With the holidays fast approaching, some of you may be thinking about organizing (or reorganizing your home) in preparation for guests. FlyLady from FlyLady.net suggests taking 15 minutes each day to declutter one area at a time, instead of trying to clean your whole home at one time. She says clearing the “hotspots” of your home can help you create a more peaceful living environment.
FlyLady offers the following tips on how to declutter:
1. When to Declutter? Decide how often you are going to declutter a zone. Use a timer, and only do a small amount at a time. Do a little every day and don’t expect to get it all done at one time. When you set the timer you can only do two sessions at a time. This goal may seem unattainable right now, but you can do it in little pieces. In a couple of months, the whole house will be decluttered, she says.
2. Decluttering Equipment. You will need garbage bags, boxes, magic markers, and a dust rag. Label the boxes “Give Away,” “Throw Away,” and “Put Away.” Line the “Throw Away” box with a plastic garbage bag.
3. Set your timer! FlyLady says to set your timer for 1 hour (or 30, 15, or 10 minutes). She says it really doesn’t matter, as long as you do the job as fast as you can. Don’t pull out more stuff than you can put away in that length of time. This means just one drawer, one closet (or even one shelf in one closet), one magazine rack, or digging under just the furniture in the zone. Do not do all of them at once, she says.
4. Work your way around the room. Start at the entrance to the room, and then work your way around the room clockwise. Do not skip a spot. Whatever happens to be next, just do it, she says.
5. Declutter Away! With boxes at your feet and dust rag in your waistband, start off by cleaning out and getting rid of the things that do not belong in this room. Put garbage in the “Throw Away” box, donations in the “Give Away” box, and stuff that goes somewhere else in the “Put Away” box.
6. What to declutter? FlyLady suggests asking yourself the following questions. Do I love this item? Have I used it in the past year? Is it really garbage? Do I have another one that is better? Should I really keep two? Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it? Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item
7. Play music to get you going. FlyLady suggests “Please release me” but feel free to pick your own! She tries to see things from the “stuff’s” point of view. These things need to be loved by someone, and if you don’t love it, get rid of it, she says.
8. Get rid of the garbage! When the “Throw Away” box gets full, pull out the garbage bag, close it, and put it in the trash can, the pickup truck, or wherever you keep your garbage. Put a new garbage bag in the “Throw Away” box and keep on moving until the timer goes off.
9. Prepare to donate. When the “Give Away” box gets full, seal it off, and put it in your car. The next time you are out, you can donate to the area thrift shop. FlyLady discourages saving your clutter for a yard or garage sale, and the value can be deducted on your income tax. Remember you are trying to get rid of clutter - not relocate it somewhere else in your home.
10. "Put Away” Stuff. When the “Put Away” box gets full, put the items in the room where they belong. If they have a place, put them there, if not put them in the room where they logically belong. By the time you have finished you will have a place for everything and everything will be in it’s place, she says.
11. Time’s up! When the timer goes off, FlyLady says to put away all the boxes, but to empty them all first. Go as fast as you can, she says.
This technique may not work for everyone, but it’s worth a shot. It just may be the secret weapon you need for decluttering your home. When Spring Cleaning time rolls around, wouldn’t it be nice to be ahead of the game? For more tips from FlyLady, visit http://www.flylady.net.
