by Lynn Dancey Rudkin

Created on: April 29, 2009   Last Updated: November 13, 2010

When you can't move down the hallway without turning sideways to get where you want to go, and every horizontal surface is covered, it's time to clear out clutter.  If there's no visible carpet to vacuum because of magazines, toys and unsorted, mismatched socks strewn everywhere, something needs changed.

If you are a collector, pack rat, scavenger. junkaholic or hoarder drowning in non-liquid clutter, piles of things are overwhelming, and the house drags you down mentally, turning you into a trapped, anti-social human being, it's time to clean up your surroundings.

Even before you reach the stage where there's not a clear path on the floor to step without crunching or squishing something, make your motto "The Queen of Clutter Cleans Up." Think how wonderful it will be to see furniture, and to have a place to roll out cookies on the kitchen counter with the kids.

Remember when you were growing up and always heard "A place for everything, and everything in its place?" Get started living that way.

Mandate to yourself and others in the household that you will no longer live in clutter, that hoarding will no longer dominate your lives.

Announce cleanup plans to the family, ask for their ideas, and let them know that nothing is sacred: they may want to help clear out just so something they value doesn't find its way out the door after you start tearing through the house.

Figure out how and why things got into such a mess, and, with that motive in mind, decide to change that forever.

PLAN OF ATTACK

* Make a list of what you intend to clear out.

* Grab a bag or box and boldly label them for each of four categories: friend/family, garage sale, charity, trash. Schools, churches and daycare centers can use many items, even small plastic containers long emptied of their contents can hold potting soil and new seedlings for a school garden, and you'll get them out of your cabinets.

* Decide which room or area makes you the craziest, and tackle that first. If you're totally overwhelmed with work and life's activities, break your task into do-able pieces, starting with a closet or a drawer that doesn't consume hours and hours each day. One drawer or one shelf at a time. Forewarn the family that what gets cleaned up, stays straightened, or gets pitched.

* Devote at least half an hour each day to cleaning out useless things that someone else really wants or needs.

* Determine whether the drawers or closets are the major problem, and focus on that. If you haven't used something

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>