Christmas

Merry Christmas!

To keep your home from becoming overrun with holiday gifts, do the following today:

1. Empty the trash as soon as it's ALMOST full. Don't wait until it's overflowing with wrinkled gift wrap and plastic packaging.

2. With each new gift you receive, get rid of some other thing in your home that's approximately the same size. Go put those things in a plastic bag NOW and put them in your car to donate to a thrift store on your way to work tomorrow.

3. Restrain yourself at the after Christmas sales. You don't need any more stuff to store for the next 12 months.

Blessings on you this holy season!

Micromanagement

Christmas brings out the micromanager in me like nothing else. I want to be the one to wind the glittering garlands around the tree. I want to hang each decoration just so. I want to cut out the gingerbread cookies. And I want to wrap all the gifts.

I have three kids and well-honed delegation skills, but there are things I do just because I enjoy doing them.

Some people feel this way with disposing of their junk.

If you enjoy micromanaging your junk, great! Have a ball. But if you're looking for efficient and quick disposal of your stuff, simplify your life by having two or three final destinations for your cast-offs.

For supreme decluttering efficiency, consider these three:

1. trash
2. recycling center
3. charity thrift store

Any additional options and you're complicating the issue, making more work for yourself, and cutting into your gingerbread-cookie-decorating time.

With my first client, a highly intelligent and motivated business owner, we chose three options for where to move her discards: the trash, a thrift store, and family members. Limiting the number of destinations for junk enabled us to completely declutter her three-story home in about 48 working hours. Had my client micromanaged the disposal of her cast-offs, the time it took to declutter her home would have DOUBLED.

Hear me loud and clear: micromanagement is rarely the most efficient use of either time or money. Unless you enjoy the micromanagement of your things, make disposal of your stuff quick and easy. Save your time and money to deck your halls with O.C.D.-esque perfection.

Dejunking Small Home Projects

I am in the process of renovating several rooms in my home. The delight and relief I feel as I make one small improvement after the other has me contemplating just how much unfinished home improvement projects DRAIN our energy.

My ex-husband left me with several unfinished home improvement projects in five (yes, five) rooms of my large-ish house. When we moved into this house, the home was in excellent shape with a few dated elements, most of which we could live with (dark paneling in four rooms, air vents of many colors, dated but quaint wallpaper in the entry), and a few which we had to change (dark paisley wallpaper in the master bedroom and bath, green patterned carpet in the master bath, walls in need of paint in the family room and guest bedroom, just for starters).

The scope of my renovation projects began to overwhelm me. I decided to take them on a little at a time, and they are now being completed bit by bit. I have hired a local handyman to complete the work I can't do myself (and work that he can do 10 times more quickly than I can, like painting walls and ceilings), and he and I have accomplished so much it amazes me. Here are a few things I have done myself, the simple things that most anyone can do. Repairing and upgrading and fixing things around my home feels BETTER THAN FENG SHUI.

THE LITTLE THINGS I DID:

• Spray painted most of the heating vents so that they actually match the flooring and each other. I used Rust-Oleum Hammered Finish spray paint, in silver/gray. Looks wonderful.
  
• Removed several decorative hinges and a lock from my pantry doors. It looked too busy before, and now it looks clean and simple. I used a screwdriver, that's it.
  
• Replaced many almond colored light switch plates and outlet covers with white ones to update my walls.
  
• Spray painted my master bath cabinet and drawer hardware. Looks brand new!
  
• Hung three framed pieces of art in my daughter's room (her newly painted walls had been bare for several weeks).
  
• Removed at least half a dozen shelves that were screwed to the walls in my enclosed breezeway.
  
• Removed so much trash that my ex had saved that I am sure my garbage men think I'm running a demolition business on the side. It's still not done! I'm doing it the slow but no-cost way. Sure, I could call 1-800-GOT-JUNK, but they would have charged me around $2000-3000 for the amount of stuff I have been able to set out at my curb. In my city, there is no limit to how much trash residential customers set out. I did have to break up pieces of sheet rock to get it to fit into the garbage cans. My garbage collection service doesn't take large appliances or bulky junk. I have to call ahead to arrange large, bulky item disposal.
  
• Spackled the small holes in all my kitchen cupboards, from previous owners' renovation project.
  
• Rehung many framed pictures. My ex had hammered the nails and hung them when we had first moved to this house, and, as he has never read anything written by Alexandra Stoddard, hung them waaay too high. I spackled the old nail holes.
  
• Re-glued baseboards that were falling off in my rental apartment, which is connected to my house. I was going to have my handyman do it, but I got creative and USED MY BRAIN: "What do I have in the house already that can fix a baseboard?" I have a high-quality craft adhesive in my cupboard that worked great.
  
• Greased my sliding closet door tracks and squeaking kitchen drawers.
• Re-nailed a fence board.
  
• Fixed about a half-dozen drawer guides using a hammer and nails.
• Repaired a floorboard.

These are not difficult things to do, and they made such a HUGE difference in the quality of my daily life that I urge you, FIX UP THE SMALL THINGS YOU CAN and hire out the bigger jobs. It gives you the same magnificent feeling that dejunking does, and your life will WORK so much better with all these nagging little projects completed.

God bless you today!

Better and Faster Decisions

The way to make better decisions about what to let go of and what to keep is to understand who you are in Jesus Christ, and to put possessions in their place.

In a healthy Christian's life, priorities are book-ended by the following:

1. Jesus first
2. Possessions last.

Reading your Bible, going to work to support yourself and your children or spouse (or ailing mother-in-law), raking your neighbor's yard, smiling at the toddler whining in the check-out line, praying, taking dinner to your friend who just lost her job, and going to church are a few actions that you take to show that Jesus is first in your life.

Spending every Saturday shopping at the mall, never donating your stacks of magazines to a charity, keeping your skinny clothes rather than taking them down to the battered women's shelter, buying your grandkids toys every month (or week), keeping every VHS and DVD you have ever purchased, and yelling at your kids when they accidentally break a drinking glass or dinner plate proves that possessions are your idol: "things" rather than God are first in your life.

When God is first in your life, you will be able to make fast decisions about what to keep: anything that you love and that supports your specific and current priorities in life is something to keep.

When you trust God as your Source for all things, you will be able to easily let go of the stack of extra blankets in your closet rather than hoard them for some unknown disaster.

When Jesus takes the center stage in your heart, there is no room for irrational attachments to "things." You won't waste your precious time determining a possible need in your future for the bread maker that has sat, unused, for four years in your kitchen.

However, when possessions are first in your life and heart, decluttering your home will take so much longer. You will consider the future usefulness and need of every item than crosses your path, and you will overthink how to dispose of each thing until you overwhelm and exhaust yourself.

Possessions, when held up as idols in your heart, will rob you of time for yourself, your family, your hobbies, your friends, and the people and causes that desperately need the gifts you bring to this world.

To make fast decisions on whether to keep or let go of something, ask yourself two questions:

1. "Will I die if I get rid of this thing?"
2. "Do I have faith enough in God and in myself--for I am made in His image--to be able to replace this object if I determine I need it later? (And if I can't replace it later, can I figure out a way to do without it, to improvise? For I am very creative, just as God the Father is Creative.)"

The more you think in this way, the quicker you will make decisions about your things, and the easier decluttering will become. Blessings on you today!

Hazards in Your Home

Yesterday, my 16 year old son and I spent almost two hours collecting and disposing of hazardous household waste, much of it contained in my ex-husband's two shops.

Every home contains some hazardous waste; it's dangerous to you, your family, your house guests, your neighbors, and your pets. Dejunking your life and home of these hazards is a great gift to the safety and well-being of the people and animals you love.

Here's what to do:

1. Call your city or county sanitation department to ask where you can drop off household hazardous waste. There should be no fee for dropping it off at a safe collection site.

2. Schedule a time in your planner that works for you.

3. Line the trunk of your car with a tarp or flattened (clean) trash bags.

4. Line cardboard boxes or plastic storage bins with contractor trash bags. These are ultra heavy, black plastic bags that you can find in most grocery stores and hardware stores. (None of the waste spilled, but I took this precaution anyway.)

5. Wearing safety goggles and heavy gloves, put your waste inside the lined boxes and bins, and carry to your car trunk. Leave any liquids in their original containers to help waste site personnel identify the contents. Most sites, however, accept mystery waste. Better it end up at a safe collection center than at the landfill and leaching into our drinking water.

6. Drive to the collection site, and unload the waste. Wear goggles and gloves. Note that some sites may not allow you to exit your vehicle, but will require collection site personnel to unload the waste from your vehicle themselves.

7. Breathe a huge sigh of relief when you have disposed of these dangerous substances responsibly.

Here's what we hauled away to the collection site:

• fluorescent light bulbs
• C batteries
• mercury from a broken thermostat (found rolling around in beads all over the counter in my ex's shop)
  
• LCD monitor from an old computer
• keyboard
• hard drives
• two obsolete computers
• broken mini-DVD player
• gallons of paint we found when we moved into this house
• dangerous weed-killers and fertilizers we found when we moved into this house (I only use child- and pet-safe fertilizers on my plants and yard.)
• mineral oil
  
• AC adapters
• ancient fuel tanks from blow torches
  
• two old fire extinguishers
• a variety of wood stains
  
• spray paint (too many cans to count)
• car wax (Who does this? Drive through a car wash and get the wax sprayed on your car. Save 52 hours a YEAR and your manicure.)
  
• anti-freeze (I have a great auto shop and they take care of all my car maintenance.)
• windshied wiper fluid (Ditto.)
• mystery goo in an empty coffee can (dark colored like used motor oil, smelled like gasoline)
• many varieties of heavy equipment lubricants
• roof tar from our previous home, which we left over eight years ago
• spray adhesive
• spray-on ceiling texture
  
• brass polish
  
• lighter fluid

We completely filled my mid-size sedan's trunk and back seat floor with all this. I feel grateful that there is a safe place to dispose of these useless-to-me and potentially dangerous items.

The hazardous waste collection site also accepts unused medications. Don't dump expired medications down the drain or flush the pills. It's safer for pets and aquatic life if you take them to the hazardous waste collection site.

Make plans to find and visit the site in your neighborhood before the holidays. It's a healthy way to declutter for safety's sake!

Thanksgiving Meal Preparation

Need help preparing for the feast? Here are a few tips to make this special day easier for the hostess.

1. Don't cook a whole turkey. There is ALWAYS too much bird, too many side dishes, and too many leftovers. Cook a turkey breast and drumstick in a slow cooker instead. Or why not cook a ham? Easy clean up, and NO chance of food poisoning from improperly cooked turkey stuffing.

2. Make it a pot luck. Most guests ask what they can bring. TAKE THEM UP ON THEIR OFFERS and suggest easy things: Rolls, cranberry sauce, veggie platter, a pie, whipped cream, and apple cider are easy contributions for guests to make, plus it takes pressure off you to remember those things on the big day. Also, if you have guests who are always "fashionably late," you won't have a ruined meal because of the missing mashed potatoes and gravy. You prepare the key staples, guests bring the extras.

3. Keep the dog outside. OUTSIDE, in a kennel, and tied up. It's only for a few hours.

4. Do not forget to give your ADHD son his meds the morning of the big day. Only mothers of ADHD kids fully grasp the significance and necessity of this reminder.

5. A folding table covered with a tablecloth is a perfectly fine way to accommodate guests. Do not buy an extra oak dining set just for this occasion. It will become clutter the day after. But a folding table is a necessary asset to any hostess. The table folds flat and slides into a closet or up against a garage wall or under a bed for storage. I have a long one that I can lift and set up myself, and I use it while sewing, scrapbooking, and for setting up a gingerbread men decorating station for my Christmas party each year.

6. Beware of unnecessary upgrading. I have fallen victim to this malady in the past, many times right before a large gathering: I prepare the house and take a final look around and start thinking, "It's not fancy enough, not festive enough, not impressive enough for the guests I've invited." So off I run to purchase another flower arrangement, or a new doormat, or seasonal hand towels for the powder room, or fancier dinner napkins. STOP. The desire to impress others can rob you of money, time, and peace of mind. Don't complicate the issue; complexity clutters your home, mind, and credit card with unnecessary spending.

7. Improvise. Much clutter arises from people making purchases for a one-time event, with the idea that they will use it for the next holiday. If you want 12 matching plates for your holiday dinner, and buy a set of turkey plates, they will look great and be used for exactly ONE meal this year, and take up lots of space the rest of the year. Why not use the white plates you already have and ask your kids to make turkey place cards instead? Or, rather than buy that tiered pie stand, why not CLEAR THE TABLE OF TURKEY AND THE REST OF THE DINNER FIRST, then set the pies right on the table? How often do you serve three pies at one time? Probably as often as you use turkey plates: for one meal a year. Improvisation stops clutter in its tracks.

8. You are not Martha Stewart. You do not have a staff of 12 to help you create the perfect Thanksgiving photo shoot. You do not have to wax the light fixture before your guests arrive or gold plate the bathroom fixtures. Focus on keeping the kitchen safely clean, food hot or cold as necessary, and loving your guests with warmth and thankfulness for their presence in your life.

Turkey Clutter

I love Thanksgiving: a holiday devoted solely to gratitude, family and friends, and eating. Makes for the perfect combination, in my book. It also makes for the perfect time to FREAK OUT about the state of your home if you are the hostess of this year's gathering.

Here are a few tips to help you cope with the pre-holiday cleaning frenzy. The next post will cover planning and preparing for the actual meal.

To begin cleaning up your home, start with visually LARGE messes and tone them down or eliminate them completely. For example, if your entryway table is piled high with mail, school papers, your son's sweatshirt, the cat's toy, a purchase you're waiting to return to the mall, and a handful of business cards you haven't entered into your electronic organizer yet, then focus on moving those items off that table and permanently keeping it clear. Spend just THREE MINUTES working on it today. Call your son out of his room and instruct him to take his sweatshirt to his closet. Take the business cards and move them onto your desk (or into the trash if you know in your heart you're not ever going to call or email those people). Shred just two pieces of junk mail. Take the cat's toy and put it where it belongs. Take the "to return" item and put it in your car, right now. That's not so hard. It doesn't take long after all.

If one, three minute session isn't enough, do another one tomorrow morning while you're waiting for the coffee to brew.

MANY TASKS SEEM OVERWHELMING IN OUR MINDS, WHEN IN FACT THEY ARE SMALL AND TAKE VERY LITTLE TIME TO FINISH.

Once that table is cleared off, put a pretty fall-themed centerpiece on it, such as a silk or real floral arrangement, a candle, a small decorative box or figure that you enjoy looking at. Now that eyesore is part of your decor.

What about a bigger mess, such as the family room being well trashed by your two elementary school kids and your sticky-palmed three year old? I have great advice for you, if you will take it. Are you ready?

GET RID OF 95 % OF WHAT'S IN THAT ROOM, INCLUDING EXCESS FURNITURE.

Look, I have three kids of my own, I used to own a day care center, and I have a college degree in education. I have learned what kids need: constructive play, lots of love, and LIMITS. You need to set limits on how much they are allowed to own as well as limits on how many toys they are allowed to spread out across the floor at one time. If you dont' teach them, who will?

An aquaintance of mine had a large gathering at his modest home, and went to great lengths to clean it up before the guests arrived. While the carpets were vacuumed and the pictures on the walls dusted, the family room was unbelieveable. He cleaned HALF of it. He pushed two sofas up against the sound system and desk, leaving an area in front of the tv vacant and vacuumed. Plastic toys for his three kids were jammed behind the sofas, and their huge DVD and video collections cluttered the rest of the space.

I felt totally smothered being in that room. The man was a SLAVE to his children's desires for more toys, and he obviously could not set limits on them or himself: that room could comfortably hold one loveseat, the tv, and maybe a desk. That's it.

Perhaps that's your problem too: not setting limits on yourself or others.

YOU are 100% responsible for the state of your home. You can clean it up NOW and have a lovely space to host your Thanksgiving meal.

You can call Goodwill or the ARC and donate that extra sofa (or two). You can limit the number of videos and DVD's your kids own (20 is more than enough!). You can throw out the shelves of placemats from the early 80's; you can let go of the boxes of computer manuals from two systems ago. You can set the Christmas popcorn tins out for recycling, you can donate the baby crib that has quietly sat gathering dust in the corner of your family room now that your youngest grandchild is six.

You can do this NOW, today! You can find three minutes to look up Goodwill's phone number in the directory and make the call to schedule a pick up. There is a life of beauty waiting for you, and YOU ARE THE ARTIST TO CREATE IT FOR YOURSELF.

Here's a photo of a fall centerpiece I created last year, to inspire you. Blessings!

Get rid of summer clutter!

Now is the perfect time to get rid of the wilted and faded summer living gear. Take a few minutes to clear out the following items from your cupboards, closets, and living spaces:

• faded pool towels (donate to animal shelter)
• scuffed plastic picnic ware (donate or recycle)
• half-used sunblock (throw away: buy fresh sunblock each spring)
• inflatable pool chairs, inner tubes, or beach balls that have a leak (it's not worth trying to find the leak!! recycle these)
• broken folding or stacking chairs (trash)
• swimsuits that are losing their elasticity (trash)
• sunglasses you never wore (if you keep all your receipts in a photo storage or recycled shoe box, then sort thru them and return the glasses)
• three strings of patio lights you never got around to putting up (donate: why keep things you don't use?)
• the sprinkler that stopped working in July (trash or return to store if you have the receipt)
• any summer clothing that you've had for more than two summers and still didn't wear this summer (donate)
• the barbecue that has sat on your deck for three summers, unused (donate)

Clearing out summer's worn and faded will make way for the joys of autumn's crisp and rich delights. Enjoy each new season as it comes. Blessings!

Yard Junk

Yard junk is often more difficult to let go of than indoor junk, mostly because outdoor junk gets dirty faster and is usually heavier than indoor junk. Most of us don't like to literally get ourselves dirty while decluttering, and many outdoor (this includes garage contents) junk needs two muscle-men to get rid of it (or two muscle-ladies). Ever tried to heave a wheelbarrow onto the flat bed of a truck by yourself?

A workable plan for yard junk is a family work day: set aside a few hours one day this summer, arrange for someone with a truck to help you load and haul away junk, purchase leather work gloves and safety glasses for every helper, and begin. Here's how:

1. Pick a small, specific area of your yard to start with, such as around the back patio or the tool shed. All helpers works at that location until it's clean and organized.

2. Then move on to another area.

3. Do this until your yard junk is gone.

Doesn't that sound easy?

That's what happens in fairy-land.

So here's a different plan for reality.

1. Spend 10 minutes the night before your neighborhood trash pick up day loading lighter-weight yard junk into your trash cans. Dead plants, bent tools, decorative things that have seen better days.

2. List larger, heavier junk on Craig's List (free for you to list, free for someone to come cart your junk away). Please stay safe and use caution when giving out your address, especially if you are a woman living alone.

3. You need a dry, clean place to store yard and garden tools. A nice new shed may be just what you need to maintain order. Or perhaps a locking cabinet to store fertilizer and sharp tools away from children and pets.

4. When you buy anything new for your yard (furniture, tools, plants, decor), get rid of something else, to keep it uncluttered.

5. Repeat until your yard isn't junked up anymore.

Two Major Steps to Decluttering

The following is the most important key to creating and maintaining a clutter-free life, and it only has two steps.

First, decide upon your goals in life. Second, decide what possessions you need to support you in reaching those goals (you get rid of the rest of the stuff).

That is so easy.

What makes us stumble? Deciding upon our life's goals, and determining what to keep and get rid of.

So it's the DECISION-MAKING that is the hard part of decluttering. Figure out how to make better (and quicker) decisions, and welcome yourself home to a clutter-free lifestyle.

"So......how do I make better decisions?"
That's a long story. More to come later!

Easy money for clearing clutter

Clearing clutter can be profitable, in more ways than one.

In fact, here are eight ways that getting rid of junk and clutter will bring in real money. The first few are "ho-hum, I've heard that before" ideas, but there's a few in here that might surprise you (and make you richer).

1. Sell your junk on eBay, Craigs list, or via an ad in your local newspaper.
2. Have a yard sale.
3. If there's a lot of antiques, call in an antiques dealer or estate auction company.
4. Sell DVDs, video games, jewelry, electronic equipment, and gaming systems to a pawn shop.
5. Sell used books at a used book store, or to Hastings. Hastings also buys used DVD's, music, and video games.
6. Sell used clothing, sports equipment, and baby equipment to a consignment store.
7. Donate usable clutter to a non-profit thrift store, and keep careful records of what you donated. Next year at tax time, if you itemize deductions, you will probably make more in tax savings than you would if you sold most of the stuff piece by piece at a yard sale.
8. RETURN UNUSED MERCHANDISE. Almost everyone has something around the house that they bought and never used. Gather up all the unused products cluttering up your home and return them. Many stores have generous return policies, and you may not need your original receipt if you paid with a credit or debit card.

Transform that clutter around the house into cash in your wallet (or a credit into your bank account).

Attics are the handiest places to store seasonal decorations, winter (or summer) clothes, luggage, large (but rarely needed) kitchen pots, and Grandma's ceramic serving platter.

Attics are terrible places for storing things that heat damages, such as photos, candles, crayon drawings, books, and anything containing adhesives. Attics are miserable places for storing heavy things, such as chairs, folding tables, artificial Christmas trees, and baby strollers, which are awkward or heavy to move up and down narrow stairs.

To help you clean up your attic, collect a few medium sized moving boxes (for give-aways), a trash can, and a few cleaning rags. Select one small area at a time, such as one shelf, one box, or one stuffed corner. Touch each item and ask yourself:

Do I like this enough to justify keeping it?
Will I honestly use it within the next 12 months?
Why am I really keeping this?
Does someone else have a greater need of it?

These questions will help you determine what to do with (keep, trash/recycle, give away) every thing in your attic.

"What do I do with all this paper?!"

There are only six options for handling a piece of paper:

1. To do
2. To file
3. To pay
4. To read
5. Pending
6. Trash

For #1-5, you can create file folders for those actions ("To Read" could also include a tray or decorative shelf or box to include books). For "Trash," you can put paper in a trash can, recycle bin, or you can shred it.

That's it.

Anything more is complicating the issue.

I will go over additional ideas for processing paper in upcoming posts, but for right now, start with these 6 ideas.

Oftentimes, when your life changes, you don't consider that your organizational needs have changed as well.

When you move to a new home, when you start a new job, when you marry, when you have a child, when your last child leaves for college or military service, when you need to make room for an ailing relative, when chronic illness strikes, when you start a home business, even when you bring home a new pet: all these situations require re-evaluation of your organizational needs.

For example, when I moved into our current home from a much smaller house, I did not consider that I would need to alter my storage systems. My newer home was almost twice the size of the former house, so surely I wouldn't need to worry about storage. But the bedroom closet shelves in my new home were much narrower than in the home we left, and the things I stored there would not fit on the narrow shelves.

My carefully thought out storage system, which worked brilliantly at my former home, fell apart. I put the large bulky items in a separate storage area, which was inconvenient and disorderly. I struggled along for over a year, thinking I simply owned too much, when in fact I hadn't sat down and considered the best places for the things that were formerly stored in deep closet shelves.

Perhaps that is one of your struggles: moving on to a new phase of your life without sitting down and figuring out how those changes impact your organization.

Sit down with paper and pen, and think about the previous 12-24 months. What major changes have occurred in your life during this time? Write them down.

Now think about how those changes have impacted you at home. Perhaps you need some creative thinking to bring your current home and its organization in line with your life's current needs.

I can give you practical tips and theories 'til Jesus comes back, but without understanding why you are cluttered in the first place AND MAKING PROFOUND CHANGES in your actions, your home will continue to look cluttered and you'll think my tips don't work.

There are many reasons why people become and remain cluttered, and I discuss those in my upcoming book. One example is shopping for pleasure. Shopping can be an enjoyable and stress-relieving hobby. The problem I see with shopping as recreation lies in the results of shopping: the clutter in your home. If you continue to shop for recreation and bring your purchases home with you, your home will continue to stay cluttered, no matter how many handy tips I give you.

If shopping as recreation is one of the reasons your home is cluttered, then you can set limits on what you allow yourself to buy and bring home if you want to live a clutter-free life.

The easiest limit to set in regards to shopping is the "one item in, one item out" rule. When you purchase something new, get rid of (trash, recycle, or share) a similar item. When you buy a new book (CD, pair of flip flops, bottle of perfume, pair of sunglasses), let go of an old one. This way you will never add clutter to your home.

Another alternative for recreational shoppers is to buy things to immediately give away. You will still enjoy shopping, your purchases with be used and appreciated, and you will feel happier by giving. A great sale on winter gloves and hats? Buy some to donate to the homeless shelter. Found a like-new baby stroller at a yard sale? Purchase it to give to a single mom. Found a clearance on good, Christian books? Buy them and donate to your church's library.

You don't need to give up a cluttering habit or hobby; figure out how to enjoy it without adding clutter to your life.

There are whole groups of material possessions that you don't need to buy. You probably have enough as it is, and adding more of these things to your home may not be in your best interest. They add clutter to an already full home. Here's a short list of things that most people already have enough of:

• file cabinets
• yard art
• kitchen knives
• coffee mugs
• pencils
• DVD's or videos (movies)
• shoes
• coats
• umbrellas

Instead of adding more of these things to your life, try giving a few away.

How do you determine whether or not something you own is junk?

The things you love and use are easy to identify. For example, your favorite pair of earrings, your child's baby book, the CD you listen to twice a week, the teapot you use daily are not junk. They are loved and/or used frequently. You don't have to explain to yourself or to others WHY you want to keep them.

The things you really dislike, too, are easy to identify. Out-of-style clothes, a too-heavy dutch oven, that TV your ex-boyfriend bought for you on your 20th birthday. You can easily get rid of those things when you have your supplies (trash bags, donation boxes) handy and a way to conveniently get them out of your home (a donation truck scheduled to drop by, you neighbor's garage sale next week-end, your own scheduled trip to drop off donations at a thrift store, etc.).

Those maybes are the tricky things. How do you determine whether or not to keep them?

A simple test is this: if you have to spend any length of time justifying why you own a particular object, then it's probably junk. If I were standing next to you helping you declutter, and we came across the needlepoint pillow your cousin gave you (which you don't like), you would probably try to justify why you've kept it for twelve years and how hard your cousin worked on it and that you and your cousin were best friends for years, blah blah blah.

If you have to explain why you are keeping it, when in your heart you don't like it, then it's junk.

Quit wasting your precious time reminding yourself why you should keep it. You shouldn't keep it. Trash it, recycle it, or share it.

Do You Live with a Clutterer?

I do.

I won't give names because she's reading over my shoulder as I type, but some little person who lives in my home likes to collect many diverse and interesting things, and keep them all in her room.

She's learning to throw away, share, and organize her things year by year. She is developing a growing understanding of the place that material possessions are to have in a Christian's life.

She's a Christian too, and has this to say about things:

"Sometimes things can overwhelm you by distracting you and taking you away from God. It's hard to get rid of stuff when you're attached to it. I know that I can never get rid of 10 of my toys because they're so special to me. Don't hold too tight to things, because they're just things. If you get rid of one thing, you may lose something you want to keep, but if you donate it, some other person will have the joy of having it too. "

Tremendous insight from my little daughter.

Now just don't peak into her room this week. It needs "loads of work," as she says.

An easy way to help kids learn to declutter is to do it WITH, not FOR, them (once they are around age 8 or 9). Kids know which toys and books and clothes they no longer want to keep. Don't hinder them; encourage them.

Bring in a huge garbage bag for trash, several give away boxes, and some disinfecting wipes to clean things off as you go. My daughter made up sounds as to which item to keep and which to get rid of. She whistles to keep it, and makes a reject buzzer sound to indicate "out it goes." Her invented sounds makes the process more like a game for both of us. And I can't think of an activity I enjoy more than helping people free themselves of unnecessary burdens, sound effects included.

Possession Theory

The things you own are not yours. They aren't. They belong to the Lord! You are His steward, and can use things you "own" for your own benefit, for your family's benefit, and for the benefit of others unrelated to you.

I discuss this further in my book, Better Than Feng Shui, but I want to throw this out and get you thinking along these lines now.

When you steward something, it is yours to manage, not to hoard or fret about. If there are things in your life that are causing you stress, then GET RID OF THEM. They are not worth the strain they are causing you.

I don't care if the thing is a brand new car or an uncomfortable turtleneck. If something causes you stress, it doesn't belong anywhere near you. That stress-producing object is taking your eyes off of serving the Lord and enjoying the life He died to give you.

Perhaps the things that cause you stress are stressful because there are too many of them (as in too many clothes, too many books, too many magazine subscriptions, too many scrapbooking supplies, too many cleaning supplies, too many pets, too many framed pictures to dust, too many drinking glasses). JUST BECAUSE YOU OWN SOMETHING DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO USE IT OR KEEP IT.

If you are a steward over these things, then let them go to bless someone else. Get rid of the things that are cluttering up your life. You don't have to use something up or wear it out just because you own it. Let someone else enjoy it. Bless them and free yourself from unnecessary burdens!

Donations

Donating things that you no longer use will bless you in many ways. You will have more space in your home. You will feel more happiness when you consider that those unwanted things are enriching someone else's life. You will love the freedom you feel in NOT living as a slave to material possessions!

I have a shelf in my hall closet that I reserve for donations. There seems to always be a few things ready to share with others: a magazine I've just finished reading, a jacket my daughter outgrew, a nice gift a friend gave me, which isn't quite "me," a book I've enjoyed but don't want to keep in my personal library.

You might like to try this: think about a place in your home where you can always keep things to share. This way, you'll have a place to put things the minute you decide to share them.

This works best once your home is already decluttered, but it's good practice to start using it now. There will always be much to share!

Did you take out the trash?

Great!

An important skill you need to learn to keep your life from becoming cluttered is throwing away (or recycling) things that are truly garbage.

Here's a short list of things that you can get rid of this week. These things are trash and are burdens to you. Get rid of them:

• newspapers (recycle)
• chipped dinner plates (trash)
• socks with holes (I recycle them into one-time use rags)
• hand or body lotion with a scent you dislike (throw in trash if over 1 year old; otherwise, see if your co-workers want them)
• pens that don't write (trash)
• scissors that don't cut (trash)
• glue that's dried out (trash)
• expired medications (trash--you may be able to recycle the bottles. Keep pets and kids safe! Don't let them get into medications and cleaning supplies!)
• eye makeup older than 6 months (trash)
• computer manual from 2 computers ago (might be recyclable--check around)
• more than two current phone books (recycle)
• broken video or computer game controller (trash)
• scratched CD's that you tried to repair (trash)
• CD scratch remover gadget that didn't work (trash)

There's a short little list. See if you have a few of those things hanging around and get rid of them. You are un-burdening your life!

First lesson: You own too much.

Yes, you do.

If you are an American living in an apartment, home, condo, RV, or houseboat, you own too much.

"Too much" is the nature of life in America. For many reasons (which I discuss in my book, Better Than Feng Shui, to be released this year!), we buy, keep, collect, give (yes, give) and own too much stuff.

I am into theory. But I am more into the practical side of living, which is why I aim to give you as much practical help as I can.

Your first assignment is very simple: go to your closet and select one pair of shoes that hurt your feet. You don't ever wear them because they hurt your feet. You won't miss them when they're out of your life. Take that pair of shoes and put them in a bag to drop off at a homeless shelter, a charity thrift store, or an abused women's ministry office.

Share your excess, for the glory of God.

If this assignment is too complicated for the cluttered state of your entire life, here's a different assignment that anyone can do, and it takes only a few minutes. TAKE OUT THE TRASH. Yes, very simple. I want you to empty every trash can in your home and take it out (where ever "out" is to you--the covered garbage cans, the Dumpster at your apartment, the trash chute down the hall).

When you take out the garbage, you have opened up your life to potential change. It's very difficult to get rid of more garbage if all your trash cans are full.

Go do it.

Hello and welcome to Better Than Feng Shui, where you'll learn how to free yourself from clutter the Christian way!

My goal in life is to help people free themselves from unnecessary burdens, for the glory of God.

I believe that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a necessary first step in releasing burdens of all kinds. We are set free from sin and death by His death on the cross and by His resurrection! He lives!!

And you may live, too, freed from burdens of all kinds!

I'm here to help you with the burdens of the physical kind: stuff!

Bienvenue!