you know it’s time to purge when you stumble across a box of floppy disks at the back of your closet…true story.

it’s the start of a new year and the perfect time to declutter. here are some tips i’ve discovered along the way to a clutter free (ok, well, less cluttered) space be it at home or in the office:

#1 pace yourself – trust me, if you have as much crap as i do (read: several plastic bins and storage boxes of stuff), you’ll need to set ample time aside to tackle the clutter

a.       block off only a few hours at a time

b.      take breaks

c.       stay motivated

#2 take it one space at a time – start with whatever is bugging you the most. maybe it’s all the papers on the dining room table, or the bills that you haven’t gotten around to filing in months. wherever you decide to start, plan to tackle your space one room at a time.

#3 take it one pile at a time – avoid feeling overwhelmed by starting with a small pile, work through that, and then move on to the next pile.

#4 put it in its place – sort things into various piles such as “to donate”, “recycle”, “trash” and “keep” or whatever works for you. 

#5 bring it on home – if you’ve managed to get through tips 1 through 4 then you’re in the home stretch. put the things you want to ‘keep’ in the proper place and get rid of the other stuff (donate, recycle, or trash) quickly.

#6 give a woot-woot!, do a happy dance or have some cake! celebrate your success at getting the job done, then resolve to not let it get this outta control in the new year (what?! it could happen! *blush*)

happy purging!

me

p.s. i’m on day 3 (yup, you heard me correctly day 3) and surprisingly i’m happy with the progress i’ve made and how much more spacious my apartment is. it really is a liberating process! I’m gonna have come cake a little later 🙂