“I truly believe that the less you have, the less time you spend on
upkeep, maintenance, and cleaning.
Either you can control the clutter or the clutter will control you.”
Clutter and excess stuff is one of the most challenging
things for me to control in my household.
We have A LOT of stuff! A LOT of
stuff no one touches for months (ahem…or years) in our house. We have A LOT storage bins to contain A LOT
of stuff, just in case we may need that item again. I have an extra closet full of A LOT of extra
clothes, just in case I wear a size 14 or 8 (pretty, pretty please) again
during my lifetime. The sad part is,
when I actually do fit in those size 8 jeans again, they probably won’t even be
my style anymore!
How does a full-time working Mom take control of all this
clutter? I believe Crystal when she
indicates you will spend less time maintaining stuff, if you just do not have
the stuff. But what if you already have
all that stuff, how do you get rid of the clutter? I have three kids under the age of 8 and it
seems like they are always bringing home more stuff; papers from school, toys
from Grandma, books given to them by their cousin, stuff animals they win at the
fair, the list goes on and on. This is
definitely my weak point, but I am going to share some of the
outlets/techniques I have been successful at in taming down the “clutter
monster”. Most importantly, I have come
to the realization, that my family will always have A LOT of stuff, but I am
trying my hardest to keep it under control!
EBay – I get on kicks where I sell things like
crazy on EBay. I find that the items
that sell the best on this site are items NWT (new with tags). I try to find and post at least 5 items a
week to sell. My philosophy? Ninety-nine cents is better than nothing, and
it is now out of my house!
Facebook Garage Sales Groups – these groups have
been popping up everywhere on Facebook.
I use “Mommy Stuff for Sale”, “Want it Out” and more. Search on garage sales near your city. I have sold A LOT of clothes, toys,
miscellaneous household items, and baby stuff on this site. Admittedly, I have also bought stuff off of
these sites. I have to keep the
temptation down. You would be amazed
what (especially new) stuff sells for on these sites. Bonus?
No shipping charges!
Resale Shops – Once a season, I take a laundry
basket full of kids’ clothes to two of my favorite resale shops. You do not get a whole lot for the items
($0.50-$1.00) a piece, but both stores I go to give you an extra 10% if you
take store credit. This allows me to
essentially trade-in clothes my kids no longer wear for some “new to us”
clothes.
Donate – I make a habit of keeping a box in my
closet of items to donate. I have not
had much success selling adult clothes unless they are new with tags. If there is something in my closet that I
just do not wear anymore, I put it in the donate box. My husband will do the same. I also make a habit of donating shoes my kids
never fit into any more. I strive to
have at least one donate box per month to give.
It is also so convenient because most will pick up right from your
porch. I always keep a running list of
all the items I donate for the year for tax purposes (you CAN deduct those
items)!
Recycle the Paper – When my son started
kindergarten, I saved every paper he ever brought home from school. Guess what I had at the end of the school
year? Yes a drawer full of overflowing
school papers we never looked at again. We
keep a bin in our garage that is strictly for paper. I go through my kids backpacks every night
and review all the papers. I now only
save really important papers or projects they completed. Everything else goes into the bin. Just to warn you I once had a 5 year old call
me a “bad mommy” because I tossed one of his projects in there which he
found. I do the same with the mail. I go through and sort it every night and all unnecessary
paper goes into the bin.
Recycle the Cardboard – Right next to our paper
bin in our garage is a cardboard box. In
my community we have drop boxes for paper and cardboard. We throw all of our cardboard into our garage
box. This includes cereal boxes,
delivery boxes, etc. Usually about every
two weeks we have to go to our community’s site and dump the paper and
cardboard. This really helps reduce the
amount of trash thrown out every week.
We normally only have one garbage can for 5 people. I notice some people in our neighborhood will
have 3-5 cans full!
De-clutter One Area at a Time – On long breaks
(such as Christmas vacation, over Thanksgiving etc.) I challenge myself to
clean out one area a day. This could be
a closet, a cabinet, a drawer, etc. I
only have to get through one a day so it is definitely manageable. This past Christmas I was able to organize
our coat closet, the pantry, both of my boys’ closets, the kitchen “junk”
drawer, and the linen closet. It really
only takes about an hour to do one area, I try to do this during nap time.
These are just a few of the things that I do to tame the
“clutter monster”. I know I will never
get to a perfectly clean, organized home, but that is not my goal. My goal is to keep our stuff under control
and not let it take control of us!
Does anyone else have any helpful tips to control the
clutter that have been successful?
