One-A-Day Declutter Pill

When your clutter is really out of hand and taking over your home and your life, it may be necessary to wage war and make a stand against your clutter. I call this system the One-A-Day Declutter Pill.

Start by doing one of the following five items on day one. Then add another on day two. So forth and so on. You'll be pleasantly surprised how much clutter you can get rid of and how easy it will be to keep your home clutter free.

1) Get rid of something. It doesn't matter what it is, but find something you no longer need or want and get rid of it. If you do this every single day, you'll be able to lighten your load by 7 unwanted items each week, 365 items each year!

2) Shop with a list and with cash. Always go shopping with a list, and focus on buying ONLY those items. Things bought on a whim often turn into tomorrow's clutter. Don't bring your credit cards or your checkbook with you especially for small purchases and grocery shopping. Leaving them behind keeps you from buying things on a whim that you don't need. Bring only enough cash for the items on your list.

3) Pull the paper out of your printer. If you find you're always printing everything and ending up with huge piles of paper you never look at again, pull all the paper out of your printer and put it in an out-of-the-way area (a very out-of-the-way area) of your house. You'll be less likely to print something if it's very inconvenient for you to get the paper to do so. When you have an absolute necessity to print something, just grab a few sheets of paper from your storage area.

4) Live out of tubs or boxes.This method is for those who just can't decide what to throw away. Put all of your possessions from one room of your home into boxes. Only retrieve something from the box when you need it. At the end of the month, deliver the boxes and anything in them to your favorite charity or to your trash can. If you didn't need the items in a month, they're likely not important enough for you to keep. (Of course, this doesn't apply to marriage documents and other legal or tax-related paperwork.)

5) Have someone else do the dumping. Go through your home and gather everything you want to keep. Consolidate all of these things to one room. Rent a dumpster if necessary. Hire someone, a professional, a trusted relative or friend, to get rid of anything that is not in your 'keeper' room.
This may sound drastic, but it's a sure-fire way to simplify your life as quickly as possible.

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