Sunday, December 16, 2012

Organizing Your Home for 2013

By this time of the year, you are probably just sick and tired of all the clutter, the junk, the too much of everything.  But next year will be different, you say.  Sure it will.....if you start right now.  No, it's not crazy talk. Just make the effort, start right now and by year's end, you'll be all set.

 Here's the quick and easy steps to get you going in the right direction.


Gather your supplies.  You're going to be tossing, sorting, keeping and organizing so you'll need a few things. Grab a trash bag and a few boxes.

Pick your starting point. Decide where you're going to begin and do not deviate. This is not the time to be wandering aimlessly from room to room.

First, we toss.  One of the biggest time wasters is to organize the things you intend to get rid of. Don't bother. Grab the trash bag and very quickly throw out everything you are absolutely certain you have no need for. Be honest with yourself. If, for example, you plan to donate some old cookbooks, no one is going to want them if they are stained and rippled from liquid spills. Toss them out. The same goes for those puzzles where two pieces are missing. Out they go.

Next, we sort. Set your boxes up according to what you intend to do with your items. My boxes are almost always Another Room, Donate, In the Attic, Yard Sale. So let's assume your sorting will be similar. Again, you're going to be moving quickly. Remember, we aren't wasting our precious time organizing unnecessary things so the next order of business is to remove any items that don't belong in that particular room. There's no need to dash around taking them to their rightful home; just toss them in the Another Room box.  Now that the room has been emptied of the worst offenders, you can breeze through the next step. As you are straightening up the area, you'll come across items and decide if you want them to stay in the room or go elsewhere. That's where the last three boxes (Donate, Attic and Yard Sale) come in. Place items in the appropriate boxes and you're almost all done.

Bye Bye!  Take the Donate Box you've filled and put in the trunk of your car right this minute. No waiting because the more you do that, the more inclined you are to start taking that junk right out of the box again. When you're out running errands, simply drop the box off to your favorite donation center of choice and don't forget to get a receipt. You'll be glad you did at tax time,  Put the Attic box away (which may not be the attic but the garage, just store it.)  All that's left is the Another Room box. Have family members help you put things back in there rightful place.

You're all done. You're almost done!

This step is pretty easy and it helps you avoid getting into this mess again. Whenever you are working on a project, try to handle things as they come along. It's ridiculously simple, but no one ever does it. Ever. As you're putting away out of season clothes, go ahead and toss the stained ones and put the ones you want to donate or give to Cousin Sally in the trunk of the car. If you're putting away your Christmas decorations feel free to toss out broken ornaments, light strings that won't work. I know you're busy but waiting until next year is only going to aggravate you in about 12 months. Do this one step as often as you can and for most projects it only takes a minute or two.

My resolution every New Years Day is to get organized and I bet yours is too. Here's one easy, peasy way to do it.

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