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Kicking the Clutter: Spring cleaning and clearing your home

Wet and chilly winter days have come to an end in beautiful and active Powell River. While we've been hibernating, extra clutter slipped in, making spring cleaning look challenging to deal with.
Kicking the Clutter Powell River
Going through all the clothing in a closet and donating what no longer fits to a thrift store is one way to reduce clutter and free up space for frequently used items. Contributed photo

Wet and chilly winter days have come to an end in beautiful and active Powell River. While we've been hibernating, extra clutter slipped in, making spring cleaning look challenging to deal with.

Now that spring has officially sprung, why not start the process of decluttering and cleaning right now?

Many of us are eager to declutter and organize our homes, but the overwhelming feeling of where to start can keep us stuck and unproductive. While we are postponing and avoiding, clutter is growing and causing stress, anxiety and depression, the things we don’t want or need in our life.

According to the National Soap and Detergent Association, reducing clutter would also eliminate 40 per cent of time spent cleaning.

So, how do we start the liberating process of clearing and cleaning? Here are three tips that might help you get your home organized and keep it organized:

Where to start?
Select the space you want to organize. If you’re bothered by your cluttered kitchen, then make a decision to start there. Tackle your counters first by removing small and unused appliances, move onto chipped china, rusty and unusable bakeware, pots and pans. Recycle mismatched lids and bottoms and plastic bags with hidden holes.

Schedule the time
Decide how much time you can devote to these organizing and cleaning projects. Schedule the time in your calendar and plan to do it every day at the same time; consistency creates healthy habits. Be prepared and have simple tools, garbage bags, recycling bags, a couple of boxes, markers and tape.

Set up categories
The easiest way to organize is to choose a different category every week to organize your belongings. Start with your clothes for week one. Pull everything out of your master closet and lay it on your bed. Start categorizing the items: T-shirts, blouses, jackets, sweaters, pants, skirts, et cetera. Now that you know what you have, and you probably have more than you need, start by getting rid of stained, ripped and plain ugly clothing. Next time around, choose the clothes that don’t fit you and donate to your favourite charity or thrift shop.

Once you have decluttered your whole house, you can take the time to set up systems.

Do you need clear plastic containers to store seasonal clothing? Do you need shoe racks, hangers or hooks for your closets?

Now is the time to spring clean every room in your house. Since you have been very busy, consider treating yourself and hiring a cleaning service.

Ranka Burzan owns a professional organizing company based in Powell River and has written several books on reducing clutter and becoming more organized. For information, go to solutionsorganizing.com.