Welcome to 2010! It’s a new year filled with new intentions. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with lots of old stuff. Here are some tips to start off the New Year with less stuff by decluttering your home.
Tackle the task room by room. If you empty all of the drawers in the bedroom, then move into the living room and do the same, you will be left with a mess after a few hours, and you’ll be too exhausted to sort anymore. If necessary, go cupboard by cupboard. You don’t need to do everything in one day.
Have several bags. One is a recycling bag. One is a reuse bag. One is a garbage bag. Once you have the bags cleared out, then sort the remainder and place it back into the place that it came from, unless you are moving it to a different piece of furniture.
Where does the reuse bag go? Generally, charities have programs to resell old items for cash, and this helps the charity. Bag up all you can, but look for their instructions first. You don’t want to give the charity junk.
Does your decluttering plan involve getting rid of furniture? If so, can you get rid of everything that is in or on that piece of furniture? Find a home for that first, or you will be left with a number of miscellaneous items and nowhere to store them.
If you have random objects that charities will not take, then places like Freecycle and Craiglist’s free section are the place to get rid of them. Think twice about selling things on Craigslist – if you are only going to post it for $10, it’s probably worth your while to post it for free. People ask fewer questions about free things, and so the amount of time you spend getting rid of the item will be a lot smaller. You can also look for ads from charities and shelters and youth centers who want furniture for a new home or ask around to see if any young people are moving into their first place.