cut the clutter and get organized
arly in the month of July I presented a lesson on how to Cut the Clutter and Get Organized. We spent the beginning of our session asking ourselves questions like, “Do you say, ‘This house is a mess’ more than three times a week?” Or, “Do you have to move something every time you want to sit down?” How about, “Do you spend lots of time looking for things or saying, ‘I can’t find it?’” If any of these sounds like you then it is time to take control of the clutter in your home.
Sources of clutter could be; newspapers, hobby materials, tools, hardware, outerwear, books, toys, games, or cleaning supplies to name a few.
Taking control of your clutter can happen in a few easy steps. Keeping a positive attitude and realizing clutter is a family affair is the place to start. Once you have identified what your clutter is you can make a chart and assign family members to clean up that clutter at a certain time each week. Even just setting aside 10 minutes an evening right after dinner or before bedtime is enough time to tame most of the clutter in the main living area of your home. If you have young children you can make it a game of seeing how many toys they can put up in 10 minutes. Make it fun.
To deep clean the clutter, create three areas in the room you are organizing: keep, give away and throw away. As you go through everything in that room decide which of the three areas each item is going to. Once you have went through the room maintaining the clutter in that space will take minimal effort daily. Go through each room of your house in this manner. Only focusing on one room at a time will decrease the stress of thinking about organizing the entire house.
When youth and adults help with household work, they learn to carry out tasks, accept responsibility, and help others. They may develop a sense of “can do,” which builds self-confidence.
E