Declutter your Home, Expand your Life (Part 2)

Once you’ve identified, sorted and emotionally let go, you have choices as to how to take care of your clutter. You have six options:

• Repurpose
• Recycle
• Rearrange
• Sell
• Donate
• Trash

Repurpose. Too many coffee cups? Repurpose your favorites by hanging them on the wall and using them to hold things such as pencils, paper clips, tea bags, etc. The repurposing possibilities are almost endless.

Recycle. Throw away all those old newspapers, magazines, plastic containers you won’t use anymore, boxes you were saving for some long-forgotten reason, etc.

Rearrange. If you have a lot of photos sitting around, take them off of surfaces and hang them on one wall. The room will feel less cluttered, plus you’ll create a pretty display to be seen and admired. If you collect figurines or other objects, split your collection into four parts. Display only one-quarter of your collection at a time and rotate pieces with each new season. The room will feel less cluttered, and you’ll enjoy your collection because it will be ever-changing.

Sell. If hosting a garage sale isn’t your thing, you can sell items via Craig’s List, ebay or other online sites.

Donate. Charities clamor for clutter. You will feel good about your clutter-free home and about helping others.

Trash. This is the last resort if something doesn’t fit into the other categories above.

The trick to staying clutter free is to introduce new things into your space mindfully. For some, this means that if one thing comes in, something must go out. In this way, equilibrium in maintained. For others, it means removing something, but putting it somewhere that it can be revisited – say in a year. If it’s not been used in that time, then it’s time for it to go.

Another trick to avoiding clutter is not buying things you don’t really need. Going to paint a room and want to use a sprayer? Rent versus buy – or see if a friend has one they can lend. Same goes for books – libraries exist to lend books and magazines (which saves you money, too).

Once you’ve tackled one space and you feel the difference it makes, you’ll want to move onto to a new area. Just remember to do a little bit at a time to reduce overwhelm and be mindful of your emotional state.