Having a 4-year old child in the house equates to a lot of clutter. toys everywhere, books, crayons, and a whole load of stuff we don't really have use for. What makes it worse is that, for now, i don't have a household help since she went back to the province. The truth is, I'm at my wits end because I just hate clutter. Yesterday, I decided to devote my day clearing spacing and throwing stuff we don't really need. The house feels cleaner and tidier now and I think I can breathe easier. It's actually a great way to de-stress :P
I just realized, de-cluttering is all about making decisions...I simply asked myself: Why am I keeping this stuff? Do I really need it?
Here's what I did to control all the clutter (hopefully, I could maintain this current obsession ^_^)
KIDS STUFF:
- Keep kids favorite artworks. - I went an extra mile and framed my child's favorites. Store in clear books and put labels;
- Keep favorite toys in clear plastic containers that are easily accessible. Other toys we won't be needing, I gave out to kids around the neighborhood.
- Throw away old stuffed toys/broken toys - I rarely keep stuffed toys, specially since most of us in the house are allergic to dust mites.
GADGETS:
- Keep items you will still be using.
- Repair gadgets if it needs to be fixed;
- Give out unnecessary (but working!) gadgets to others. They might be able to use it instead of just gathering dust in your cabinets;
- Throw the obsolete. I actually found around 4 remote controls around the house and I didn't even know which appliance it is for, probably for old tv sets.
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES:
- Give out school books to school children around neighborhood;
- Keep only the favorite magazines and books, all the rest store away in cabinets.
TIPS:
- Label boxes or stuff you keep;
- If you have a lot of still usable items, why not hold a garage sale?
- Get your kids view if you're organizing his room or his toys. Ask them what they want and what they need. This is really important for me because i want to avoid "disagreements" later on;
- Get those clear containers. Its really great for kids clutter. They can see what's inside so they don't have to spend a lot of time looking for what they need.
- For smaller items, make use of those shoe boxes and label them;
- Build a routine. For me, Saturdays work best because most of us are free.
0 Comments