You can make a case that this is precisely what happens when it comes to our possessions, “clutter happens.” Look around you. It’s hard to believe that at one point in time your house was empty — totally empty to be redundant! What would happen now, if someone told you, that you had to begin to clear your clutter and leave all your possessions behind. How would you react?

Could you walk away from all your material clutter right now?

That question is closely related to a question people like to ask each other. If you were stranded on a desert island with only one item, what would it be? Obviously, it couldn’t be that hand-held mixer you use once every six months for your smoothies. And you probably wouldn’t take your vacuum cleaner. And I bet you would not take a lamp to read by?

Would you take that stack of papers you promised you’d look through one day? Or would you choose only one
book from that pile of books you have sitting in your den?

Get the picture? Our lives are filled with clutter — very often material items that we seldom, if ever, use.

But you already are well aware of that. After all, you’re reading this article; therefore, something must have motivated you to decide it is time to clear your clutter. My guess is that you, like thousands of others, are suffocating in a houseful of clutter.

This article is not meant to be a commentary on how materialistic our society has become or how tragic that is. This article is about making you aware of the slow . . . incremental .. . nearly unnoticeable way clutter, happens.

And how you can — when your ready both emotionally and physically to begin to clear your clutter and rid yourself of some of the possessions you neither use nor need.

But in order to effectively clear your clutter and hopefully keep it that way, you need to know a little bit more about our relationship with . . . “things.”

In my book Clutter Free Secrets, I will explain to you how we’re tied to our possessions, and then I will talk to you about how to declutter your life with the least amount of pain.

After learning that, you will have the tools necessary to go about clearing your house and keeping it clutter-free.

So, how do you efficiently organize  a garage? Where do you start? This article will guide you through the process of organizing your garage back into shape. By the time you are done, your car will actually fit in your garage!

• Step 1. To effectively organize a garage you must begin by doing a walk through and get rid of the obvious trash first. This initial walk through will help you get rid of the top layer of clutter, making the overall task of organizing easier. Find something you forgot you had? Get rid of it. Failure to properly implement step 1 can actually be a garage organizing buster because some people have a hard time throwing things out. Let me encourage you, if you don’t know what something is or you haven’t used it in years, just get rid of it!
• Step 2.  Go through everything and pile similar items together. When you organize a garage using this method you will find that these items will be stored together in their proper categories. If you end up with items that don’t seem to belong to any category, they may need to be discarded or moved out of the garage. Typical categories to organize a garage are:
  • Gardening tools/items
  • Auto maintenance items
  • Tools
  • Toys
  • Sports equipment
• Step 3. To properly organize a garage you will need to determine if you need storage equipment such as a peg board, baskets, shelves, hooks for hanging and cupboards.
  • Peg boards: an extremely versatile and inexpensive storage tool. These boards can be hung on the studs. Hooks fit into the holes and you have the flexibility of moving them anywhere you need them. Peg boards are use to store tools, sporting equipment such as tennis and badminton rackets, BBQ tools, and even small shelves.
  • Baskets: great for storing outdoor toys such as balls, Frisbees, baseball gloves, etc.
  • Shelves: can hold cleaning supplies, oil and other automotive maintenance items as well as gardening supplies, sporting equipment and even coolers.
  • Hooks for hanging: hooks can hold bikes, kayaks, golf club bags, electrical cords, garden hoses, etc.
• Tips: Let’s face it, even if you organize a garage following all the above steps, it is sometimes too much of a task to get started. If this is the situation you are in, I have some ideas for you.
  • Make organizing a garage a priority by putting it on your calendar. For example schedule 1 hour every day to work on your garage. If you do not have an hour, schedule for 15 minutes or ½ hour. It is fine to only organize a garage for a ½ hour a day as long as you work at it consistently.
  • Organize a garage one section at a time. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they have to organize a garage in one day or one weekend. Well, you don’t have to do that! Just take a section at a time and if it takes you a few days or a few weeks, that’s fine. Start with the sporting items, and then move on to the gardening items, then the tools, etc.Even if you decide to do one section at a time, it’s important to sort and group everything before you purchase any storage equipment. This way you will know exactly what you have and how much of each category you need to store.

I’ll admit when the time comes to organize a garage it can be a huge task. The good news is once your garage is organized, you can keep it neat and clean with simple maintenance. You should make it a goal never to let your garage get the best of you again.

So, how does one incorporate Feng Shui in home decorating? Well, first you need to have an understanding of the categories of Feng Shui; elements, color, shape and direction (meaning placement in your home based on the compass rose). The five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each element has colors associate with it.  One of the easiest ways to use Feng Shui home decorating to  get the energy in your home flowing with the use of Feng Shui is to use the colors associated with the elements:

• • Wood: Brown, Green
  • Fire: Red, intense yellow, orange, purple, pink
  • Earth: Soft yellow, sandy/earthy, light brown
  • Metal: White, gray
  • Water: Blue, black

In addition to an element’s color combinations, Feng Shui home decorating incorporates proper energy flow in your home based on the compass rose. For example, if your back door is lined up with your front door, energy can just slip right out of your house and not bring any benefit to the occupants. Additionally where you place objects in your home based on a compass can affect your home’s energy.

Implementing all the principles of Feng Shui home decorating into your house is a learning process, but here are some tips to get you started.

Energy/Joy/Happiness: Who wouldn’t want more energy, joy and happiness? Adding green plants activates yang for joy and happiness. In addition to green plants, try adding flowers, mirrors, bright colors, wind chimes, music, water, air and opening your curtains to let the sunshine filter through.

Exposed Beams: Interestingly enough Feng Shui warns against having exposed beams because they cause a downward flow of energy that can be oppressive and actually cause health problems. Well, if you have exposed beams, they are rather hard to get rid of, aren’t they? Don’t worry; you can hang Feng Shui flutes on them at a 45 degree angle. Alternatively consider painting the beams to match the color of your ceiling.

Looking for Love?: Stick to the southwest section of your house and avoid the color green. Concentrate on making this space clean, neat and uncluttered. Decorate with objects made from terra-cotta, clay, stone, porcelain or china.

Stay Calm: Want to keep the pressures of life out of your home? Don’t use the color red for a living room set. That’s right, a red chair or couch can bring work pressures home with you.

Feng Shui Home Decorating Color Tips:

• Green: Use for fresh energy, renewal, serenity and health.
• Red: Use sparingly for richness and luxuriousness; overuse can bring anger and restlessness.
• Yellow: Great for family rooms and your child’s room. Use for cheering, brightening, welcoming and comforting.
• Orange: Appropriate for the kitchen, living area and play area. This is a great option when you don’t want to overdo it with red. Orange promotes conversation and fun times.
• Pink: A love color is also very soothing. This is a good color for a creative office or a little girl’s bedroom.
• Brown: For nourishing and energy, this is great for your main entry or kitchen, although it should be used sparingly to avoid a decline in your drive and ambition.
• White: Representing innocence and purity, white has a fascinating element to it. Use this color anywhere in your home.
• Gray: Best used as an accent color, gray can bring crisp energy to enliven a space.
• Blue: A wonderful Feng Shui home decorating color, the variety of hues associated with blue brings energy, peace, good sleep and playfulness to a home. Use baby blue for ceilings, especially in your child’s room. Use dark blue in your bedroom or in the living room.

This article lays out a framework of basic easy-to-do decluttering tips for your home.  One of the most effective way to declutter your home is to take things one step at a time.  For many people trying to go through their entire house in one day or one weekend is way too overwhelming.  Instead set up a schedule for yourself that commits 15 minutes to one hour every day until you have decluttered your home.

• A place for everything and everything in its place.  This decluttering tip should apply to every area of your home. The goal is to know exactly where something needs to go when you find it lying around the house. Often, we don’t know where to put things so they end up in one of many junk piles. Once you have a place for everything it’s easy to pick up the house because you no longer have to find a “place” for things.  You just put them back where they belong.

• Cleaning supplies.  Does your cleaning supply area look like a bomb hit it?  Are there miscellaneous bottles and cans, of who-knows-what, lurking around?  If so it is time to get rid of all the old stuff.  If you have spray cans of cleaner that are rusting and matted shut, get rid of them, the only purpose they serve is to take up space.  Place your cleaners, dust rags. etc. in a caddy.  Caddies are easy to carry around the house with you.  If you can’t fit all your cleaning supplies in one caddy, you have too many cleaning supplies so get rid of what you absolutely do not need.  The caddy should easily fit into a storage area so when you are done cleaning, the entire thing can be slid into storage.

• Photos.  Photos can be the downfall of many an organizing system.  Even with digital photos, storage and organizing can become unwieldy.  A major problem for many people is finding storage solutions for prints.  One solution is to set up a collection bin for all photos.  As you declutter your home, take all the loose photos you come across and put them in the collection bin.  Once you have gathered all your photos try these decluttering tips to determine what to do with them:
  • Give them away to your children or other family members.
  • Put them in a photo album, box or scrapbook.  Photo boxes work well and you can find nice wood box that fits hundreds of photos inside.
  • Placing your photos in albums keeps them much more organized than photo boxes; however, it takes time to slip your photos into the sleeves of a photo album.
  • If you are planning on scrapbooking,  set up file folders for each subject which will have a scrapbook.  For example, have a file folder for each of your children and as you receive prints, sort them immediately into the corresponding file folder.
  • Scan you photos into your computer for digital storage.  The trick for digital storage is to set up file folders.  Here are decluttering tips for how you can set up a directory:
    • Family /Birthdays
      • Sam
      • Tammy
      • Mom
      • Dad
      • Family Christmas
      • Family Vacation
      • Work Activities

• Mail – Don’t let incoming mail get the best of you.  The way to keep this beast tame is to sort through every piece of mail as soon as you bring it into the house.  I sort my mail right by the trash.  Junk mail does not even make it to my kitchen table.  Here are decluttering tips for categories you should use to sort your mail:
  • Trash
    • Throw away immediately.
  • Shredding pile
    • Items that may have personal information, such as credit card offers.
  • Personal correspondence.
  • Immediate action required
    • Appointment reminder cards, bills and invoices requiring follow-up.

By following these decluttering tips you will begin the process of making you home more manageable and your focus will improve.   Following these decluttering tips is a fantastic way to become organized and improve all areas of your life.

There are many desk organizing tips you can find if you search the internet.  However, good organizing tips will suggest you start out by breaking your project down into manageable chunks of time.  This is because you will probably not be able to accomplish the entire task at one sitting unless you have an open-ended schedule.  For this reason concentrating on specific tasks is advisable.  For example, on Monday concentrate on the desktop; on Tuesday work on the desk drawers; Wednesday tackle the filing cabinet.  These simple desk organizing tips alone will go a long way in getting you started on decluttering your desk.

Desk Organizing Tips -  The First Step

The first task is to collect anything that does not belong on your desktop and put it in your “In Box”.  This means gathering anything that is:

• Out-of-date or broken items.
  • Examples: Old reference materials such as computer manuals or a broken stapler.
• Unfinished items:
  • Examples: That brochure you started to develop five years ago, by now it is old information.
• Potential action items:
  • Items that require input from you or input from someone else.

Desk Organizing Tips – The Famous “In Box”

This is going to be the only time you will have permission to let your “In Box” grow exponentially. For the time being, it will not matter how large your “In Box” becomes.  Your main goal is to sort through every item on your desk.

If you have something that is too large to place in the “In Box”, write the name of the object and the date on a piece of paper and put that paper into the “In Box”.  If you don’t have room in your “In Box” for the initial collection phase just use an additional cardboard box.  It is important to use a cardboard box so you will not be tempted to create additional piles on your desk.

Do not leave one inch of your desktop untouched.  Every piece of paper, in every pile must be sorted.  Of course some items will be trash, so just go ahead a trash them, no need to handle pieces of trash twice.  Additionally, take note of any equipment that needs to be replaced or fixed such as a broken tape dispenser or updating your phone; make a note of this and place the note in your “In Box”.

Desk Organizing Tips – Don’t Forget the Desk Drawers

Once you have addressed every single pile on your desktop, it’s time to get the clutter out of your desk drawers.  Depending on how much time you have available, you may be able to tackle your desk drawers now or you may need to wait for another day.   Look for stray pieces of paper that may be actionable items, put these items into your “In Box” or write a note about them and put that into the “In Box”.

Depending on the state of your drawers, you may be able to use this time to clean and organize your drawers without much having to go into your “In Box”.  However, don’t waste this opportunity to get rid of broken and old equipment as well as addressing all actionable items.

Desk Organizing Tips – Process, Process, Process

By now you should have an “In Box” with tons of stuff that you will need to take care of.  If it needs to go in a file, file it.  If you need to take action on it, take action.  If it needs to be moved to another area of your house, move it.  It won’t be long before you have processed every “In Box” item.

By following these desk organizing tips you will not only accomplish the task of decluttering your desk, you will improve your productivity, think more clearly and be able to keep your focus for longer periods of time.

This article will give you bill organizing information on how to deal with incoming bills and the best methods of making sure your bills are paid in full and on time.

Bill Organizing -Automatic Payment
Most bills can be set up on automatic payment, including utility, phone and credit card bills. To avoid late fees, it is imperative you set up as many bill payments as possible to be paid automatically.

In addition to using automatic payment, make sure you are enrolled for online bill paying wherever possible. This will save you postage and will also save you late fees if you do not get the check mailed in time.

Bill Organizing – Incoming Bills
It is important to develop a system for incoming bills and follow this system religiously. As soon as a bill comes in the mail open it and check to see if it is on automatic payment. Make a notation on your calendar when the automatic payment will happen or, if the bill will not be paid automatically, make a notation on your calendar for when payment is due.

Keep all bills in one place; this place is up to you. If you have a notebook style calendar, you can paperclip the bill to the appropriate date; an appropriate date would be when the bill will be automatically paid, when to pay it online, or when the check needs to be mailed.

Purchase a bill organizing tool. This could be as simple as an accordion file or, if you want to be more elaborate, you can purchase a bill holder that has a slot for each day of the month. You simply slide the bill into the appropriate slot as soon as you open it. For example, if your cell phone bill is due on the 26^th of the month, put the bill in the slot numbered 26. For bills that need to have a check mailed, place the bill in the slot of the day you need to mail the check. I personally don’t have room for a bill holder so I just paper clip the bill to my calendar and it works fine.

Bill Organizing – How to Store Paid Bills
Of course you want to keep track of paid bills. The easiest way to do this is set up a section in a filing cabinet with 12 labeled file folders; one for each month of the year. After the bill has been paid, make a notation of when it was paid and check number if applicable, then file it in the month it was paid. With this method all bills are filed in the month paid and are easily accessible when needed.

If you do not have a filing cabinet it is just as effective to use an accordion file folder that is labeled with the months.  Alternatively you could use a three ring binder with 12 page protectors labeled with the months.  Simply file the paid, notated bills in the page protectors.

Don’t Procrastinate
Organizing your bills is not difficult and will save you untold hours of frustration not to mention saving you money on late fees. Just set aside a time and do it. All of this can be accomplished with little to no expense and most likely will not even require a trip to the office supply store. The sense of relief you will feel at having an organized financial life is well worth your efforts.

Decluttering ones life begins with understanding why we allow clutter to exist.  There are many reasons we allow clutter to accumulate; however, one of the main reasons is because clutter keeps us in touch with the past.  Much of our clutter consists of things or stuff that reminds us of years gone by, or of someone who was or is important in our life.  Although this may be a noble cause for allowing clutter to accumulate, if truth be told, as we continue to collect more and more stuff, we lose control of the physical space we live in and begin to feel anger toward the clutter that surrounded us.  We know and understand that we must begin to declutter, but we are fearful that we will lose something important to us, or that we will make a mistake and toss something away that we may need in the future.  Therefore, we make up excused not to declutter.

The fact is,  if you truly want to gain control of your life there will come a time when you have to face the task of decluttering.  Most people think of decluttering as simply organizing the physical space they live in; however, to truly declutter your life you must not only organize the space you live in, you must also declutter your mind.

To Declutter Your Mind You Must Begin By Decluttering The Physical Space Around You

According to Fung Shui experts, everything you own stores memories in the form of energy.  By clearing physical clutter you will clear any negative energy of unpleasant experiences from the past.  Letting go of things you have been holding onto allows you to release emotional memories clearing up space in your head, your heart, as well as your home.

There is a saying that “outer order creates inner calm.”  Decluttering the physical space around you is the first step to declutter your mind which lead to creating your inner calm.  The following are just a few of the benefits you will reap from organizing the space you live in.

• An organized home creates a feeling of spaciousness and freedom. Think back to just before you moved into your home.  Your home was completely bare.  There was an abundance of space everywhere.  On the day you moved in you began filling your home with furniture and other belongings.  As you unpacked boxes your home began to fill up with stuff.  As the months and years went by you continued to accumulate more stuff and that spacious home you first moved into is now filled with clutter.  There is only one way to regain that feeling of spaciousness and freedom…Declutter!
• A more organized home leads to a more organized life. As you declutter your home your life will become more organized.  Car keys, glasses, important papers are just a few of the items that most people find continually disappearing.  In an organized and clutter free home not only will items stop disappearing, you will save yourself time, trouble and effort by not having to spend time constantly searching to find items you are looking for.
• Decluttering the physical space around you creates a sense of achievement. Decluttering your home is an achievement you should be proud of.  You have fought through the emotional rollercoaster of riding yourself of possessions that you have been hanging onto for many years.  You have gained back hours, days and years worth of time.  Studies show you have cut your cleaning time by 40% or more.  Now is the time to take a few moments, look in the mirror and say to yourself, “I have gained control of my life and I will no longer allow clutter to control the space around me.”

Declutter Your Mind

It is easy to understand the concept of decluttering when it pertains to stuff around you; however, it is not as easy to understand the concept of how to declutter your mind from thoughts that distract you.  Our minds become full of worries, thoughts of what is and what the future has to bring, thoughts of work, bills, kids and friends.  When you declutter your mind you simply change your thought patterns to release the mental and emotional clutter that blocks you from achieving peak performance.  It is not as difficult as you may think to declutter your mind.  There are some basic steps you can follow that will make a big difference.  A few of these steps are outlined below:

• Deep Breathing. Deep breathing is a great way to declutter your mind.  All that is involved is that you take deep breaths and focus on your breathing.  Concentrate on your breathing as you inhale and exhale.  Breathe in through your nose and exhale through your lips.  Deep breathing has many benefits.  It reduces stress, increases your energy level, helps you turn off racing thoughts and releases endorphins into your system.  By adding a few minutes of deep breathing into your daily routine you can increase your health, reduce your stress level, and clear your mind of clutter.
• Relax Your Mind. Relaxing your mind is vital in the decluttering process.  At first you may find it difficult to relax your mind, but as you practice it will become easier.   One very successful technique for relaxing your mind is to set aside 15 minutes where you will have no distractions.  No TV, no radio, cell phone turned off, home phone turned off.  Find a comfortable chair to sit in, put your feet flat on the floor and relax your arms.  Once you are comfortable form a picture in your mind of a tranquil place that you can focus on.  This place may be the top of a mountain looking out over the valley, or it may be in the middle of a forests looking up through the tree.  Whatever your place is make it special to you.  A place where you can retreat whenever your mind needs to escape.  If you can’t think of a special place envision a white light or a star off in the distance and concentrate on that.  To relax your mind begin by clearing your mind of all thoughts and envision your special place. Breathe deep and concentrate.  If a thought enters your mind discard it.  Your goal is to totally relax your mind from any outside thoughts.  You may find this very difficult to do at first but with practice you will get to where you can totally relax and let your mind be free of all clutter.  While you are relaxed and concentrating your subconscious mind will take over.  Your subconscious mind is very powerful and without you even knowing it your subconscious mind will begin to provide solutions to the problems and issues you face.  When you are back doing your daily chores the solutions developed by your subconscious mind will begin to surface and you will be able to put them into action.
• Write. Write things down that are on your mind.  When you write down your thoughts and ideas you remove them from your mind.  By writing your thoughts and ideas on a piece of paper you free your brain from unnecessary clutter by not having to remember everything.
• Identify What Is Important. To fully declutter your mind you must identify what is important and what you need to focus on in the near future.  Make a list of things that are on your mind.  From your original list make a short list.  Everything that is not on the short list should be removed from your mind until it becomes a priority.  Begin working on your short list to get tasks completed.  Once you complete a task add another task to the list.  Keep your list manageable and you will find that you get much more accomplished without the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed.
• Become Worry Free. Nothing constructive can come from worrying.  Worrying will not change the outcome of any event, but it will destroy your ability to enjoy the present.  When a worrying thought enters your mind discard it immediately and focus your energy on what you would like to happen.  There is a belief that what you hold in your mind on a continual basis will come into your reality.  If you hold negative thoughts in your mind you are inviting negatively into your life.  Conversely if you hold positive thoughts in your mind, positive outcomes will come into your life.
• Let Go Of The Past And Be Quick To Forgive. We all must turn the page on the past and move forward.  Anger is bad for your physical and emotional health.  Forgive those who have done you wrong.  Forgiving does not mean you have to bring these people back into your life or be friends with them.  Forgiving them allows you to let go of the memory of what they have done to you so you can move on.
• Associate With People Who Will Benefit You. As you begin to declutter your mind you may find that there are people in your life that are negative and diminish the quality of your life. If you have any people like this in your life, you may realize the time has come to cut these people out as they are cluttering your mind with negative thoughts and bringing you down.  You want to associate with positive people.  Positive people will bring positive reward and benefits into your life.

Everyday you need to recharge yourself.  Go for a walk. Sit and read a book with a cup of tea.  Get a massage. Work out.  You need to find time everyday to do something you enjoy. By developing clutter free habits in every aspect of your life, you will improve the quality of your life and each day will become much more rewarding.

• Take for example organizing a closet.
  • There are plenty of companies available that will provide closet organizing solutions for you.  Just check your phone book or on the internet and you will not have a problem finding someone to help you.
• If you are in need of more help than a closet organizer can provide, you may have to turn to a professional organizer for help decluttering.  Finding a professional organizer is a bit more difficult because you want to make sure you find one that meets your needs.  How do you start looking for a professional organizer?
  • You may want to start by looking in your local newspaper or the yellow pages.
  • Another option is to check out the National Association of Professional Organizers on the internet.  The NAPO website allows you to search by zip code or organizing specialty to find a list of professional organizer in your area.
• Interviewing a professional organizer should follow the same steps you would use to interview any other professional.
  • Talk to a number of professional organizers to make sure they are the right fit for your needs and personality.
  • Don’t only talk to the professional organizer on the phone, set up a time to meet with the organizer.
  • Ask for a free estimate.
  • Ask how long they have been a professional organizer and if they are a member of NAPO.  Being a member of NAPO does not guarantee the quality of their work; however, it does show they have a commitment to continuing education and an industry code of ethics.
  • What are their areas of expertise.
  • What results can you expect from the service they will provide for you.
  • Ask for and check references.
• Be prepared to answer questions the professional organizer will most likely ask you.  Be honest with your answers so the organizer knows exactly the task in front of them.  The organizer is there to help you and they can’t do that without you being truthful.
• Professional organizers will charge between $50 and $200 an hour, but it is not unusual to find organizers who will charge by the project.  If you can afford it and are determined to have an organized home the price of a professional organizer is well worth it.

Many people put off decluttering their closet because it seems like such a daunting task.  There are two questions you should ask yourself before you begin to look for closet storage solutions that will meet your needs.

• First – Define what the purpose of your closet is.  Most people think of their closet as a long term storage solution. Ask yourself.   Is long term storage the best use of your closet space?  If you view your closet as long term storage you may want to change your way of thinking and start thinking of your closet as storage for your everyday items.  Long term storage should have its own dedicated area within your home.
• Second – Before you take on the physical task of decluttering take some time to look at what you may need to organize your closet.  Do you have enough shelves and are they laid out in a convenient way?  Do you have a place to put shoes and other accessories?  How are your clothes racks?  Do you need to add more or can they be rearranged in a better configuration?  Once you developed closet storage solutions that will answer these questions, you will know what you need to buy so you can begin to reconfigure your closet.

The best time to declutter your closet is late fall and late spring.  Why late fall and late spring?  Late fall and late spring are the times of the year when the weather has changed.  Putting your seasonal clothes away to early or late may cause frustration if you have put your seasonal clothes in storage and then the weather turns and you have to pull them out of storage to get through the last few weeks.

I suggest you start early in the morning on the day you decide to declutter your closet.  As you remove items from your closet you will be placing them throughout your bedroom and it is likely you will be covering your bed with items.  What you want to avoid is starting too late in the day and having your bed covered with clothes or other items when it is time for bed, forcing you to move these items so you can crawl into bed.

Good closet storage solutions involves more than just organizing your storage space.  As mentioned above closet storage solutions involves the task of decluttering.  Start your decluttering by taking out each item one at a time:

• Look at the item and ask yourself the following questions.  When was the last time I wore this item?  Is it in good condition?  Does it still fit?
• For those items that are not in good condition immediately get rid of them.  Throw these items in a box or bag labeled trash.  These items could be clothes, shoes or accessories.
• Next take any piece of clothing that you have not worn in the past year and either donate it to a thrift store or sell it on ebay.  If you have not worn something in the past year chances of you wearing it again are slim.
• All of those clothes that no longer fit or are out of style can either be donated or sold.  Don’t fool yourself by saying that you are keeping these items because they will some day come back into style; or that you are going to lose weight and will wear them again.  This is not going to happen.  If you go on a diet, reward yourself for losing weight by buying new clothes.  If you sell your clothes at a garage sale or on ebay, keep the money you make to buy yourself new clothes once you reach your weight goals.

Once your closet is completely empty begin cleaning it.  Vacuum the floor, take a rag and wash the shelves and the clothes rods.  If your closet needs painting now is the time to paint.  A new coat of paint can brighten up your closet and give it a completely new feel.

If your closet is small do not take any space for granted.  The following are closet storage solutions that will help you take advantage of all your available space.

• Use the back of the door for hooks, accessories racks or even a shoe rack.  If you have a lot of shoes, store those shoes that you use regularly on racks in your closet and store the rest in bins with wheels under your bed.
• Vacuum storage bags are great for storing seasonal clothes.  Put your clothes in these bags and suck the air out of them to compress their size.  One tip for putting your seasonal clothes into storage is to leave them on hangers, that way when the time comes to take them out of storage you will save yourself time because they are ready to be hung.

If you feel that you would like to invest in permanent organizational solution there are many companies that will design closet storage solutions for you.  If you are a do-it-yourself-er, go to Home Depot, Lowe’s or any other hardware store and look at the closet storage solutions available for self installation.

Decluttering your closet is really easy to do.  Just remember to take your time and use closet storage solutions that works best for you.

As a final note, you can keep your closets clean, dry, and smelling fresh by placing open, empty perfume bottles or unwrapped bars of soap in the corners. You can also make moth-repellent sachets from dried lavender, whole peppercorns, orange peel, or a fifty-fifty mixture of dried rosemary and mint. If you can’t find sachet bags, make your own sachets out of baby socks or pieces cut from a clean stocking.

Walk into a bedroom that is cluttered with clothes, magazines or other items that have accumulated over time and your bedroom is no longer a  place of tranquility.  Instead of a retreat from the stress of everyday life, your bedroom adds stress to your already chaotic life.

Learning how to organize a bedroom and turning it back into your cherished retreat may seem like a daunting task; however, with a little planning and applying a few simple techniques, one day is all it should take to organize your bedroom back into your treasured sanctuary.

Learning how to organize a bedroom begins by thoroughly studying the room.  With pen and paper in hand, sit down on a chair or your bed and take a hard look at your room.  What do you see?  Do you see clutter?  If so where does the clutter accumulate?  Is it in the corner of the room?  Is it on the top of your dresser?  Is it in your closet?  What do you have on the night stands next to your bed?  What is under your bed?  Do you put your clean laundry away or do you let it sit in the basket on the floor or maybe pile it on top of your dresser.  Does the top of your nightstand hold bedside essentials or is it cluttered with items that you don’t use?  These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself before beginning the decluttering process.  Also, what is it that you like to do when you go to bed?  Do you like to read? If so do you have the proper lighting and a place to store the books or magazines your reading?  If you don’t have a convenient place to store your books and magazines you may want to add shelves next to your bed.

Once you have finished studying your bedroom and have written down on your paper things you will need to organize your room go out and buy them if necessary.  It may be a basket to place in the corner of the room where dirty clothes accumulate so you can put your dirty clothes in the basket instead of allowing them to pile up on the floor.  You may have determined that you need to purchase some bins with wheels on them that you can use for storage and slide under your bed.  If your bed sits low to the ground you may want to buy bed lifts in order to raise your bed to a height which allows you to utilize the area under your bed for storage.

Once you have purchased those things you will need to begin organizing your room.  The first thing you will want to do is to remove items that you don’t need.  How many books or magazines can you read at one time?   If you store all of your old books and magazines that you have already read, move them to a different area of your house or better yet get rid of them.  Take them to a thrift store or donate them to a library.  Old books and magazines that you will never read again take up a lot of room and create clutter that you can live without.  If you have items that don’t belong in your bedroom remove them and put them where they belong.   Are your drawers and your closet full of old clothes that you never wear anymore?  If so get rid of them.  Donate them to a thrift store or the Salvation Army or try to sell them on ebay if you want to make some extra cash.  Airtight vacuum bags are great for storing seasonal items.  A great place to store these are under your bed in the storage bin you purchased.  If you have a lot of shoes storing them in bins under your bed works great.  When you put your clothes away in your drawers separate your underwear, socks, etc rather than placing them all in one drawer.

These are just a few simple tips on how to organize a bedroom.  Now that your bedroom is organized and clutter free, don’t forget to add some background music and therapeutic candles.  According to experts background music and therapeutic candles stimulates the brain in different ways.  They can cheer you up, sooth your nerves and invigorate your body.