“A bag a day keeps the clutter away,” according to the Inspired Room blog. Author Melissa Michaels’ 12-month plan offers a systematic method of ridding your home of unwanted stuff. “Only keep what you actually use or need,” she says. “Be ruthless and focused on the end goal: a clutter-free home and the peace that will come with knowing where everything is.” Call ClothingDonations.org for a pickup every month, and your home can be clutter-free in no time.
Tag: decluttering your home
Spring Is Here! It’s Time to Clean
Spring has finally sprung! Yesterday—in the Northern Hemisphere, at least—the vernal equinox marked the point at which day and night last roughly 12 hours each, and also the beginning of the growing season.
But spring has a more universal meaning for most busy households in the United States. Not only is it time to emerge from a state of relative hibernation, it’s also a time to make a new start in the ongoing effort keep our homes and lives clean and organized.
Spring cleaning can be a big job, though, and there are tons of ways to tackle it. The Oprah Network offers a single-day checklist to ensure that every part of your home is dusted and sanitized without ruining an entire weekend.
The methodical approach goes from bathrooms to bedrooms to kitchen to family room, using a top-to-bottom strategy to ensure dust won’t re-attach itself to surfaces for a while. Bonus: The final step in this 9-to-5 plan is ordering a pizza for dinner.
Reader’s Digest takes the top-down approach a step further in “10 Ways to Spring Clean Like a Pro,” starting on the top floor and working downward. Shedding excess stuff is a vital step in the plan: “Clear out your junk!” the story says. “If you haven’t used it in the past year, you don’t need it.”
Then, the story says, hold a yard sale or donate lightly-used clothing, books and household goods to charity. To make this stage of the spring-cleaning process even simpler, point your browser to ClothingDonations.org and request a pickup.
Spring cleaning won’t just make your home fresher and more inviting, says Britain’s Spring Cleaning Week site—it will also help you feel more motivated and liberated. “Removing the gunk, ensuring every surface is shiny and every room is filled with cold, fresh air can change you as a person,” the site says.
You may even feel more energized and satisfied once spring cleaning is complete, the site adds. And anyone who has tackled the job in the past knows the sense of satisfaction that a job well done can create.
“The subconscious exercise that takes place when you clean helps release endorphins, therefore renewing your physical self by the end of the day,” the site says. “Going through with the spring clean can give you the satisfaction and thrill of having achieved something.”
There’s no reason to put off that seasonal cleaning and organizing any longer. Get started immediately, and you’ll be finished before you know it. The new you will thank you later.
Start Your Spring Cleaning Now
The calendar tells us that there are still almost two months to go before spring officially starts. And even if your area of the country is already experiencing periods of spring-like weather, the fact is that there really isn’t that much going on during the winter months.
Sports fans have big events to watch on TV, but there are no major holidays until Easter. Sure, you might choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day or St. Patrick’s Day, but these holidays are unlikely to make a big dent in the social schedule.
Take advantage of that extra time by getting a jump-start on your spring cleaning.
The weather may still be treacherous, so instead of thinking about scrubbing and dusting, make your jump-start about decluttering. You can “clear a path” today so that your home is ready for a big scrubdown when the weather improves.
Start with your clothing. By this point in the winter, you know which items you and your family really use during the colder months, and which ones you don’t. Bag up those extra sweaters, fleeces and corduroys and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup.
Next, look at the junk you’ve accumulated. Are your closets overflowing with gadgets, tools and tchotchkes that you no longer want — or never did? Box ’em up and “transition” them out of your living quarters so they’ll be ready for the first garage sale of the spring.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so you’ll make a neighbor’s day even as you relieve yourself of all that stuff. Just don’t try to do all of the decluttering at once, Money Crashers says; pick a closet or room and get it exactly how you want it before moving on to another space.
Once the path is clear, you’ll have the time and space for a quick home-improvement project! A new coat of paint, refreshed bathroom tile or new carpeting will help elevate your mood, and it’s a good idea to get those messy renovations done before you deep-clean.
By the time Easter, Memorial Day and the other big holidays arrive, your house will be spacious, clean and inviting again. And you’ll be able to kick back and enjoy the warmer weather with a renewed sense of accomplishment.
Keep Cozy with Thrifty Craft Projects
The holidays are now a memory, and everything has finally been put away — hopefully, following some “editing” that keeps the volume of your stuff in check and your shelves and closets clean and clutter-free. It’s time to hole up and prepare to cope with the worst that winter has to offer.
Many people spend a lot of time getting creative ahead of the holidays, crafting wreaths, ornaments and other items that brighten the home for entertaining. But you can continue to make your home a cozy place during the darkest, dreariest months of the year by letting your creativity run wild.
Visit the local thrift store for inspiration and raw materials. Many secondhand goods are supplied by generous donations to ClothingDonations.org from families like yours, and repurposing the items sold there helps fund programs that support the nation’s veterans.
When it comes to warmth, old sweaters can provide a source of warm cloth that helps keep other parts of the body comfy. The do-it-yourself blog Ecouterre suggests turning sweaters into slipper-socks; with just a few stitches, that old pullover will keep your pinky toes protected from drafty floors.
Old sweaters can also serve as the source material for handwarmers, vase holders and stocking caps, according to Design Bump. If you don’t have any sewing skills beyond a square knot, you can get a few yards of fleece fabric and make this no-sew blanket to hide under for a night of Netflix and warmth.
Another—slightly more complicated—idea from the Making Our Sustainable Life blog is to take old linens and sew dry grains inside to make a microwavable bed warmer. Bonus: In the hot, humid summer months that will be here eventually, you can use the same item as a bed cooler by throwing it in the refrigerator.
For those in older homes, Good Housekeeping offers 20 ideas for making “adorable” draft stoppers to place under doors. Pet parents, be forewarned: Many of these stuffed snakes will also be irresistible to dogs and cats. And if you happen to be a quilter, of course, you already know that the thrift store is a treasure trove of interesting fabrics and patterns.
If the weather has you housebound, in other words, there are lots of creative ways to keep winter’s chill at bay. Don’t despair: Try out a few of these ideas, and spring will be here before you know it. Stay warm!
Another Task for Your Holiday To-Do List
As the holidays kick off in earnest, you’ll have a host of tasks to deal with: Decking out your home, inside and outside, in a manner appropriate to the season. Buying gifts for the many family members, friends and colleagues on your list. Baking holiday cookies and other culinary delights. Somehow making time for that office party or Nutcracker.
There’s another holiday task that can help bring cheer to any number of people you may not know personally, though: Boxing up lightly used clothing items and household goods and donating them to area thrift stores via ClothingDonations.org.
The benefits of a donation are threefold. First, your donations will help provide people with the things they need for their own holiday festivities. While that sweater, dress or small appliance might no longer be of much use to you, it might represent a real “find” for another person who’s out browsing in search of a perfect outfit or gift.
Next, you’ll declutter your home for the holidays. Are your closets and crawlspaces crammed with clothing and goods you haven’t used in months? Chances are that when you go looking for that wreath or string of lights, you’ll find box after box of stuff you just don’t need. Pull it out and call ClothingDonations.org. You’ll create space for the new stuff you’re going to get this season, and impress your guests with a clean, organized home.
And finally, the proceeds from your donations will go toward programs that make the season a little brighter for the nation’s veterans. Programs that help house, clothe, feed and celebrate the men and women who have fought to keep the nation free depend on these funds, and many veterans will have a happier holiday thanks to your donations.
’Tis the season for giving, so as you dust off those decorations and ready your home for the holidays, don’t forget the veterans. Call ClothingDonations.org and spread the cheer!