Spring Cleaning

Ok, I know it's not Spring yet, but...we are close and it's time to rid your home of clutter.  Especially if you are getting ready to put your home on the market, now is the BEST time!  I moved to a much smaller house back in July and thought I got rid of a LOT of stuff, but I'm ready to get rid of more and more and more!  I keep threatening the girls that I'm gonna start throwing away their toys if they don't start picking them up, that threat is kinda working, but I know they see right through me.


So, where to start.  Well, when I clean my house I usually start in the kitchen, so I should start there.  I do have an excessive amount of bar glasses...but you never know, GO may decide to have Happy Hour at my house one day.  :)  


Purging your home and life of useless or rarely used items is so liberating.  
You can donate the items to your local goodwill, homeless shelter, church, or like in my neighborhood you can post t it on your local listserv as "free on curb" and it will be gone in minutes!!   You can also sell your items on craigslist - note: baby items go the quickest.  


Peter Walsh, a professional organizer, lists the Top Ten Tips to keep your home clutter free:
How to Keep Your House Clutter-Free:

• Tackle messes one room at a time.
• When you buy something new, practice the "in-out rule:" For every one new item, get rid of an old one.
• Create intimacy in the master bedroom. Remember that improvements in one room can spread to the rest of the house.
• Make cleaning up fun for your kids.
• Create a vision for the room you're cleaning.
• Teach your kids how to sort.
• Use a hanger system to determine which clothes you wear most.
• Ask yourself if you really need something. If you hesitate, you don't.
• Establish a "magic triangle" in your kitchen between the stove, refrigerator and the sink. Keep the items you use most in that area.
• Identify useful utensils with the cardboard box test. - 
  If you want to see what utensils you're really using, Peter recommends the cardboard box test. "Take all the utensils out of your drawers, put them in a cardboard box," he says. "For the next month, whenever you use one of these utensils, put it back in the drawer. If after four weeks it's still in the box, you don't need it."

So turn on some inspiring tunes and go to it!