Are Your Decluttering Projects Causing More Clutter?
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About a month ago, I went through my home and did a round of purging. I'm relatively good at doing this on a regular basis, but I noticed that over time, I was collecting a lot of clutter in my efforts to do the opposite! There was a pile of magazines I was planning on dropping off at the gym, but kept forgetting. There was a bag of hand-me-down clothes I was planning to give to my niece, a bag of dry cleaning that needed to be dropped off, and the list goes on. Can you relate? I know you can, because in talking with some friends about it, they shared similar stories. That got me thinking...are your decluttering projects causing more clutter?
It most certainly can if you let it, so here are some of my recommendations for getting out of your "mess"!
1. Donations. You have great intentions here. You don't want to just throw things away. I know you want to give it to someone or some organization that can use it. Well, it doesn't do anyone any good while it's still sitting in bags in your house, so just pick a day (yes, right now) and load the stuff into your car and drop it off. I finally dropped off a large bag of new stuffed toys to a local homeless shelter service. That felt good! The bag had been hanging around for 7 months!
2. Hand-Me-Downs. If you have kids, this is an ongoing task for you. I enlisted the help of my daughter and we went through her books, toys, and clothes and put together bags for her little cousins and our friends. I then proceeded to bring the bags to the recipients as I knew I was going to see them or made special trips. I was on a mission to get the stuff out of my house!
3. Recycling. Whether it's electronic recycling, magazines or bottles and cans, just like donations, intention without action serves no one. Research local recycling centers or services, load up the car and do the drop off. If this is a challenge for you, avoid recycling that requires an additional step. Most items can go into your recycle bin and picked up during your neighborhood's regular trash pick-up. Don't worry about getting the 5 extra cents, it's not worth it! I made a special trip to the gym to drop off the magazines because I was on a roll. My intent was to bring it with me the next time I was going to the gym, but I kept forgetting. While you're thinking about it, just do it!
4. Kid's School Projects. I don't know about you, but I dread all the paper that comes home. It's not practical to keep everything they've created over the school year. Here's a huge tip for all the parents out there...take pictures! Yes, every couple of months, I lay out all the projects and take digital pictures of them. I only keep a few favorites as momentos and the rest, gets trashed or recycled! The digital pictures allow me to keep a physically clutter-free record of what my daughter did in pre-school, kindergarten and now, first grade.
5. Filing/Paperwork. This can really get out of hand if you let it. Only way to keep the madness at bay is to spend an hour or so every couple of weeks to go through your piles (I'm assuming you have a set place where bills, receipts, etc. are placed) and file it away. I reconcile my bank statements and throw away the receipts. One of the larger projects that I'll have to tackle is the purging of paperwork that is no longer needed. I have banker boxes full of documents from homes I used to own and have sold, old business records, etc. I will assume you do too, so here's a quick reference guide to help you determine if it's time to let some of that go. Click here for a chart of what records to keep and how long.
As you can see, none of these are difficult. It just takes a little effort to complete what you started. So, next time you walk past the line of bags to be given to someone else, pick them up, load them into the car, and take them to their intended new home. The sense of accomplishment is amazing! Try it and let me know how you feel! I would love and welcome your feedback. Please leave your comments below.
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