Take one house with closets already overflowing, throw in holiday decorations and a few deliveries from UPS and soon you have a house that is ready to explode. The holidays are a great time to put your home on a diet. A clean up of all of those items that have been sitting on the closet shelves for a year that you haven't used, clothes that you don't wear and old magazines gathering dust.
Over the years I have become acutely aware of the clean up and throw out process. With my numerous moves as a military spouse, emptying out my parents home of 45 years, downsizing and combining households, it has been a constant battle to sort out what is important and what needs to go. Along the way I've come to know my way to the local dump, Salvation Army and the phone number for various charities that will pick up larger donations. We are coming up on the anniversary of the last purge and have made a pact that anything in a box, except holiday decorations and true family heirlooms, must be tossed. If we didn't need it for a year then we can live without it forever.
When you are driving around do you ever notice the number of storage facilities that seem to be on every corner. In today's "throw away" society it seems a bit odd that there should be so much of a need for storage facilities. What is lurking behind all of those locked containers? Is it stuff we really need or is it easier just to tuck it away instead of dealing with it? How much money is being spent every year to store things that really should be headed to the dump or donated to a favorite charity? Could you have a vacation with the money instead?
Need some help getting started on the de-cluttering? It is over-whelming I can admit it! So here are a few ideas that helped get me started on the stuff purging:
- Pick a room-doesn't matter where you start
- Set a timeframe-only work on the room a couple of hours at a time
- Sort through it-look at it once and decide if it is a keep, toss or donate
- Don't reminisce-high school is long over, the faded corsages have got to go
- Keep the space organized-have trash bags and plastic bins handy so that you aren't surrounded by piles
- Repeat the process on the next room-move on the next day or next weekend to another space.
- Reward yourself-trust me after you have made a run to the dump you want a reward
So take a look around and decide what you really need and what is ready to go. You might be surprised how good it feels to have put your house on a clutter diet.
Real People*Real Lives*Real Estate
Military Relocation Specialist serving military families relocating to and from the Pentagon, Fort Belvoir, Quantico MCB and all of the Military District of Washington installations.
Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia
