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The Art of Clearing Clutter

Do you "live" in your house? Do you have a family that lives there with you? If so, you may feel that your cluttered home has become a life-style and will haunt you forever.

It can be very depressing when you see yourself as the only person in the home who picks up after herself or himself AND picks up after the others as well. Unless you're a paid maid, clearing clutter from your home seems like a thankless job.

Yes, It's An Art, And It Does Take Practice!

Not kidding! Let us attempt to change your way of thinking so that you'll see the act of removing clutter more as an enhancement to your home decor and living environment instead of a repetitious, unrewarding chore.

Use A Critical Eye When Evaluating Your Home

Take a moment to look around your home and assess its appearance.  Use your most critical artist's eye. Room by room, look at the overall picture and visually assess how the whole room greets the eye. Then look at specific areas - the arrangement of chairs, sofas, dining table, coffee tables, end or casual tables, table tops, lighting, fireplace and hearth (if you have one), beds, etc. Maybe rearranging your living environment will do a lot  for reducing a cluttered appearance and make your home more inviting to you and your guests.

Start First With A Plan

It might help if you have some graph paper - the kind with faded blue lines so that you can sketch your rooms to scale. If you don't have graph paper, use plain or ruled paper and "guess-timate" the layout. Use a pencil so that you can erase easily.

There are also some very good computer programs for designing room layouts. If you are computer savvy and comfortable with purchasing a program written for this application, do so. However, unless you use a laptop, you might still want to revert to paper and pencil for mobility's sake.

After you've sketched the outline of the room on the paper, draw different furniture arrangements using your existing furniture. If you can't make it all fit on paper - how can you make it fit in real life? Maybe you need to remove a few pieces to make the essential room appearance more un-cluttered. Too often we hang on to furniture just because it's there. Get rid of worn out chairs and other items by either donating to thrift stores if it's still useable, or trashing it if it's in bad shape. Use that critical eye to determine if you really need it!

From Plan To Action

First, you'll need to clear the clutter from the room you are working in. Be cold and calculating when making the determination of whether or not you need to save knick-knacks, magazines, anything that's laying around which adds to the cluttered appearance. Include pieces of furniture. Take a box with you and place small articles that are worth saving or recycling in the box. Do the same with magazines, etc. Everything that is just plain clutter and trash, needs to be scooped up and disposed of - never to grace your tables again!

Don't hesitate to enlist the assistance of another family member - especially if moving furniture is included in your plan of action. It saves wear and tear on your back plus encourages the rest of the family to "buy in" to the idea of clearing clutter from your home.

After the room is rearranged to your satisfaction, dust from top to bottom, polish wood, and vacuum overstuffed furniture. Then sweep and mop hard floor surfaces, and vacuum the carpets.

The Final Result- Your Clean, Clutter Free Home!

When all is said and done, your home will once again be cleared of clutter and you'll be living in an artful, comfortable and relaxing environment.