Conquering Clutter: How to Clean Up Our Homes (And Make Some Money on the Side)
Admit it — decluttering the house is perhaps one of our least liked activities. There’s a kind of love-hate relationship between us and our stuff which we refuse to confront until we can no longer open our basement door because of all the “junk” that’s sitting there.
But how did we really get to accumulate so much stuff? Off the top of my head, I’d say there are two main reasons: lack of time and plain nostalgia. To those who have made it convenient to say “I just don’t have the time” I say:
You can always find the time to declutter.
I know how serious some clutter problems can be, but for the average household, I doubt if you’d need to take a sabbatical just to tackle your clutter. Here’s an easy tip that may not have crossed your mind but will definitely make your task less daunting and more manageable: unclutter one area, cabinet, or cupboard at a time.
Setting a Saturday schedule for “decluttering the kitchen” will make it sound so off-putting, and depending on how much unused stuff you have there, it’s possible no meals will be coming out of the kitchen on that day. On the other hand, if you just put in a reminder for “cleaning out the upper cabinet shelves,” this could only set you back an acceptable one hour or two.
Now, to those who hoard stuff for the sentimental value you have put in them or the potential you still see in them, I say: (I’m) guilty as charged too. If it was something I or any one of the family members received, it just didn’t seem right putting or giving it away. If it was something we paid for ourselves, I felt that we certainly should still put it to good use. But eventually the truth hits home:
If you haven’t been using things for some time already, you probably never will again.
Forget that shirt which you said you’ll just sew the button back on, or the DVD player you’ve been meaning to have repaired for the past 6 months. If you don’t put them back into usable form any time soon, then it’s time to find someone who will. Clinging on to rarely used items is just not practical and gets in the way of efficient living.
Of course, I’m not saying you should load up the whole basement into a truck right now and just haul it off. However, you do need to be tougher when it comes down to crunch time. Keeping a box or two of your most-prized keepsakes is understandable, but hoard a roomful of them and you yourself may be hard pressed to recall that particular memory associated with the item.
As for organizing things during the decluttering process, I keep my categories clear-cut: things I will still store or use (but keep it to a minimum otherwise what’s the point?), things to sell, things to donate, and things to throw away.
In case you haven’t caught my reference on things to sell, I reiterate: yes you can sell pretty much a lot of stuff from your forays into the “unused” territory. One easy way of loading off your stuff is by selling at garage sales and flea markets. Dave’s post on flea markets should serve as a reminder for us that one man’s junk may be another man’s need. For items like old books, vintage clothes, or unused sports equipment, there are specific shops that are looking for just these things. Or you could also have your unique items listed at eBay or Craiglist.
You shouldn’t expect a huge income from selling off your clutter though, unless you’re really bringing in a truckload. Still, it’s interesting to note that what has been sitting around in our storage bins for a long time in hopes that they could still be of some use, actually produced something when they were already out of the house instead of in it.
Whether you’ve decided to sell your stuff, donate most of them to charity, or just throw away what really belongs in the trash, the important thing is to act quickly. Price them right away or drive those boxes over to the Salvation Army immediately, lest they end up back to where they were unearthed from.
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