Home: Reducing Clutter

All is soon ready in an orderly house.

• Think back to the last time you wore the item you’re considering parting with. If you can’t remember the last time you wore it, or if it has been at least two years, you’ll probably never wear it again.
• To free your kitchen cabinets of clutter, donate your cans to your local food bank. Don’t wait for the holidays to roll around—many food banks and charitable organizations are overwhelmed with donations during the holidays but may be desperately in need at other times of the year.
• Here’s a strategy for your closet: When you buy a new piece of clothing, get rid of an old one. When you buy a new pair of socks to replace a ratty old pair, get rid of the old pair right away. When you buy new sneakers, toss the old ones out.
• If your desk is bulging with three-year-old credit card and utility bills, minimize the overload by going through the files every month or so and throwing out what you don’t need to keep.
• To find a home for a single item that you’d like to sell or give away, call your local newspaper, or post signs on the bulletin boards at local grocery stores or Laundromats.
• If you’d like to have a yard sale but feel you don’t have enough to sell consider putting together a group sale with some friends, relatives, or coworkers. Hold the sale at the home in the “best neighborhood” and when you advertise ahead of time, be sure to specify that it’s a group sale, which will attract more shoppers.

What are you doing to reduce the clutter in your house? Let us know!