How to clear the clutter in 6 easy steps

It’s winter here in Utah, which means we get a lot of snow on our mountains. With beautiful, fluffy snow comes snowboarding, snowmobiling and skiing enthusiasts, and (sorry to say) danger. There are times when accidents happen and a snow sports outing turns deadly. One way this happens is when snow falls off the mountain and there is an avalanche. People are buried and rescuers spring into action.

Do you feel like you are buried in clutter? Do you have clutter in every room until you are totally overwhelmed? Do you feel like you are being swept away by an avalanche of clutter? All it takes is some time and a few easy steps (really, it’s easy) to clear the clutter and organize the “stuff” so you don’t feel buried in your own home.

1. The first step is to look around your house, in drawers, closets, children’s rooms, the kitchen and even the front porch. Write down in a notebook the places that have clutter. I always thought that organizing clutter was an oxymoron. If it’s mess, why organize it?

2. Make some plans to get rid of the clutter. Be as specific as you can. For example, instead of saying, “I’m going to get rid of the clutter in my room,” be more specific. A goal could be; “get everything out from under the bed and put things in their place.” Or, “Get rid of all the shoes I don’t wear, don’t like, or have nothing to wear with them.” Setting specific goals will help you succeed in decluttering.

3. Once you’ve established your goals, it’s time to start clearing the clutter. You will need three heavy plastic bags or boxes that you will label ‘trash’, ‘donate’ and ‘recycle’. Also get a basket or box to use as a BE basket. This means Belongs somewhere else. While cleaning up the mess and there are things that need to be taken to other rooms; place them in this basket to move them around after you finish organizing in this space or room.

4. As you sort through your clutter, ask yourself a few questions if you’re having trouble deciding whether or not to keep it. Do you have a use for it? Does it light you up and make you feel good? Do you have a place for it? If you answer no to any or all of these questions, then it’s time to donate it so someone else can use and enjoy it.

5. Don’t try to clean up all the mess at once. As a professional organizer, this is one of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they start organizing. We all get burnt out if we work on something for too long at any one time. Set your timer for a certain period of time. When it shuts down, take a break and then go back to what you were doing so you don’t get tired of cleaning up the mess and leaving it a lost cause. (That’s happened before, right?) If you only have 15 minutes, go ahead and see how much you can get done in that amount of time. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in small bites of time.

6. At the end of your decluttering “session,” bag the room and throw out the trash and place the items you’re going to donate in your car to take to the donation drop-off area. If you keep them in your home, others are likely to come and try to talk you out of throwing away the things he’s donating. Take your BE basket and distribute those items to the rooms where they belong.

Once you’ve organized one area, move on to another. One key to staying ahead of clutter is having a home for everything in your home and putting things back after you use them. Make your organization plan work for you. Save the things you love, that light you up, and those things that have a use in your home; that includes having beautiful things around you that you like.