also happens when, too often, we hang on to things for far longer than we need to. Here are a few tips on sorting your trash and bringing some order to your most clutter-prone spaces.

Declutter Your Kitchen and Pantry

• Throw out chipped mugs and plates and any pots with loose handles or scratches in their non-stick coating. Anything you no longer use but that is in still good repair should be donated to charity, along with any kitchen electronics that have been gathering dust.
• Check spices and dried herbs for “best by” dates. For bottles without dates, crush a bit between your fingers; if it smells weak, it’s past its prime. If you have a compost bin, toss your expired herbs and spices there. Otherwise, pour the contents into your trash and recycle the containers. Label the date on any new bottles so you can keep tabs on how long you’ve had it.
• Empty the junk drawer and sort out those old corks, elastic bands, loose screws, and whatnots. Find ways to recycle them, if possible. Toss out paper flyers, old menus and junk mail into the recycling bin.

Bedroom Closet Decluttering

• To help organize and lighten your wardrobe, get rid of anything that doesn’t fit, and add these to your donation pile.
• Pull out clothes that need mending (which you’ll never fix if you tuck them away). Most dry cleaners can do hemming and simple repairs. Send more expensive repairs to a tailor.

Bathroom Decluttering

• If you’ve bought a new set of towels and sheets, reuse the faded and frayed ones as rags for cleaning. Rip into squares and store in boxes under the kitchen sink, in the garage and basement for quick cleanups. Keep a few in the car as well. Or donate old towels to the animal shelter, which can use them to keep homeless pets cozy.
• Clear out your bathroom cabinet by taking your expired meds including prescription creams or unfinished antibiotics to your local pharmacy for disposal. Ask if they will dispose of your old beauty products as well.

Reduce Clutter in the Living Room

• Magazines and catalogues take up a lot of space and trap dust. To eliminate those unwieldy piles, tear out articles you’d like to save and file them. When you get to the end of the magazine, throw what you haven’t torn out into the recycling bin. Donate whole magazines to seniors’ homes, hospital or doctors’ waiting rooms.
• Gather up any unread or old books and donate these to your library or a seniors' residence. Let someone else enjoy a good read.
• Rid your living area of any tchokzes that no longer reflect your decor style. Any charity shop will be happy to receive these donations.

Family Room

• If old videos—including home movies—are cluttering up the family room and you no longer have a VCR to view them, check out local companies in your town or online to convert your VHS cassettes to DVDs. Donate the originals (except for the home movies, of course!) to your local library. They will also take your unwanted books, old DVDs and CDs.
• Donate little used playing cards or board games that are cluttering up drawers or shelves to a charity store or give them to friends or neighbors who will appreciate them.

Garage and Basement

• If something’s been sitting around in the garage unused for several years, give it away or donate it to a charity. If it's no longer in working order or usable, recycle it responsibly. Contact your local recycling organizations to find out how.

• Free up space in the garage or basement by moving anything that remains to an alternative storage space: For example, you can add new shelving over your garage door for items you rarely use, such as holiday decorations or seasonal sports equipment.

Does this look familiar?

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