I found some great tips on avoiding clutter on simplify101 with Aby Garvey yesterday, I thought I would share them. Some of them I already use. Simple ideas that make a huge difference.
~ Sort your mail over the garbage can. Junk mail never makes it into the house!
~Avoid impulse purchases. Keep a wish list in your purse or wallet. When you see something you want (but don’t really need) add it to the list. After waiting a week or so, look over your list. Decide if you truly need, love, or have-to-have anything on your list. If so, go get it and enjoy! If not, throw out your list and pat yourself on the back! You just prevented clutter and saved some of your hard earned cash!
~When shopping, do you ever say “I can always return it”? Clutter alert!! How often do you actually end up returning these items? Instead, do these things ultimately become clutter in your closet? If you don’t love it in the store, there’s something wrong with it. Either it isn’t exactly what you’re looking for or you don’t need it. Let it go … find something better.
~Look around your house. What things are causing clutter? Give them a home! Clutter often results when things don’t have a home or the home is inconvenient. For me, a chronic source of clutter was my daughter’s pony tail holders. They were always scattered all over the bathroom counter. I added a simple ceramic dish to collect them. Now they look neat and tidy — not at all resembling clutter. Once several have collected, I return them to their home in her bedroom.
~I want to add to empty your catch all spots at least once a week. I had a “catch-all” basket to collect papers and things until I could go through them. Helping to keep them from collecting in piles all over the house. This is a great idea. However, The basket itself became an eye-sore. So in the momnets when you are sitting on the couch watching t.v. or something. Grab that basket and go through it. When you do you will find alot of things “trashable”, even after a week’s time. If you don’t it will begin to overflow and you will find the “Catch-all” basket an eye-sore.
Aby Garvey is a professional organizer, and owner of simplify 101, inc. Her mission is to create time and space for what matters most in your home, business, and life. She has written an e-book called “the happy scrapper-simple solutions to get organized, and get scrapping”. She publishes a mothly an organizing and time management email newsletter available by visting her website at simplify 101.
Junk mail is one of the biggest source of clutter in my house. Fortunately, there is GreenDimes – a new company that will get your name (and four others) off the junk mail lists. For a dime a day, GreenDimes takes your name and address off the direct mail lists, unsolicited credit card lists, and unsubscribes you from catalogs you no longer wish to receive. They also keep you off the lists by revisiting the direct mailers. And for good measure, GreenDimes plants a tree for you every month. Learn more at http://www.greendimes.com. Imagine less junk mail, more counter space, more time, and more trees. Now that’s a great way to get clutter free!