Clutter Free

A Step By Step Guide To Dealing With Clutter

Just imagine every room clutter free. It's easy to find things because you know where everything belongs. Everything has a place and everything is in the right place.

How does that make you feel?

A recent survey showed that during a lifetime people spend over £18,000 buying unwanted gifts. The survey also showed that over 50% of people don’t bother to return their unwanted gifts, over 20% sell their gifts on eBay, 23% give them to charity and 20% re-wrap the gifts and give them to someone else.

The same survey revealed that two-thirds of people haven't de cluttered for more than six months and one in ten haven't bothered clearing clutter in over five years!

Did you know that clutter interferes with your ability to see things clearly. It distracts you from your real purpose. It holds you back; is frustrating, and wastes time, energy, and money. Clutter drains you. Clutter can even make you feel guilty and make it hard to move on.

You'll find that when you begin sorting out the physical mess, some of the emotional junk starts to take care of itself. Getting rid of clutter clears the decks for action. It makes you feel good. Letting go of 'stuff' is surprisingly liberating.

It's time to be clutter free

The first step is to identify your clutter problems

It’s easier to clear your clutter when you know exactly what you want to achieve.

Write a detailed list of what you want to accomplish, then prioritise.

  • Do you have one problem area?

  • Do you want to de clutter the whole house room by room?

  • Does it take ages to do the admin because you can't find what you need?

  • Do you waste precious minutes, searching through piles of stuff to find a vital document?

Next, identify the benefits of getting organised

  • What are you making room for by getting rid of clutter.

  • What will you get out of getting rid of junk? What's the pay off? Be specific.

  • How will you feel when you're clutter free?

  • In what ways will your life be easier?

  • How will things look?

  • What will there be room for when you've dealt with your old stuff?

What are the benefits? Peace of mind? More space? Time saved? A sense of achievement?

Spend time thinking about what clearing clutter will give you. How will it make you feel? You're more likely to be succesful if you know why being clutter free is important to you. It will help you to decide what to keep and what to get rid of.

How will you decide what to let go of and what to keep?

If something has negative associations or is keeping you attached to your past, it might be time to consider letting it go.

Keep things that make you feel good, help you to function better and add to your quality of life.

How Do You De Clutter?

One step at a time. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. You don't have to do it all at once.

If you only cleared five unwanted things a day, by the end of the year you would have got rid of nearly 1800 items. You can deal with huge ammounts of clutter in a relatively small amount of time and with surprisingly little effort.

Regular consistent action is all it takes to tackle even the biggest job. If you allow just fifteen minutes a day to clear clutter you'll soon begin to see results.

There are lots of jobs that can be completed in fifteen minutes: you could sort a shelf, a drawer, a filing tray, a briefcase, a kitchen cupboard or work surface.

Bigger jobs can be broken down into fifteen-minute chunks. You’ll be surprised at how much you can achieve by spending just fifteen minutes each day.

If you need faster results, try allocating half an hour or even an hour. It can still be planned around other things and you'll soon reap the benefits.

If you have a lot of clutter to clear and want quick results you could consider seting aside a whole day and indulge in a clearing binge.

If you take before, during and after pictures, you'll be encouraged and it will help you to see how much you've accomplished.

Keeping Things Clear

The key to staying organised is to keep on top of clutter. If you leave it to grow again you'll soon be back to where you started. Plan to deal with clutter before it grows.

Think about how you'll deal with things each day.

What will you do with unwanted gifts?

  • Change them?
  • Pass them on to someone else?
  • Take them to a charity shop?

How will you deal with the post?

Set time aside to deal with it and adopt a touch it once policy, either, deal with it immediately, bin it or file it. No more overflowing in tray and everything filed and easy to find when you need it.

Decide exactly what you'll you do the next time you have an urge to dump something in the spare room or in a drawer. There's not much point spending time getting rid of clutter if you're going to spend the next year accumulating just as much stuff.

Think about how good it feels to be clutter free and take steps to stay that way.

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