Clear the Clutter in Your Home

I come from a family of hoarders. We like to save everything, and our preferences and tastes change nearly every year, so the clutter tends to add up pretty quickly.

In the past, on one end table in our home we may have a Halloween decoration still laying out in the winter months. Or a snow globe that managed to sit on a windowsill for far too long.

De-cluttering the home can be done by simply labeling boxes according to seasons, and placing things that you have lying around that do not fit with the season. Doing this not only will clear a lot of clutter, but it also makes decorating according to the seasons a lot more easy, and a lot funner.

Another thing that I personally do every time I clean up messes in the house is stopping and asking myself whenever I pick something up that has been lying around for a long time;'do I need this?'
 
Usually the answer is no. If I cannot find a reason, a good reason, to keep the object I will ask other relatives in my family if they want it. That way I don't have to throw it out, and I know they will use it.
If no one wants it, I toss it into a large plastic bin and label it with the words Yard Sale. If I have no need for it, and no one else wants it, I figure I could at least make a few dollars off of it at the end of the year. Usually whatever does not sell at our yearly yard sales, I will donate it to local community charities.

Another way to keep clutter out of your house is to stop yourself every time you lay something down on a table, or counter. If you recently removed the clutter from the counter, old habits usually resurface. So while you enjoy the cluster free environment for a short amount of time, it is not long before it builds up again.

Instead of just lying something down on a counter or table top, put it where it would actually belongs. Most clutter in people's homes are simply objects that were placed down where they did not go, and sheer laziness caused it to remain there for way too long.

I personally have a bad habit of doing this. I usually will buy something, place it down on the table, and tell myself I will use it later, or put it away later. I realize now, that telling myself 'I will do it later' is basically a lie. Instead of doing it later, 'do it now'. It will save you hours of clean up time down the line. It's a habit you will have to get comfortable doing, but over time with force, it does work.

Clearing clutter in the home is not a difficult task at all, but keeping the home clutter free is.

Like I said, if you keep certain items in boxes and only bring them out on the appropriate holiday, it will clear the clutter, and will allow you to keep things you want, without having to throw them out.

 Forcing yourself to place things where they really belong also helps keep the home free of future clutter.