Our homes and workspaces are becoming ever more crowded with unwanted and often unneeded collections of stuff. This How To page on How to Get Rid of Clutter describes how you recognize the problem, get over the hurdle of just leaving it where it is and some practical advise of what to with the things you longer need.
Introduction
I'm sure many people would agree the number of things we have, are given or acquire gets greater with every passing year. If we stop and take stock of the increasingly acquisitive world in which we live, we discover our homes and workspaces are overflowing with the clutter of things we no longer need or want, and that this clutter can stop us appreciating those things that are important to us. Clutter wastes time, as you can't find things when you need them, it wastes money, as unused things provide no value and it wastes energy as everything need to be looked after or cleaned.
Tips
Divide and conquer. Attack your clutter is small managable chunks
Sell the things you don't need any longer as a reward
Step 1: Divide and Conquer
Don't try to declutter everything in one go. Trying to do everything at one time can be demoralising, so instead choose to approach manageable, self-contained areas of clutter as discrete activities. This way you don't feel overwhelmed and can see areas of progress which should act as an inspiration to do more. Perhaps just start with a single drawer and build up over time to whole rooms or the garage.
Step 2: Separate Your Stuff
Separate the things you really need from the things you don't. Be as ruthless as you can with this, justifying to yourself 'why you should keep it' as opposed to thinking 'why shouldn't I keep it'. Those things you don't need can be further divided into those with intrinsic value and those which have not. Remember one man's meat is another man's poison and just because you don't someting any more doesn't mean the same thing isn't exactly what someone else needs. Ebay or Craig's List can be a great vehicle for recovering value from things you longer need and can act as a reward for sorting out your clutter. Also Freecycle is an environmentally sound and publically spirited way of putting things which are no longer of use to you, in the hands of other people who still find them of value, without adding unnecessarily to our landfills.
Step 3: Organise What You Keep
Organise the things you want to keep. For those things you still need it is important you can find them when you need them, an this requires organisation. Try to keep the same things together. You may need storage containers or other organisers to achieve this. Keep the things you use most frequently close to hand and store those things you use less frequently in further away, but still accessible places. Labelling can be hugely helpful in finding those things you only use infrequently.
