One universal truth is that you can never have too many decluttering strategies in your bag of tricks to keep your home together and organized!
A major strategy to use in any organizing quest is to stop potential clutter from coming into your home in the first place!
Clutter robs us of time, energy, and space – both physically and mentally. It adds stress and is a time waster.
But since you are reading this, you probably already know all of this, right?
Easy Decluttering Strategies
Here are some easy and low-cost (and low time cost too) ways of stopping some of the clutter before even crosses your threshold:
1. Hold the Phone
Register all of the phone numbers for your household at Donotcall.gov.
Make sure to include all landline and mobile numbers. Less phone ringing means one less thing to do.
2. Get off the list
Contact the Direct Marketing Association to get your name off of (junk) mail lists.
Register online or send a letter with names of all mail recipients at your home.
Include misspellings of a name, residents, or mail recipients who have never lived there, but still manage to get mail at your home.
We used to get mail for my father-in-law, who has never lived with us, but did once send us a gift.
That one gift got HIS name on a mailing list and WE received mail for him from all sorts of different companies for years. Ugh!
This may seem like a small step, but it really does help to cut down on incoming mail and removes having to deal with the paper after you’ve paid the bill.
3. Donate it
After decluttering, make sure you actually get it out of your home by donating the unwanted items.
Call your favorite local donation center for pick up or schedule the truck to visit at DonateStuff.com.
4. Give it a home
All clutter around your home is just a delayed decision.
So make a decision about it already!
Put it away in a place where you’ll remember you have it (with other similar items) or if you no longrr want the item, donate it!
5. Set up a Memory Box
Many of my clients struggle with clutter that is sentimental. They’re not sure what to do with souvenirs acquired from trips or items given to them by loved ones. Or even ticket stubs from fun concerts and theater outings.
Instead of having those items be all over your home, gather them together in a memory box.
This is an especially big problem for kids especially because they can be really attached to items.
That’s why I devised a system to contain it it all!
6. Create a Honey Pot
Another thing my clients have in common is that they have gift cards, coupons and cash strewn about their home.
A quick solution to this problem is to create a honey pot!
A single place where you store all those things together so you can use it!
Now it doesn’t have to be in a pot, per se.
A zippered pouch like this one will do the trick!
Over to you!
These are all pretty small steps, but cumulatively add up to saving you lots of time and space and can greatly help you end the stream of clutter coming into your space.
Which strategy is your favorite one?
Need even more help?
Looking for even more help dealing with clutter that’s accumulated in your home?
The number one reason clients reach out to me for help is due to the paper that’s overrun their lives.
If paper causes the most headaches for you too, then you need to implement even more targeted strategies so you can get your head above the paper piles that are everywhere in your home.
Conquer Your Paper Clutter is just what you need!
If you liked the strategies in this post, then you’ll love this self paced course.
The key to eliminating paper piles long term is not only to deal with the piles that have built up, but to not let the piles form in the first place!
Take a closer look to see how it can help you!
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