Yard Sale Charity Rule

Organizing tipWe’re entering yard sale season. If you’re planning on having one, follow this simple rule. Pick a charity before your yard sale and make a rule that all unsold items go directly to that charity. Nothing gets returned to the house, attic, basement, or garage. A few local charities that I support are St. Vincent De Paul, Habitat for Humanities ReStore, and Dorca’s International.

Decide to Decide

Organizing tipAre you procrastinating and making excuses for holding onto stuff? Are you clinging to material possessions for no good reason? Things that are merely taking up valuable space aren’t worth holding onto. Decide to decide, and let go of these things. You’ll feel lighter and brighter.

Useful Things

Organizing tipThe world is full of useful things, but if you’re not using them, they are not useful to you. So, remove all those things that are not useful to you, by giving, donating, recycling, or removing them every week. This helps prevent clutter from happening and piles from building.

Organizing Books

Organizing tipWhen reading an organizing book think of the content as a menu where you can pick and choose what fits your unique situation. Otherwise you can get overwhelmed or discouraged with advise that is good, but just won’t work for you. Be selective and choosy. After all the best organizing tip is the one you will do!

 

Two organizing books I’ve read recently:

  • Downsizing The Family Home: What to Save, What to Let Go, by Marni Jameson
  • Re-Creating Home: Downsizing & De-Cluttering After 50, by Fran Scoville & Holly Ulbrich

 

Two of my most recommended organizing books:

  • Organizing from the Inside Out:  The Foolproof System for Organizing Your Home,
    Your Office and Your Life,  by Julie Morgenstern
  • The Organizing Sourcebook:  Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life, by Kathy
    Waddill

Prevent Clutter

Organizing tipA great way to prevent clutter is to stop it from coming in the door in the first place. Put a trash can, recycle bin, and shred container in the garage, and use them to clean out the clutter from the car, your purse, your work bag, and school backpacks. Also use them to toss or shred as much mail as possible before bringing it into the house.