clutterWelcome to part 1 of our 3-part article series, titled How To Get Rid of Clutter.  In each of these articles, you’ll discover various tips, suggestions, and routines you can start using immediately to reduce the clutter in life and become better organized. 

In this first article, you’ll lern that there are good ways of getting rid of clutter, and that there are bad ways to de-clutter. 

Let’s begin.

There are good ways to get rid of clutter and bad ways. The bad way is the route you usually take when you get disgusted with the fact that you have too many things all over the place and decide to get rid of everything. I know this because during a time when I was in the mindset to get rid of all the “clutter” part of it turned out to be my high school yearbook and my mother’s wedding dress that I was holding.

Things that cannot be replaced and are gone forever. But such was my zeal to get rid of clutter that I discarded these items without realizing what I was doing. Like everything else, clutter has to be evaluated before you get rid of it. And you should also make sure to bear in mind things that other people can use, even if you no longer want them.

Another example of how I got rid of clutter was when I moved from my home to a smaller apartment and had a ton of kids toys that my kids no longer used. I ended up with a heap of toys in my driveway ready for the garbage truck. These could have been donated to a number of different charities, but I was so overwhelmed that I just wanted them gone.

The good news about this is that my neighbours had a field day picking through the garbage and getting themselves some free goods.

It was particularly gratifying to see those who did not want to attend my estate sale in that upscale neighbourhood because they did not want to be seen buying used goods actually climbing the trash heap to get what I now considered to be trash. But that is not the point – the point is that the toys should have been donated and could have been had I been a bit more organized when getting rid of clutter.

The good way to get rid of clutter is the way that I now use. I go through my home periodically and get rid of clutter in the places that is most likely collects like the closets. Those coats and other garments that I have not worn for the past year get tossed into a bag for the many organizations that come around to take these items for charitable causes.

Some things, however, are not meant for charity as they are too worn , stained or have something broken, like a zipper. What I do when I want to get rid of clutter is to have two bags, one for items that are to be donated and the other for items that belong in the garbage.

Part 2 of this How To Get Rid of Clutter article series continues by giving you some of the easiest tips for decluttering your home and your life.

 

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