It may not be a coincidence that the word mess rhymes with stress. When your living space is a mess, it is a constant reminder that you have lost control and need to do something about it.
“There is never a bad time to get organized,” notes Barbara Tischler, a Wheaton National Association of Professional Organizers member who has been helping people sort things out for 20 years. “But since everyone is stuck indoors without too much to do, winter is a great time to do a few projects to declutter and organize. It also seems that people are willing to make changes this time of year with positive resolutions for a new year.”
Although it’s tempting to try an overhaul of the whole house, Tischler suggests taking on small areas over a period of time instead of tearing everything to pieces. Here are five projects to help you get started on the path to a more pristine 2017.
The hanger test
If the clothes rod in your closet is jam packed with clothing on hangers, try this method of deciding what needs to go. Flip all of the hangers in the same direction to begin. After you wear an item, clean it and get ready to return it to the closet, put the hanger in the opposite direction. After a month, seriously look at the items hanging on the unflipped hangers. If you haven’t worn an item in a month, it’s time to consider removing it from your wardrobe. Consider moving items kept for special occasions to a storage closet, if possible. If you buy something new, an item on an unflipped hanger needs to leave the closet before the new item goes in. Tischler recommends placing a box for donations in your closet to aid in removing unwanted items quickly. When the box is full, make a point of taking it to your favorite charity as soon as possible.
The cabinet caper
Instead of trying to do a kitchen overhaul, pick one cabinet to work on each week. Remove everything from the cabinet and put it all on a table. Try organizing the items by putting similar things together like spices with spices and utensils with utensils. Remove things that don’t belong in that cabinet and put them with similar items in other cabinets. Return only the things to the cabinet that you think you will use. Get rid of out-of-date items and combine duplicates such as the two half-filled bottles of garlic salt. Place items that you aren’t sure you want to keep in a box. If you don’t use the items in the box within a month, maybe it’s time to toss the spice mix you bought on your Caribbean vacation three years ago and the cute mouse-shaped cheese grater that doesn’t work.
Go-go gadget
Unlike bell bottoms, your 4-year-old cellphone is not going to be in style once again. Try not to dwell on how much you paid for that outdated laptop or game system and move on, suggests Tischler. There are a few online services that can bring in a few dollars. Gazelle is a service that will sell used cellphones, Freecycle comes up with ways to give away or trade things, and eBay Valet is a service that will try to sell your stuff for you. Remember that most electronics should not be tossed into the garbage can. Some power companies will recycle big things like the second fridge that seemed like a good thing to put in the garage but is currently chilling a jar of pickles and one can of flat beer. Most communities offer free electronics recycling days so check on the next collection day, round up those electronic has-beens and let them be reused or recycled.
Paper patrol
The No. 1 reason clients contact Tischler is for paper problems.
“Paper is a big source of frustration because it just keeps on coming,” says Tischler. “Everyday a pile of bills, ads, mail, statements, magazines and more arrives at your door. Unless you have a good paper management system, it will become overwhelming.”
She suggests tackling one pile or filing cabinet drawer a day over several weeks. Sort items that need to be saved like documents and bills into file folders or envelopes. A file box or cabinet is better than a file pile for storing items.
One of the tricky parts of this activity is knowing what to keep. Mark Rogers, Naperville financial planner for ProEquities, Inc., suggests looking online for document retention guidelines from a trustworthy source. One of his trusted sources is ConsumerReports.org. Basically, bills, pay stubs and most receipts only need to hang around one year. Medical bills should be kept in a file for about three years and tax returns with supporting documents need to stay for about seven years. The birthday card from your dentist, the copy of the sports magazine you meant to read a year ago and the Christmas black Friday ads all need to go.
Resolve to reform
It’s frustrating to get everything neat and tidy only to see it become a terrible mess once again. Tischler suggests taking on a new attitude to avoid another clutter calamity. To begin, resolve to go through your mail each day when you bring it into the house. As you leaf through the stack, toss unwanted ads in the recycling bin, place bills in a marked folder and slide magazines into storage bins. Also, try to spend five to 10 minutes each day just putting things away. Hang the coats in the closet, put the cookbook back on the shelf and return the scissors to the sewing cabinet. The five minutes each day spent putting things away can save hours of mess management in the future.
