by Kasondra Morin

Created on: July 09, 2010

When you read the title of this article a certain room came to mind. Maybe it's the garage or attic or basement, where all junk goes to die. Maybe it's that spare room that you'll “get around to” eventually. We all have our hot spots. The good news is that there is a way to make it mostly painless!

Step One: Gather Your Supplies.

Make sure you're wearing comfortable clothing that you don't mind getting filthy. Pull all of your cleaning products together and put them in the offending room; this will eliminate running out of the room and losing focus. Grab plenty of trash bags and a few empty boxes (we'll get to those later). Crank up some music and grab a timer (a cellphone with a timer function is perfect).

Step Two: Decide on Timing.

If you start an immense project with the mindset that you won't take a break until it's all finished you'll burn out fast. Breaking the cleaning up into chunks can make it seem a lot easier. 30 minutes of hard work with a 10 minute break is a great start. Set timers each time and vow to drop what you're doing when it goes off. Leave the room on your break and do something that has nothing to do with cleaning. You can surf the internet, watch some television, or go for a walk outside.

Step Three: Start Strong.

Take one of those trash bags and start throwing things away. Only take a couple of seconds to evaluate each item. Feel free to be brutal! Throw away anything that's broken beyond immediate repair (like, if you can't fix it in the next week). If you come across old papers that aren't important or hold zero sentimental value they go in the trash as well. If you wouldn't pick it up at a yardsale don't keep it and don't subject it on someone else by donating it! Now, do you remember those boxes you brought in with you? These are for donations. After you've made your rounds with the trash bag do it again with your donation box. If you don't remember owning it you probably don't need it. If you have duplicates you can give it away. If you hate it and kept it just to be polite you should consider getting rid of it. Basically, anything that you can't find an immediate use for and have no sentimental attachment to needs to bless someone else.

Step Four: Sort and Stash.

Now that you've gotten rid of a handful of items (hopefully!) it should look less daunting. Organize boxes and try to compartmentalize things. Group things together and label each container for easy access; this will save time that would usually be spent digging through boxes while yelling, “I know I saw it when I cleaned!” Organize the containers in such a way that you can see the labels without much work.

Step Five: Finish Strong.

Now you can focus on cleaning the newly open space. Vacuum/Sweep/Mop the floor. Wipe down the walls if they look like they need it. If you're feeling especially productive you can even toss on a new coat of paint!

See? That wasn't so bad after all!

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