Rescue Me: How to Cut the Clutter
You need to pick one room and work on that room until it is no longer cluttered. Start with three boxes, baskets, or trash bags. I personally like baskets, but we use whatever works. One basket is your keep basket. That is for things that you cannot part with, and are going to find a home in your house for. The second basket is for things that you are going to throw away. These are trash items that cannot be reused and the only place for them is the trash pile. I actually use a garbage bag for this one. The reason I chose a trash bag is that once I have made the decision to throw an item away, I don’t want to see it again. If I put it in a trash bag, then it is out of my sight. The third and last basket if for give away items.
As with cleaning, start high and work your way down. Do you have things on shelves that you no longer want and/or need? Do you have a cabinet or closet stuffed with items that you might use one day – if you haven’t used the item in 6 months, you need to get rid of it. This works for clothes, office supplies, food, you name it. The rule is 6 months – give away or trash. Don’t worry about where you will give the item for now, just get them sorted and into those baskets. If you get distracted easily, you can enlist the help of a friend or use a timer. Set the timer in 15 minute increments. When it goes off, it is your reminder to stay on task. I like the timer method as a friend can be a distraction for me. The timer reminds me that my focus needs to be on cleaning and decluttering, not on reminiscing about items.
You have to give yourself the time to complete a room or an item. If you are working on closets or a desk, you might want to allow the time just to do that item and work on the remainder of the room another day. When you have completed your task, the first thing you are going to do is throw away the items in the basket marked for it. Take it out to the trash right now or put it in the trunk of your car if you have to take to a recycler. When you can complete that task, now is the time is to sort through the two baskets that are keeping and give away. If you can bag or box the giveaway items, do that now. If you are going to give some items to specific people, box up and label right now. Don’t wait, as it creates more clutter for you to deal with. Think about who you can donate to. A lot of not for profit organizations will take office items. Books can go to a local library or a women or men’s shelter. Goodwill and the Salvation Army will take a lot of household items, as long as they are in good shape. If something is old and raggedy, its home should be the trash bin.
Once you have an item decluttered, you should thoroughly clean. Repeat these steps through all of your cluttered areas. What I do is once an area is cleaned, I go back daily to clean and put things where they should be. Before too long, you will have a clean and organized space. You can use this method on your home, your office, your garage, and even a storage shed. The key is the three basket method and to put away, give away, and throw away immediately so the items that you are trying to clean don’t become a catch all for your sorted out items. Be sure to leave yourself enough time so you don’t have to rush through.
See your cleaned and organized area as a blessing. Keeping it clean and organized will be much easier now that it is organized to begin with. Don’t worry if it takes days or even weeks to clean and declutter. It probably took weeks for you area to become this way in the first place. Once you are done, sit back and enjoy your space!
