5 Easy Ways to Get Rid of Clutter

By Jeanelle Deppner

If every time you turn around there seems to be a new pile of clutter springing up in your home, then you are in really good company. Clutter is a problem in most homes, and getting it and keeping it under control can seem nearly impossible. There are some things that you can do though that will help keep clutter from taking over your home.

1. Control Paper
Paper has a way of multiplying right under your nose. It is probably the single largest contributor to clutter in your home. There is no shortcut way around clearing your backlog, because you need to determine what goes and what stays. Now, open your mail over the recycling bin. Keep a basket for bills and a basket for other mail, and then open your mail, sort it and throw away the junk all in one fell swoop. If you cannot get to the mail right away, you may need to have an incoming mail basket as well. Get everyone in the family a small filing cabinet for their room, and everyone can keep track of their papers in the filing cabinet.

2. Clear Closets
Closets fall under the 'out of sight, out of mind' category. It is all too easy to stuff something in a closet and forget about it. So at least once per year, go through your closets and purge. Donate to charity what you can and throw the rest away. When you have everything out of the closet, take a look at your shelving and see if you need to update anything like adding hanging racks or shelving. If you do, then now is a good time to do it. Then get everything put back neatly.

3. Organize Home Office
Go through your home office and get rid of all the clutter as well. First go through your papers. If it has nothing to do with work, get it out of your office. Archive out anything that you do not need to access any more. Then make sure that you have a good filing system, a filing cabinet, storage bins, a mail sorter, white board, corkboard and an in/out basket. It will be so much easier to work in a clutter free, organized space.

4. Kitchen Cabinets
If you have things falling out of your cabinets when you open them, then you need to organize your kitchen cabinets as well. Often the back of your cabinets accumulate a lot of stuff that you no longer use. So you find yourself stuffing everything that you do use into a tiny amount of space in the front of your cabinet. Do to your cabinet what you did to your closet: Go through, load up a charity box and throw the rest away. Add some organizers in your cabinets to keep everything neat, and then replace the things that you use.

5. Workshop Organization
Your workshop frequently gets thrown into disarray when you are doing quick fix-it projects. Make sure that you have adequate storage for your supplies and tools, and then be diligent about throwing away things that will never use. Set aside a bin for things that you may need one day, and when it gets full, nothing new goes in until something goes out. That way, the thingamajig that you kept might just come in handy one day and you'll actually be able to find it.

About the Author:  Article by Jeanelle Deppner from WallDecorandHomeAccents - the place to go for decorative home accents and metal wall plaques.