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A home that is well-organized is much more pleasant to live in. It also lessens the stress in everyday life. Not to mention, you use items more efficiently and aren't searching endlessly for what's needed. If junk keeps piling up, you'll soon outgrow your house. De-cluttering can be overwhelming unless you have a plan, an organized method.

Getting Started

Choose one room to start with. De-cluttering in steps is less overwhelming and you'll get more accomplished. If you don't have a lot of time, you don't have to de-clutter an entire room all at once. Start with one drawer or closet at a time. Set a goal of de-cluttering at least a small area once a day. This gives a sense of accomplishment and incentive to keep going. Going from left to right of a room can help you stay focused. Get the entire family involved.

Separate Items

Separate items into the following categories...

* throw aways
* donate, give away, yard sale
* keep in place
* items wanted, but to store elsewhere

Items that haven't been used for a long time are taking up space. Some may not even be usable. Throw these away. You may have items that are still usable, but not to you. Donate to Good Will, The Salvation Army or a needy family in your community. If you like yard sales, have one of your own. Yard sales can be quite enjoyable. You get rid of unneeded items, while meeting new and interesting people. You help someone else and can earn money to purchase something you really want. A focus on giving will help you detach from items you don't really need.

For items that are needed or wanted, use baskets, boxes or other containers to neatly organize them. I've even used pretty flower pots to store small items such as cosmetics, pens and pencils, etc. Look around the house for items you can use for containers before buying something new.

For items that are rarely used, but you want to keep, buy plastic storage boxes and put them in a dry basement, garage or attic. Even space under the bed will work well as under-the-bed storage boxes are readily available. Hat boxes, decorative trunks also offer added storage.

Daily Items

Why make de-cluttering harder on yourself? As soon as you get the mail out of the box, separate it. Throw junk mail away. Have a place for bills. When you walk out of a room take something that doesn't belong in there to where it does belong, such as dirty dishes or magazines scattered around.The main living area usually gets cluttered by the daily items. Spending a few minutes a day on de-cluttering

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