Decide Where Your Stuff Is Going
First you need to decide where you’re going to bring your unwanted stuff. Then obtain large bags or boxes that correspond to your choices. For instance, if you are going to hold a yard sale you will probably need three containers with you as you go room by room: one for trash, one for the yard sale, and one for sentimental items you don’t want to sell but will pass along to family members or friends. When the yard sale box is full bring it to the corner of your basement, garage or attic that you have set aside for that purpose and get a fresh box to keep sorting. When your trash bag is full throw it away and get a fresh one etc. Your unwanted items are then immediately organized according to where they are going.
Attack One Room At A Time
Put aside the notion that you need to organize your entire house. Instead focus on one room at a time. This will build a sense of accomplishment and provide the mental fuel you need to tackle the next room. If the basement, garage or attic is the room you choose to tackle first consider dividing the room into sections and cleaning out one section at a time. If you have chosen to hold a yard sale you do not need to wait until the entire house is done before you have the sale. If you’ve chosen to bring your things to a thrift store you can start making trips after one or two boxes are filled. The relief you will feel at getting a few boxes of unwanted things to the thrift store and a few bags into the trash will likely spur you on to get rid of even more stuff!

Be Ruthless
Remember – every item you keep is an item you need to clean, move, store, find, fix or put away.

When deciding what to get rid of consider the following guideline: if you haven’t looked at it, thought about it, or used it in a year – say goodbye to it. Of course, there are special sentimental items which you will never use again but which you’re not comfortable parting with. Try to keep sentimentally held items to a minimum by making good use of the pass-it-on box. Many items that you’ve held onto and are currently storing in dressers, boxes or your attic would find better homes with family or friends. Pass them on.

Get rid of as much stuff as you can that comes under the heading “I will use this some day.” Chances are that “some day” is never going to come. And even if the day does come, if you haven’t cleared out your house, you probably won’t be able to find the item you finally need. So unless you are a gourmet cook dump the salmon poaching pan along with the fresh pasta maker. If there comes a time when you’re actually going to poach salmon and serve it on a bed of fresh pasta, borrow the equipment from one of your friends who has not yet uncluttered her house.

Children’s Rooms
Appeal To Your Child’s Sense Of Compassion
For instance, each child could be asked to choose his or her ten favorite toys and be asked to give the rest to children who do not have many toys. This may sound extreme but how many of us, as children, ever had more than five toys at once? If you don’t want to set a toy limit for our children then simply ask them to make a collection from their rooms of toys, books and puzzles that they would like to give to others. Most children are saddened by stories of other children who do not have toys and will willingly part with some of their things if they are allowed to keep their favorites.

Appeal To Your Child’s Entrepreneurial Spirit
If you are having a tag sale you could offer your children the opportunity to keep any money that comes from the sale of their toys. If you’ve opted for the thrift store drop off, you could offer your children a dime for every item they place in the giveaway box. If they put twenty items in the giveaway box you will pay them $2.00. What a deal! You will be amazed at the things your children will voluntarily part with if you pay them a dime an item. (Older children may need a slightly higher monetary incentive – but not much higher)

A word of caution here: try to control your attachment to your children’s toys. With a few dimes in the balance your children may choose to give away items that you are fond of. Hang in there and remind yourself that if it goes to a thrift store you will never find it under the couch cushions again. Likewise, resist the temptation to get rid of a favorite toy just because you think it’s nasty. Some items truly provide comfort to children – these should not be taken away no matter how dirty or broken they appear to you.

Do The Deed Yourself
If the compassion and entrepreneurial appeals do not produce the results you are hoping for you may need to take matters into your own hands. When the children are at school or on a play date collect the items from their rooms that you think should go. Place them in two boxes (one headed for the trash and one headed for yard sale collection or thrift store). When the children get home you can give them the opportunity to choose one or two things from the boxes that they truly want to keep. You might even ask them to exchange an item or items they want to take out of the box for toys still in the room.
Once you’ve gotten the unwanted things out of your house you will be ready to start organizing!

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