| Many people experience during a certain time of | | | | date. |
| year the desire to do a serious decluttering. | | | | 7. Sort through toy box and separate pieces that |
| Perhaps they want to start fresh before a new | | | | belong with each game set (1 bin for lego, 1 bin |
| season begins, or perhaps an event occurs that | | | | for crayons, 1 bin for toy cars, etc.) |
| sparks that yearning for a tidy, uncluttered house. | | | | 8. Box up seasonal clothing, shoes, and items - put |
| Whatever their reasons may be, they know they | | | | in storage. |
| have to get busy with a serious decluttering and | | | | 9. Empty junk drawer of all items, replace only |
| organizing job around the house. | | | | "necessary items", and get rid of the rest. |
| For most people, the best results occur if they | | | | 10. Limit the knick-knacks on your display shelves |
| follow some sort of plan for their decluttering and | | | | to "half" of what you currently have. |
| organizing job. Many people work well with | | | | 11. Remove all random utensils from the utensils |
| checklists, so here is a 15 point decluttering | | | | drawer and get rid of ones you never use. |
| checklist. Begin with these and then take it from | | | | 12. Attack your shoe closet! How many pairs of |
| there! | | | | black dress shoes do you need? |
| | | | 13. Sort through linens and towels and get rid of |
| 1. Sort through bills and file appropriately in filing | | | | old sets that you never use. |
| cabinet or other organized system. | | | | 14. Throw out old or wrongly colored make-up |
| 2. Throw out (recycle) all outdated flyers and | | | | that you never use. |
| catalogues. | | | | 15. Sort through jewelry cabinet looking for |
| 3. Remove outdated photographs and cards | | | | broken items, or pieces you don't wear or don't |
| received from acquaintances that cover your | | | | like. Sell or dispose of them. |
| bulletin board and/or fridge. They won't notice. | | | | A decluttering checklist for a good decluttering |
| 4. Sort through closet and bag up clothing that | | | | and organizing job like the one above is only a |
| has not been worn in the past 2 years. Donate to | | | | place to start. Decluttering and organizing your |
| charity or sell at consignment store if still in | | | | house will be a challenge, no doubt. But, if you put |
| decent shape. | | | | the effort in and simply get to work by crossing |
| 5. Clean up board games closet - only keep | | | | items off your checklist, you will be surprised at |
| games that you know that you will actually PLAY. | | | | how great your house starts to look! |
| 6. Dispose of medications that are past their due | | | | |