I'm a college student, and when I'm not in college I bring all my stuff back home. I literally have years and years worth of clutter that I need to sort through. It literally looks like a tornado went through there. I can barely walk through my room. I don't know how it got so bad! You'd of thought someone had broken into the house by the way my room looks! I guess I just let it build up, and even though I have a storage facility, I don't know how to even start dealing with all the junk.
2007-11-29 03:22:51 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
The best thing to do is set realistic goals & NOT let anyone push you, as you will become overwhelmed. I am a horrible pack-rat and have found that if I have someone, like my mom, pushing me to do more/work on it longer, it just makes things worse. Get some of those large tupperware/rubbermaid containers from Wal-mart/Target/K-Mart. Start from the entry way of your room &, as you take stuff out, sort it into the containers based on what they are ( clothing, book, etc.) and also have a trash bag ready to throw away stuff that you don't want to keep (like old magazines) and another bag for clothing that doesn't fit anymore or you won't wear again, so you can donate them. Then, keep them out of your room. If you have somewhere in your house you can temporary put them (like a besement) that would be best as you do not want to put them back in your room until you are done. Just do a little at a time and, the second you feel like you are getting overwhelmed but the process, take a break. Once you get everything out of your room (may take a few days depending on how overwhelmed you get), take one bucket at a time back to your room. At this ponit, just working on one at a time, you can take your clothing out of them & hang them up/fold them on a shelf, or deside to keep them in a container if they are out of season (like your summer clothes).
2007-11-29 03:38:03 · answer #1 · answered by Maria Rose 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You're looking at your room as a whole and that can feel very overwhelming! As you've stated it took you years to accumulate all of your belongings and a lot of makeover TV shows make it look like you can fix your problem in a day or two, but you need to be realistic (they have huge teams to do the task).
First off I'd grab a few necessities to get started:
turn on some up-beat music
use a timer (set for 15-30 min. at a time so you don't get burn-out)
get a bag for trash, a box or bag for give-away/donations, boxes for items you want to keep/can't live without
Set your timer for no longer than 45 min and going in a clockwise direction in your room start collecting anything that is trash and get it out of your room.
After this, take a 15 minute break, drink some water and set your timer for another round. If you still have a bunch of trash in your room, collect that first. Then move on to things you no longer use and that don't bring you joy - put them into a box and get them out of the house asap, before you change your mind and want to hang on to them for whatever reason. Either bring them to a place that accepts donations or use something like Freecycle.org to gift your items to somebody who can use them instead of adding to the landfill.
Don't forget to take your 15 minute break when your timer goes off again.
Depending on your energy level you can repeat this cycle till you see you're making a dent into the clutter mountains or stop for the day. Keep doing a little clearing out every day and if it's just 15 minutes a day and soon enough you'll start seeing a change in your room.
Once you see the physical clutter lessen you'll probably feel like it takes a mental load of you as well. It is stressfull to see a lot of clutter on a daily basis, but you can do it by taking one step in front of the other.
Once you're at a point where you have only things left in your room that bring you joy and that you use your room will be a breeze to keep clean. Just make it a point to have a designated spot for everything and use the "do it now" principle for putting things away immediately after you're done using them. Also try not to bring more things back into your room than you have storrage for. It will take some time till you develop a routine of putting things away immediately but it will be worth it. Good luck!
2007-11-29 12:05:13 · answer #2 · answered by Gabriele M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
See if there is a "Freecycle" chapter near you.
It is a place where people post stuff they want to get rid of or are looking for. Everything must be free and legal but you will be amazed what people will take off your hands for free!
Just post a little bit of your junk at a time so it's not so overwhelming.
2007-11-29 13:02:16 · answer #3 · answered by bordary 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best thing to do is to start sorting things out... Get some storage bins and some heavy duty contractor 30 gallon trash bags and start from one end of the room... .If you have family/friends that are willing to help.. Let them help you....
Label each bin: Keep, Donate, Trash, Sell....Realistically go through your things.. If you have books you may be able to sell them online or book stores... Be tough... If you haven't looked at it in a long time it may be best to get rid of things... Paper is a huge culprit... You don't have to save every paystub you ever earned OR every college paper you've ever written and chances are you have them saved to disk so get rid of ANY unnecessry paper.
CD'S/DVD's/VIDEO's.... If you collect music, movies, pictures etc.. think about how often you listen/look at items... Picture's do you have doubles? If so give them to family/friends that may want them... Do you have badly exposed prints? Get rid of them and only keep good picture's... Think about scanning them to CD/DVD and storing in a CASE LOGIC you can always take them to a lab or print them on your home computer... CD's think outside the jewel case and store w/ jacket in a case logic... OR burn favorite songs/cd's and get rid of the one's you don't need/listen to... The Exchange is a GREAT place to get rid of used CD'S/DVD's..
Utilize storage space... underbed is great for storing bed linens/seasonal clothing...
Speaking of clothing... Go through and get rid of anything that doesn't fit, out of style, or that needs mending... DONATE to goodwill or other charity organization....
We did this at a friends house and in a 15x10ft room w/ a double closet we got rid of 6- 30 gallon trash bags.... 6-10 bags of donated clothing and made about $500 selling cd's/dvd's/books that were no longer needed...
Also, if you have stuff you want to give away... Check out Freecycle.org.. look in your area.. You can post OFFERS.. Everything on the site is FREE the people just have to pick-up.
Or you can sell items of craigslist.... There's no fee....
good luck
2007-11-29 15:03:00 · answer #4 · answered by pebblespro 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey sweetie. Go to this website for help RIGHT NOW. I love it.
Hope it helps you too! (scroll around to find what you are looking for).
http://www.flylady.net
http://interiordec.about.com/od/howtodothings/ht/quickcleanroom.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/homestyle/07/27/wlb.rs.cl
P.S. Invest in some new cleaning solutions and clothes. . Ones that appeal to you. I love natural products that smell great! Turn on some inspiring music! Oh ya'. Now we are talkin'! It CAN be fun. http://www.mrsmeyers.com/
2007-11-29 12:02:17 · answer #5 · answered by For Sure 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to flylady.net
It is a awsome site and she teaches you how to declutter and everything. Get her book Sink Reflections too. It is a excellent read. You can get it at the library.
2007-11-29 14:28:48 · answer #6 · answered by Misty H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Go to "Fly Lady.com" She will get you organized. I was there. She lives by '15 minutes at a time' and take a break! Great!
2007-11-29 13:21:46 · answer #7 · answered by PATRICIA MS 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋