According to Statistics Brain, getting organized is the second most popular New Year’s resolution. If you’ve decided to be better organized in 2016, the following tips may help you accomplish your goal.
Check with your municipality to see what types of items they recycle. If your municipality offers special collection dates for pick-up of large items, electronics, or household hazardous waste, mark these dates on your calendar. Also, schedule an hour or so the day prior to the special collection date to go through your home and collect all of the items designated for disposal. Place them at the curb or load them into your car to make disposal easy. Knowing when these special dates are makes decluttering even easier.
Set up a disposal station (i.e. garbage and recycling bins) in the room that you are decluttering. The work will go much faster if you do not have to walk through the house with each piece to discard. The bins do not have to be fancy, a simple trash bag or a cardboard box will do. The important thing is making it easy to toss the trash.
Check local organizations to see what items they accept for donations. You can set up a central location in the house and have a separate bin for each group that accepts donations, or you can set up one bin in each room for items that are destined for donations. Again, the bins do not have to be fancy, a cardboard box will do. The important thing is making it easy to clear the unwanted and unused objects from the room.
Set up an “unidentified found objects” box to keep the items in one place until all family members have had a chance to confirm that the objects can be disposed or donated.
Start decluttering the easy stuff first — the things you already know you wish to purge. You will see results immediately and it will provide positive encouragement to keep working away until the job is done.
Neatly,
Jennifer Snyder, Certified Professional Organizer
Neat as a Pin Organizing Experts
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