Tis the season to gather clutter fa la la la la lalalala!
Christmas time is upon us and that means giving and receiving gifts. The problem is, given the theory of space and time (given enough time you will fill every space), we can quickly become overwhelmed with “stuff”. What can we do? Do we pack our closets so tight that opening the door is only done at the risk of bodily harm? Or pack hundreds of dollars of stuff in our garages while our automobiles, which are worth thousands of dollars, sit in the rain?
Several companies offer solutions to the symptoms of the problem such as PODS or self storage units but those are temporary in nature. We have companies that specialize in helping keep our closets and garages organized by selling us more “stuff” to help us store more “stuff”. What are some ways we can get at the root of the problem?
I will give you three techniques that we have used in our home to help manage the “piles of trials with smiles”.
#1. When something new comes in, something old goes out. When we get new clothes, it is time to re-evaluate our existing clothes to see which ones we can give to charity. I have a hard time parting with my favorite t-shirts and shorts, but to maintain the same level of inventory, something must go. Same with books, toys, household gadgets and furniture.
#2. My wife has adapted this sentiment and I have come to accept it too. “I have to absolutely love it or use it regularly to keep it”. What is regularly? If you don’t use or unpack something at least once a year, you don’t need it and won’t miss it when it is gone. What is love it? You will have to decide on that for yourself.
#3 If you can’t find a good place to keep something or it regularly gets in your way, you may have too much stuff. When our children were small, we had a system for keeping the house picked up. They had the freedom to play with any toys or books they wanted as long as it was put away by the end of the day.
What would happen is I would call home when I was on the way and Nick and Lindsey were given a 30 minute warning. They would put everything away that they could and when I got home, my job was to go around the house and collect anything that was out of place. These confiscated items were place in a garage sale/charity box and available for redeeming the next day. If I came home and everything was as it should be, they could go to the box and re-claim one item. It would become clear what they really cared about and what they could live without. Once a year we would have a garage sale and they got to keep the money from the items that they sold.
As I wrote about in this blog before, clutter is your enemy when you are trying to sell your home.
REALTOR.com® has a
great article about PODS and how they are becoming more and more popular even to the point that cities are trying to legislate how long you can keep them in your driveway. As for using them to de-clutter your home before selling it, they are great as long as you don’t leave them in your driveway to remind potential buyers that your house lacks storage space.As always, if you are thinking about or getting ready to sell your home, I would consider it a privilege to help you determine how to make your house look it’s best to buyers. I will even prepare a customized report called “Ready To Sell” (click here for more info) that can help you get your home ready.
Michael Bradford, 770-862-8002
Cherokee County Georgia Real Estate Specialist
