Spring Cleaning Your Life With Creative Solutions

Has winter left you with a cluttered living space? Is your disorganized home depleting your energy and depressing your spirit? If so, it’s time for a little spring cleaning of your home, body and soul. Do yourself a favour and make spring cleaning and conquering clutter part of your annual routine.

Okay, so it sounds good, but who has the time? All the more reason to stop and make the time. Think of it as an investment in you. The inefficiency of clutter and disorganization are not only counterproductive but also harmful to our well-being.

Organizing and purging ourselves of clutter is an emotional exercise that allows us to reassess our needs and priorities. With each passing year we experience change, we enter new stages of our life and become inspired by new or renewed interests. It only stands to reason our physical space also needs to reflect those changes. If we keep our living space filled to the rafters with our past, we leave no room for growth.

Take for instance what should be a simple matter of grabbing your keys and heading out the door. If you’re like me, hunting my keys down can take upwards of ten minutes. I know they are here somewhere!

Like the time wasted hunting down lost keys, we spend far too much time being overwhelmed with the day-to-day disorganization that comes with leading busy lives. Now, if we force ourselves to step back and take a look at the bigger picture, we can bring everything into focus.

For a little inspiration, I turned to author and professional feng shui consultant Stephanie Roberts and the expert behind the Clutter Free Forever home coaching program.

Stephanie knows just how overwhelming the thought of organizing our homes can be. Her solution to conquering clutter and getting your home organized once and for all, is to examine the hidden reasons – both emotional and psychological that hold us back from coping with our clutter.

As her client’s personal clutter coach, Stephanie offers a step-by-step approach to taking control of their space. For nearly a decade, she has explored the reasons why we have allowed the growth of clutter in our homes and in our lives.

According to Stephanie, clearing ourselves of clutter can trigger powerful and dramatic improvements in our lives. It’s just a matter of taking that first step.

Following are some creative solutions and organizing tips you can implement right now.

Involve The Whole Family

Sending everyone away for the weekend may seem like the best solution but having them pitch in does have its benefits. By involving your family members, you won’t harbour resentment over having to do it all yourself. And, everyone else gets a lesson in the value of picking up after themselves.

Decide on a weekend to get started and make sure everyone knows there is no calling in sick. Assign tasks according to individual strengths and interests. Failing that, draw jobs from a jar.

One Room At A Time

Attack things one room at a time. Clean the room from top to bottom. Once finished, assess what really needs to be in there. Get rid of anything that doesn’t support the function or needs of the room. Now may be a good time to remove the TV from the bedroom.

Organize Piles

Spearhead your organizational efforts with garbage bags, boxes and different piles. Make separate piles for keeping, giving away, garbage, mending, etc. Assign someone the job of mending so no items in need a repair end up back in the closet.

Purge Possessions

Parting with things can be difficult, especially when they have been part of your nest for a long time. If you can’t decide whether or not to give something up, put it in a garbage bag and store it out of sight. After six months whatever remains untouched should be passed along to someone who could use it.

Give Things A Home

A place for everything and everything in its place. Put things where they will be used, not where you find space for them.

Create Hobby Space

We all need our personal space and the hobbyist in particular needs both a functional work surface and storage area. If you don’t have what you need to get organized, start a list and put it into action. If not, you’ll soon find yourself sliding back into a familiar clutter zone.