Clutter Control

In today's busy life style it is very difficult to give time to your home and keep it neat and clean. With hectic lifestyle, work, kids today we are short of time to actually find time to keep our house free from clutter and tidy our rooms. We have brought for you tips that will help you deal with this problem.

Tips for a tidier home:

• whenever you have a few minutes to spare put away five or ten items that are not in their correct place. These could be toys that the kids have left somewhere; letters that need filing away or odd socks that need putting in a drawer or magazines/newspaper lying here and there.
  
  
• Dump junk mail the moment you receive it. Deal with other mail at least once a week filing away what you need to keep in proper file especially for storing them.
  
  
• Try the "five boxes" method. This will clear clutter from any room or area of the house, but can look awful while in progress. So first thing is to set aside some time when you won't be disturbed, put on your favourite music and start. First job is to label the boxes - Rubbish, Give Away/Sell, Keep, Private and Miscellaneous. You then go through everything in the area consigning each item to one of the boxes. Theoretically, by the time you have got rid of the Rubbish and Give Away/Sell boxes, you should have enough space to store the Private and put the Keep items back in an orderly way. The Miscellaneous box should be sealed up, stored in basement or attic and if not needed after six months or one year, given away unopened, so that you're not tempted to keep the contents all over again.
  
  
• Be ruthless. If you haven't used an item in the last two years you are not likely to need it again. So just dispose them of.
  
  
• Divide the job. Start dealing with one room at a time. This way you will not feel exhausted and you will also find time to do other things like giving yourself a treat.
  
  
• Treat yourself to items that make staying tidy easier. Cardboard storage boxes are great for sewing and craft items, storing files and paper items and large toys. Plastic or fabric hanging shoe bags are perfect for storing small toys and dolls or for hairbrushes, clips, cosmetics and toiletries. Invest in some of those drawer dividers that separate drawers into a dozen little compartments - but don't fill them with junk!
  
  
• Clean and put away fifty per cent of your ornaments. This really will save lot of your time since if you keep it away at one place you will not waste time searching for any particular ornament and it will also make dusting easier.
  
  
• Don't keep buying things at random. Stop and think, do I really need this and have I got somewhere to keep this? If it is essential then only buy it or else you can live without it.