Other People

There is a point that almost everyone eventually reaches, when say they say "Enough"! The storage capacity is maxed. There’s no room in the closet for another thing. There are boxes that have remained unexplored for so long, they sport layers of dust and mold. The reasons and timing may differ, but the conclusion is the same. They must do something about the stuff that prevents the home from being a comfort zone.

Only, often they don’t know where to begin. We suggest evaluating how much of the clutter is actually yours versus someone else’s. Who do you know that has been using your basement, extra bedrooms, garage, attic or storage locker to preserve their stuff for immortality? Yes. We are talking about children or friends who are avoiding making decisions, typically hanging on to vestiges of former lives, due to your generosity. Of course, some may be away at school or travelling and may be saving furniture and other possessions for when they have larger living quarters. But the vast majority of excess belongings that we encounter at our clients’ homes don’t fit into those legitimate categories. They are the rusted bed frame left behind by an old friend who has since moved to another city. Or, they are abandoned collections of mildewed magazines and stuffed animals, that have been simply forgotten. Or perhaps binders that should have been returned to an organization for which you had once volunteered.

If you want to get serious about getting your clutter under control, you would be well served to contact those people who have been the beneficiaries of mini-storage at no charge and request that they come to confront and remove their personal artifacts from your premises. You need to communicate a sense of urgency, specifying deadlines and your intentions regarding future use of the space. Treat it like an appointment. Don’t be afraid to explain that unclaimed items would be donated to charity. You will be amazed at how much space you will free up, by reducing the volume of storage used by the "other people" in your home.

If You Were Not Born with the Organizing Gene - Move to Another Room

If you are not among the fortunate 35% of the population that have been organized since birth, do not despair. The trick to having an organized home (life) is simple. The reason that organized people don’t spend half their waking hours searching for things, is not they possess photographic memories. They understand intuitively that they can retrieve whatever they need, as long as those things reside in the areas in which they are used.

Try to imagine a shopping experience in your home. Does your house or apartment resemble a department store? Stores are designed to assist people in finding what they need. A large store would no sooner combine kitchen gadgets with lingerie than they would offer baked goods and snow tires at the same counter. When applying this concept to your own living space, think of how you organize your storage, closets and rooms. Do you have closets that are repositories for cartons of books, gift wrap, mountains of greeting cards received over the years as well as clothing? Are you storing paperwork in your kitchen cupboards, bedroom side tables and your home office? Do you scatter tools in every room in the house? Are there extra dishes in the bathrooms?

Do a walk through in your own home. Bring a large box or shopping bag. Root out those possessions that don’t belong in the rooms where they currently reside and move them to another room – the room where they are actually utilized. You will save time, money and feel in control.