Our home is our refuge. We are at it again - cleaning out and donating or throwing away what we don't absolutely need. It seems to accumulate and you know that saving it for later never really works because frankly if I need it I won't have any idea where it is.
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Caper was our beloved home for 12 years.
It had 225 square ft. of living space.
Eliminating clutter helps lower stress and increase creativity. I was raised in a mobile home, lived on a 50 ft boat, and lived in campers. We have learned how to live in a small space in comfort and make it function and we do it by choice. Keeping the clutter down is the only way we can live small and be comfortable. I hope you can use a few of these tips to help eliminate clutter around your home.
12 Clutter Busters
- Locate your clutter collection "hot spots" and put a basket there to catch the clutter then purge it once a week.
- Deal with the mail as it comes in. Toss what you can and put the other pieces where they need to be
- Eliminate old magazines. Tear out articles if you need them and put them in a file or better yet, scan and save them. Scanner Pro is an excellent app for scanning.
- Corral your plastic grocery bags in one place. I use a fabric tube with elastic on both ends.
- Pick one drawer or cabinet a day and eliminate what you can.
- Turn your hangers around in your closet and if you have not worn something in a year you aren't likely to.
- Look for duplicate or unused things in your kitchen. Throw away anything you can manage without.
- Think of the house that is a box that is only just so big and if you buy something get rid of something else.
- When you shop, think about whether you want or need the item. Impulse buy can add to the clutter.
- If you are storing a box and don't know what is in it I know you have to look inside. If you don't want to throw it away write the date on it and if you haven't used it in a year, throw it away - don't open it again.
- Look through your food and throw away anything that is out of date.
- Go through the medicine chest and throw away out of date items. I will admit it - I recently threw away cough syrup that was out of date in 2004.
It is a start and every thing you can get rid of takes away just a little stress and gives you a little more space to live your best most creative life.