By Wendy Terrado
of Virtually Taken Care Of
Now that the holidays are over, you find that you and your home have acquired yet more stuff. So how do you begin to find space for it or how do you get rid of it all?
I recommend three steps: sort, decide and move it. Many households love the “box” method. Label boxes and reuse them every time you need to de-clutter. Useful labels are: Trash, Put Away, Pass On, Mystery, and Fix.
A good idea is to always have a Put Away box to encourage your children, spouse, roommate or self to put away stuff after using it. If it doesn’t get put away after a reasonable amount of time then put it in the garage or storage shed. If the owners of the full boxes don’t soon retrieve the cartons, they go to charity or the garbage can. The Pass On box is stuff that needs to either go to charity or be recycled.
The Mystery box is for things that you can’t decide what to do with. These should be small in number because the point is to try to decide ASAP where things should go. The Fix box is for things that are perfectly good and that you believe you will use once they are repaired.
These last two boxes should have time limits put on them. Do not keep your Mystery and Fix boxes stashed for too long. If the items are not worth deciding on or fixing, then donate or trash them.
Simplifying your surroundings is a great way to simplify your life. Decluttering can help individuals start the New Year with a new lease on life and a sense of calmness and freedom from the material things in life.
For more tips on unstuffing your life, visit Virtually Taken Care Of (VTCO) at www.vtcoworks.com, call (888) 711-2711, or email wendy@vtcoworks.com.
