Got clutter? Here's how to get rid of it

By Vicky Campbell
NH Mirror Contributor

Whether you live in an apartment or own your home, sometimes it just doesn’t feel like you have enough space.

Papers clutter what used to be the kitchen table, exercise equipment holds the piles of clothes you can’t fit in your closet, cupboards are filled with containers with no lids or lids with no containers, and spare rooms become the dumping ground for anything and everything.

Space seems to elude us no matter how big our place is. The culprit is not always the square footage, but rather the quantity of “stuff” we try to squeeze into it.

Likely, the best home improvement you can make is clearing the clutter, and it’s pretty inexpensive, too. To begin, choose the space you’d like to organize first. It should be one that will make you feel happier and give you a sense of accomplishment when you walk into your house. That could mean clearing off the clutter on the table or organizing the room you walk into when you open your front door.

Next, follow this S.I.M.P.L.E. plan of attack to take control over that space.

Sort: Equip yourself with some boxes and start filling them with like items. If you find items that don’t belong in the space you are organizing, put them in their own box with a label of the room they belong in and tend to them when you get to that space.

Inspect: After you’ve finished categorizing, start going through each box, throwing out any broken or damaged items immediately.

Minimize: Now that you’ve thrown out the truly useless stuff, decide which things you can donate. Keep in mind that your goal is to make your space look nice and to make it a comfortable, homey space. You really have to let some things go. If you haven’t used it (or even seen it) in the past six months, it’s a safe bet that it can go.

Purchase: Now that you’re down to the things you really love or really need, go shopping for storage that will hold or display your items. Buying your containers at this time is the most beneficial because now you know what size and shape you’ll need. If you buy your containers before you’ve begun this process, you may buy something too small to accommodate your needs.

Label: Labeling your containers is also an essential part of organizing. There will never be a question about where something belongs. Finding things and cleaning up will be a snap for everyone in the home.

Enjoy: After all of your hard work, give yourself a reward. Then, sit back and enjoy what you’ve done.

Vicky Campbell is the owner of Chaos County Organizers in Milan. She can be reached at 723-2642 or visit www.chaoscountyorganizers.com.