Do you have an organizing maintenance routine?

One way to keep clutter at bay and prevent a huge clean-out every five years is to put together a simple organizing maintenance schedule for your home.  If you follow a few rules and a rough routine you can eliminate a lot of time going through years of accumulated items and clutter.

1. Above all else, establish a one in, one out rule.  If you bring a new item into your home you must choose an item to donate or throw away.  This strategy works great for toys, clothes, tools, movies etc.
2. Do not exceed the parameters of storage you have set for a certain category.  For example, if you have chosen to store garden tools in a shed, do not let them spill over into the garage so you can keep collecting more.  Choose what to pare down until everything fits back in the shed.
3.  Establish a yearly maintenance routine.  Here is a rough example:

a.    Winter/Spring

                                          i.    Go through clothes

                                         ii.    Go through papers

                                        iii.    Go through main living areas

b.    Summer/Fall

                                          i.    Go through attic, garage and basement

                                         ii.    Go through bedrooms

                                        iii.    Go through toys (right before holidays)

Consistency is key to a good routine.  If you adhere to your guidelines and make a commitment to address every room in your home at least annually you will find yourself staying better organized and maintaining a better understanding of what is in your home.

How to purge food without throwing it away

When my pantry gets a little too full I look at what I have and make a meal plan based upon the contents before buying more food.  Often times I get almost a week’s worth of dinners from the food.  This prevents my pantry and refrigerator from becoming too full.  When either space gets packed it is hard to see what is on hand and duplicates are bought by mistake.  I like to “shop and cook” from my cabinets and fridge about once per month instead of buying ingredients according to a menu I have already created. 

This habit helps me cut down on waste and really use what I own!  Sunday as I prepped my shopping list I noticed I had leftover veggies that would only be alright for a few more days.  I needed to buy more but didn’t want to waste what I had.  So I made soup out of the older vegetables and made room for the fresher ones.  It was a tasty solution to my space problem.

Making sense of memorabilia

It's usually on the very top shelf of your closet or buried in the basement.  It's usually in a cardboard box, sometimes beaten up and ripped by multiple moves, or sometimes clean and crisp because it has never been opened.  When I come across this little treasure with a client I usually hear, “Oh I know what this is...Wow it has been a long time!”  Have you guessed?  It is a collection of childhood, school and special memories known to most of us as personal memorabilia.

We often keep these items because they are associated with a special or significant time in history and our lives.  We have the best of intentions and clients are often reluctant to let any of these items go.  But they are perfectly content to pack the everything back up to be stashed away, often times where the box will remain untouched for many more years.  This has always perplexed me.  How can something be so important to us but not fit into our lives now?  If we are not going to enjoy it in some manner why are we keeping it?

If you have things that you simply cannot bear to part with consider making it a part of your everyday surroundings.  This solves two issues: boxes of items you never use will not be creating clutter and you can now enjoy the things you consider so dear!  Here are a few ideas I have suggested to people for the various memorabilia I have run into:

Newspapers from important events – Get them matted and framed for display.

Collections or heirloom decorations – Display only a few at a time in your house or office and rotate the items frequently so you can enjoy them without cluttering the house.

Old kids clothes/blankets – Have the clothes made into a quilt or blanket that can be enjoyed now or given as a gift.

Old toys – Be realistic.  Are you ever going to use it or will your kids use it?  Probably not.  Keep only a the most precious in a safe place, and take pictures of the rest before giving them away. 

Trading cards – If you choose not to sell or give away the collection put the cards in an archival album so they can be viewed and enjoyed.

The bottom line is if you are not going to make room for these types of items in your life it makes little sense to keep it all hidden away.  Why keep something in a box if you cannot enjoy it?

How to let go

Sometimes when you are sorting through your belongings and papers you come across things that have an obvious solution: a broken lampshade that is past its useful life and should be tossed, the first communion dress that is kept as a memento and the pair of jeans that no longer fit but can be used by someone else. These decisions feel like no brainers, questions with easy and direct answers.

What happens when you encounter an item you need to think twice about? People hold onto things for many reasons. The item may be valuable, it might have emotional meaning, it could be useful in some way or you feel compelled to keep it because it might come in handy down the road. Occasionally you may find a gift that has remained in hiding because it never really found its place in your home.

To avoid being overwhelmed in clutter by putting off decisions, do not overlook these more difficult situations and work to determine if something is important enough to keep. When you are faced with this scenario, ask yourself the following questions:

Do I love it?

Do I really need it? Can something else do the same job?

Do I have to keep this in the unlikely event I use it, or can I simply purchase it later if I am in need of it?

Is it worth making room for and do I want to spend the time to create a permanent home for it so I can find it again?

Can someone else make better use of this?

Is it part of the solution or part of the problem?

Control freaks and their stuff

One of the largest obstacles to effectively organizing a room or a stack of information is the decision to let go of something. Whether you decide to throw it away, donate it or send it to the recycling center, the temptation always remains to hold onto that appliance that is gathering dust or the unopened gift from two Christmases ago.

I have thought about this dilemma for a while. The one major objection I get while working with clients is, “I might need this someday”. It took me a little while to understand the reasons behind someone being so uncertain about parting with an item they had neither used nor needed for an extended period of time. I have come to realize that the underlying issue is control.

We naturally are compelled to control our lives. Many individuals feel being prepared for every circumstance that comes their way will put them in full control of their lives and surroundings. However, there is simply no way to predict and plan for every situation that could come up in your life.

Therefore, holding onto “things” is not an effective way to control one’s life. Let them go, and you will be far more fulfilled with a clutter free space rather then a slave to potential circumstances.