Clear Clutter at Home - 4 Easy Steps

	Just 4 Easy Steps to Clear Clutter at Home (That Anyone Can Do) By Karen Porter, Editor EasyHomeOrganizing.com Most of us don't want our homes to be a cluttered mess. We don't consciously say 'I like living in the midst of clutter, and it makes me happy'. And we certainly don't enjoy spending an extra 15 minutes searching for our sunglasses and keys, that matching sock or the misplaced pile of bills that's going to be late if we don't pay them today. Where is the fun in any of that? But the trouble is that many of us don't take the time to undo this clutter mode and get organized at home. After all, just where do you start with home organization in your home when there is so much that appears to need organizing? It's overwhelming! And how do you find the time and motivation to get organized at home? The truth is that when you spend 15 minutes daily searching for your keys or that sock match, you just as easily could spend 15 minutes setting up a more permanent organizational system or routine for that same item---and NEVER spend that 15 minutes looking for the same item again. So would you like to spend 15 minutes during one day to create an organizational system to manage your constantly misplaced bills? Or would you rather spend 15 minutes two or three times a week for the rest of your life searching for your misplaced mail and bills? When you phrase the situation that way, the answer seems pretty obvious. Luckily getting organized is easier than it seems---even for the most inept, non-creative do-it-yourself home organizer (but of course, you're better than that!). Here's the plan... STEP 1: MAKE A LIST List-making, especially to-do lists, can be a waste of time. But not this list. This list kicks off your home organization plan. Anyway, it's not a to-do list. It's a list of problems that need solutions. Don't list items or places you want to organize in your home or how you'd like your bedroom closet to resemble that million dollar mansion home decor photo in the most recent consumer magazine. You're not interested in that type of "wish list". Instead, list SPECIFIC problem dilemmas in your home that result from disorganization. EXAMPLE: Don't list organize bedroom chest drawers. Write missing sock pair matches. Write...paying bills late monthly and getting late fees. Late for work three days a week because can't find keys. Tripping on piles of dirty laundry. Breaking new toys by stepping on them. Get lost on vacations because can't find maps. Spouse keeps buying duplicate hand tools or cooking utensils. Remember, if it's not an organizational problem, it doesn't need fixing and shouldn't be on this home organization list. STEP 2: CHECK IT TWICE Go back through your list and prioritize the items in it. You can break items into three categories: "most important", "needs to be done sometime" and "least important". Then take your "most important" category and number items in numerical order with number one being your highest priority organizational matter. Each number gets used once. So if you have 10 items in the "most important" category, you'll use numbers one through 10 each once. Later you can do the same for the categories of "needs to be done sometime" and "least important". STEP 3: SCHEDULE IT Put priority item number one in your planner or on your calendar. Schedule it for a 15 to 30 minute increment. If you prefer to spend a longer period of time on it (or it will take longer to complete regardless of how long you "want" to spend doing it), schedule a longer period. Or schedule these shorter 15-30 minute increments but over several days during the week. Most of all, keep the organizational problem/task on the schedule as home organization priority number one until it gets done, even if it takes you a week to finally complete this organization task. Your goal is to finish it BEFORE you move onto home organization priority item number two. Note that you're not just making a to-do list. You're actually scheduling time on your calendar to work on this organizational task. You're making an appointment with yourself. To-do lists mean absolutely nothing. You may as well be practicing your hand-writing or typing skills. It's actually scheduling the time to do this task (and visibly writing it in your planner) that is the more concrete way of "getting to it" and giving yourself true time to do it. To-do lists are just fancy wish lists. Write home organization priority number one on your calendar. Schedule it! If you know you'll need more accountability than making an appointment with yourself in your private planner, tell a friend. Then have them bug you periodically. Whether you're trying to lose weight, prepare to run a marathon or organize under your bathroom sink, telling a buddy---one who will hold you accountable to your goal---is the way to go. STEP 4: START Yes, start. But where and how? If you do not yet have any ideas of how to solve this organizational dilemma, the first place to start is with research. Go on the internet and put your organizational dilemma search terms into your web browser. EXAMPLE: "organize pots and pans", "lid storage ideas", "bill organization", and so forth. Try phrasing your organizational project different ways to get different results (and using different search engines like MSN.com and Ask.com; don't just "Google" everything.). And set and use a kitchen timer. If you allotted 15-30 minutes per day to this task, don't spend three hours perusing the Web. The Web can be very distracting. What you don't find in 15-30 minutes on the Web, you probably won't find in three hours. Other research material that can give you ideas for organizing your home hot spots includes home organization books (buy online or borrow from library), television shows about home/personal organization and magazine articles you copy or tear out and save with articles or photos useful to your home organizing project. Also, don't overlook home organization stores. "Buy the wheel" if it's affordable. There is no reason to spend five hours re-creating a $7.99 home organization product that you see in a store that could help solve your organizational dilemma just because you can do so. That's called arts and crafts. It's a hobby. A hobby is what you'll have time for AFTER you finish getting your house in order. And look at it this way, if you spend $7.99 for an organizational helper that will last you 15 years (not to mention save you 5, 10, 15 or more minutes daily that you spent when this item or task wasn't organized), that's about .53 cents PER YEAR. That's equivalent to the price of one very small fast food restaurant cup of coffee or a pack of gum for each of the next 15 years. Can you justify the cost now? Once your research provides you with a home organization solution for your specific task, start implementing the organizational solution. And remember, once you start utilizing your new organizational space or routine and have tested it for several weeks, if it's still not a solution, change it until you find a home organization solution that works for you.

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Just 4 Easy Steps to Clear Clutter at Home (That Anyone Can Do)