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Spring
Tips to Simplify Your Life:
Spring has sprung and now it’s time for a fresh start in your chaotic
home.
Start this new season of rebirth with a rebirth of your own by
following these
ten ideas for a simpler, less cluttered life.
1. Clutter no more.
Clutter drains your energy and makes it difficult to find what you need
when
you need it. To declutter your home, attack each room systematically,
beginning
by removing anything that doesn't belong in the room and taking it to
the room
it should live in. Then go through the room, boxing up for donation,
anything
that is not giving you joy or value. Rather than thinking that you're
seeking
things to let go of, pretend you are shopping in your home for things
to give
to someone else.
2. Change the flow of a room
After a while, you begin to not see how much you have in the way of
décor items
in your home. You keep adding new items without removing any of the old
items.
Begin by removing all the décor items in the room until all your
flat surfaces
are clear. Dust the furniture while it's empty. Then put only half the
items
back, boxing the other half up to store. Then, after the holidays, you
can pull
out the decorative items you stored, and box up the other half. By
rotating
your décor, you declutter and you are able to enjoy seeing "new"
things every six months.
3. Kitchen clutter
The kitchen is the heart of most homes and tends to collect clutter in
cabinets
and drawers. Take a weekend day and empty each cabinet, evaluating the
items
within. Whatever you don't use at least once a year, donate.
4. Clean out the closet
You're not the same person you were in high school or college, and just
as you
change, so does your personal style. The clothing you wore as recently
as two
years ago may not be right for who you are now, you may have gained or
lost
weight, or you just tend to be a clothing collector. Spring is a
terrific time
to clean out the closet of the things that you no longer love or wear,
and make
room for some things that express the current you.
5. The Bookshelf.
You have books lurking in your home that you haven't read in decades
and will
probably never pick up again. Go through your books and either donate
them to a
school or shelter, or sell them on www.half.com or with another used
book
retailer. Books can easily take over your house if you're not careful,
so keep
on top of them and make room for a few new best sellers on your shelves
this
spring.
6. Garage cleaning time.
If your car sits in the driveway because your garage is too full to
park
inside, it's time for a clean-out and spring is a great time to do it.
Plan a
two-weekend project. Use the first weekend to sort your things into
different
areas of the garage; one pile to keep, one sale, and a bunch of trash
bags for
the rest. Take the second weekend and hold a garage sale. It's even
more fun
and you'll make a lot more money if you can get your neighbors
involved.
Neighborhood garage sales always draw larger crowds than individual
ones.
7. Drawer organizers, save
time.
If you have kitchen, desk and bathroom drawers that drive you crazy
with
clutter, consider creating more organized space by using drawer
dividers. These
handy units can be plastic, metal mesh, wooden, or acrylic, but they
all do the
same job. They section the large open space inside each drawer into
small,
defined compartments, helping to create permanent homes for things, as
well as
keeping them very visible. Drawer dividers are inexpensive and can be
easily
found at WalMart, Target, Container Store, Office Max, Office Depot or
Staples.
8. Go with the Flow when
organizing.
Follow your natural tendencies when it comes to organizing. Figure out
the
solution and then purchase the tool, and not the other way around. If
your mail
and bills pile up on the kitchen counter, accept the fact that it's the
easiest
and most convenient place to put it. Work WITH that tendency, and place
an
organizing tool there to corral the mail, and keep it organized. Choose
something aesthetically pleasing to you, such as small wicker baskets
or a
wooden mail sorter.
9. Group & Organize.
Grouping items together is a great way to organize to make various
tasks
simpler. For example, gather up your gardening gloves, soil,
fertilizers,
stones, flower pots, and all the other things you use for gardening and
keep
them all together in bins in the same area of the garage. Also, keep a
bucket
filled with rags, soap, wax, sponges, wheel polish, leather polish and
window
cleaner and label the bucket "car washing stuff". Create a gift
wrapping container filled with wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbons,
bows, tape
and scissors, and label the container "gift wrapping center". When a
task requires several items, it's simple to just group them into a
"kit" of sorts then they are always handy when you need them.
10. Update Personal Documents.
I can't stress enough how crucial it is to draw up your Will, Living
Will,
Durable Power of Attorney, and Healthcare Power of Attorney. These
documents
are important to have prepared in advance so that should anything
happen to
you, so your family isn't thrown into a legal nightmare. These
documents are
not difficult to have created, and there are software packages
available to
help you. Do it for your family, it is truly a gift of love.
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