Sunday, June 29, 2008

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.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

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!


Thursday, June 5, 2008

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).