Clear the Clutter with Emotional Attachments
Organizing Clutter
One of the reasons we have clutter is because of the emotional attachments we have to some of our possessions. Some of us are still holding onto the rock our child picked up off the ground and gave us as a “present.” Here are some great solutions to emotional attachment clutter from Womansday magazine:
Think Big – When you’re tempted to keep everything your child brings home, try this visualization exercise – Imagine how the volume of stuff will grow until your child is 18. After picturing the mountain of “child craft” you will be less tempted to save everything and save only the truly worthy.
Eliminate Paper Clutter from Mail
Reducing Clutter
Here is a very easy method to use when sorting through your daily mail. This method comes from the book Organizing for Dummies by Eileen Roth and Elizabeth Miles. They call it R-A-P-I-D which stands for read, attend, pay, important and dump. Here is how you do it:
Read: Anything that you need to read goes in this stack. These are usually magazines, newsletters and catalogs you are actually interested in.
Attend: Notices and invitations for seminars, workshops, meetings, performances, parties and so on go in to attend stack.
Reduce Paperwork
Organizing Your Life
Remember when we were going to have a paper-less society? Well, there is still a great deal of paper floating around and we still have to deal with it. I came across one organizing system called “Taming the Paper Tiger.” I think that what it was called. So here are some ways put your paper tiger on a diet and tame him too.
Reduce the amount of paper flowing into your home
- Stop junk mail from coming by writing to this address:
Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 9008
Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-900
Favorite Organizing Tools
Like any other job it easier to do if you have the right tools. Here are some favorites of mine and others I have come across in my travels:
Stackable bins – You can use these for toys, clothes, art-work, papers, school memos, shoes etc. You can buy them in different colors and color code them. A lot families use a certain color for each member of the family. They are cheap and plus you can stack them high and make use of vertical space.
Categories: Organization Tags: clutter control, Organization, organizing, organizing clutter, organizing tips, organizing your life
