Tips on clearing clutter from Lisa Zaslow

Thanks, Judy for inviting me to guest post! This is a great forum for people to come together to support each other in letting go of the things that no longer support them.

I’m the founder of

www.GothamOrganizers.com

and have helped hundreds of people to be more organized over the past 8 years. I thought I’d share some of my tips to make the clutter clearing process easier.

With “spring cleaning” season approaching, this is a great time to clear clutter so you can make room for the things that are really important to you.

I love this quote from Oprah -“You can’t have greatness in your life if it’s cluttered with junk. You need to open up to the possibilities.” And from Dorothy Parker "It's not the tragedies that kill us, it's the messes."

Set aside a specific block of time to tackle the stuff that’s been piling up. Start small; even 15 minutes can make a difference! When I work with clients, we usually work in a 3 hour session – don’t expect to be able to go that long on your own. It can be draining. I recently heard that when the moon is in a waning phase, it’s the best time to let stuff go – couldn’t hurt to coordinate with the celestial rhythms!

Gather some supplies before you begin. Your task will be much easier if you have some sturdy garbage bags, recycling bins, and a few cardboard boxes for stuff you want to give away or donate to charity.

To speed your sorting, establish criteria ahead of time to determine what you will get rid of. Some examples of things that you might want to toss:

• Things you never use.
  
• Things you hate. Even if it was a gift. (Well, maybe not if it was a gift from your spouse or your mother …)
  
• Things that are broken -- it’s almost never worth your time or money to repair them. I can’t tell you how many old phones and answering machines I find taking up valuable space in people’s closets. There was a reason you bought a new one, right?!
  
• Things that are out of date. If you feel you MUST save old magazines and journals, determine an “expiration date” that makes sense – almost any printed material more than a year or two old is probably stale by now.
  
• Duplicate things – one staple remover is enough; a drawer full of pens is probably too many. How many extra shopping bags do you really need?
  
• Mystery things – odd cables, business cards of people you’ve forgotten, random keys, etc. If you don’t know what it is, you probably don’t need it.
  
• Things that you don’t have time for or that are no longer a priority. Are you ever really going to have time to read all the magazines piled up in that giant stack? To finish that old knitting project? these kinds of things can be huge energy drains.
  
  Remember, there is a cost to the storing all this stuff. The idea is to only hold onto things that are useful and important to you.
  
  Establish criteria for the things that you want to keep:
  
  
• You use it.
  
• It’s related to a project or goal you’re working on.
  
• There are legal, tax or compliance reasons for keeping it.
  
• It’s hard to replace or valuable.
  
• You love it; it makes you feel good.
  
• Try to avoid “It might come in handy some day”. This is a recipe for holding onto everything! And as the comedian Steven Wright said, “You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”
  
  Now you’re ready to begin.
  
  Make your clutter clearing as fun as possible. Turn on some music or the TV; invite a friend to help; have some snacks ready for when you need a break.
  
  Once you get started, try to stay focused on just letting stuff go. Just decide – is this something to keep or something I can let go of?
  
  This is not the time to read every old file and article that you’d clipped to read “some day”. Don’t start a trip down memory lane and reminisce about your old mementos.
  
  If you’re struggling with a decision on whether you should throw something out, consider putting it into a temporary holding bin (with a Decide By date) or sticking a Post It marked ‘Keep?” on it – just use this time to toss the trash.
  
  Don’t get bogged down in finding the perfect “home” for any useable items that you no longer need (unless they are truly valuable). Pick a thrift shop near you and just get the stuff out as quickly as possible.
  
  When you’re done, congratulate yourself and do something to celebrate. You’ve just cleared some space so new things can come into your life.
  
  For additional information about getting organized, and to subscribe to my free Productivity Tips newsletter visit http://www.gothamorganizers.com/ You get my tip of the day by following me on Twitter – GothamOrganizer.
  
  If you have any questions, or if you’re having a hard time letting stuff go, or you’re in the NY area and would like some hands-on help, e-mail me at info@gothamorganizers.com ; I’d be happy to help.