Tips for Tackling Clutter

There are a lot of little things that make up what we need to have comfortable lives. Eventually all of these essential little things that we need will become overwhelming unless we develop a system to organize everything. When our stuff is chaotic we call it clutter, when our stuff is organized, things run more efficiently. Here are a few helpful tips that you can use to tackle the clutter in your life.

· Do without – There is a gadget to help you with just about any task. While these gadgets have their place in our lives, they do not always have a place in our living space. The smaller your living space is, the more picky you need to be when it comes to what you can and cannot fit into your space. A good general rule to follow is that if you cannot find a place to store an item do without it or get rid of something else to make room for it.

Bags, baskets or totes can be used to store items.

· A place for everything and everything in its place – Surely you have heard this advice at one time or another. There are a number of different strategies for making the most of your storage space, but the bottom line is that you should know where everything you need is because it is always put back in the same place.

· It’s in the bag – Bags, boxes, baskets, totes, book cases, closets, racks, all of these things are essential in tackling clutter by turning the things that you do have into well organized groupings of easily accessible items. This concept is especially true in rooms where you have a lot of small things that you need to keep organized (such as the bathroom and kitchen). You will have to take some time to think of how you can fit what you need to in the space that is available to you, but once you have done it you will reap the benefits of having a clutter free home and the convenience of knowing exactly where to find whatever you may need.

· Make it a habit – Bad habits got you into your clutter problem and good habits will keep you from falling back into your old routines again. Make rules for yourself when it comes to what you allow into your house. Use the above mentioned suggestions for having a place for everything to determine whether or not to buy something new. In some cases it is necessary to get rid of something in your house in order to make space for something new. Be realistic, if you are brining stuff into your home and not taking what you no longer need or want back out of the room, eventually you are going to run out of space and clutter is going to become an issue again.

· Create a system for nostalgic items – Many people, and women especially, have a hard time organizing their clutter and throwing things away because everything seems to have some sort of special meaning. A years worth of child’s drawings, however lovely, takes up a lot of space. You may feel guilty about throwing these things away or sad that you cannot preserve what you may feel is a piece of childhood. There are many ways for preserving these special memories in ways that do not have to fill your home with clutter. Scrapbooking is a wonderful way of organizing memories into one book. Some people scan artwork or take pictures, which can then be stored digitally. Try to come up with a cure for whatever your clutter Achilles heel may be.