managing your house

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"> <h3> <div class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">House keeping is about so much more than cleaning a house. Until the fifteenthcentury, cleaning</span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-myAb_WW9C3c/Ukb46JQ4BQI/AAAAAAAAAGM/McBf0G5RcV4/s1600/managing-your-house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><img alt="managing your house" border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-myAb_WW9C3c/Ukb46JQ4BQI/AAAAAAAAAGM/McBf0G5RcV4/s1600/managing-your-house.jpg" title="managing your house" width="320" /></span></a></div> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> was a peripheral activity to the central tasks of preparing food, gathering and chopping wood and other fuel, keeping the house warm, andgetting water. Laundry is not much of a problem when you don’t have a change of clothes. When the animals that are your livelihood need feeding, who’s going to worry about dust on the mantel?<br /> What is the clever house?<br /> Now that we live in a time of excesses, we have new considerations. Our precious belongings—be they laptops, loofahs, or lingerie—need caring for. These days we think more about the environmental impact of our actions—whether it’s flushing cleaning-product residue down the drain or the amount of clean water and fossil fuels we use in heating water to wash our clothes. We are increasingly aware that just because a chemical removes stains effortlessly or a paint lasts year after year, it does not guarantee that it’s nontoxic and safe near children, or even safe to use regularly.<br /> Added to that, we want our houses to be havens. Somewhere we can escape to, away from the daily grind of weekly grocery shopping, office politics, and playground banter. Our houses are more than roofs over our heads—they are also our homes.<br /> Clever housekeeping incorporates a number of interrelated ideas: that a house should be healthy, that living in it and maintaining it should not take an undue toll on the environment, and that it should be comfortable and safe to live in, not unnecessarily expensive to maintain, and efficient to run on a day-to-day basis.<br /> The cleverest of clever houses incorporates all of these aspects. In fact, it is hard to do otherwise. For instance, when you choose to clean your bathroom with safe and gentle baking soda instead of a store-bought cleaner, you are not only making a green choice that could save money and has less impact on the environment, you are also creating a healthier and safer home environment for you and your family. When you plant a deciduous tree that will shade your house in summer and allow light and warmth in winter, you are making a green choice that could ultimately represent a savings on your power bill (a savings for both you and the environment), increase the comfort of your home, and contribute to a healthier atmosphere. Clever, indeed!So let’s take a closer look at all the aspects of a clever house.<br /> Healthy house<br /> A healthy house benefits from sufficient fresh air entering, with enough ventilation to ensure indoor air pollutants are regularly removed. Good ventilation also ensures a house is not too humid, which in turn helps keep it free from excessive mold and bacterial growth.<br /> A healthy house is supportive and considerate of allergy sufferers. Simple measures can help—letting beds air, opening windows for ventilation, keeping sinks clean, and keeping a check on mold growth around plugs and faucets. Knowing how to effectively clean and, where necessary, disinfect around the house keeps bacterial populations below disease levels. It also encompasses knowledge of the cleaning products we use that may irritate or even poison in the wrong doses and in the wrong hands. The more we know about the chemicals that we encounter every day, the more we can make informed choices about their use.<br /> A healthy house accommodates the various needs of all members of the family—even the family pet—and still remains healthy.<br /> Increasingly, too, the notion of a healthy house covers choices in furniture, carpets, curtains, and decorating options—we don’t put lead in paint anymore, but are there other substances in some paints we might wish to avoid if we knew more?<br /> Green house<br /> An environmentally friendly house is an energy-efficient and comfortable one—warm in winter, cool in summer, light enough in key rooms, and pleasant to be in because it is well ventilated and smells fresh. The green house takes less of a toll on the environment—and also on the pocket. Ideally, it is sited and landscaped to take maximum advantage of the sun’s light and warmth in all the seasons of the year. It relies less on nonrenewable energy sources (such as coal) by making the best use of low-impact, renewable energy sources (such as sun and wind). The green house is a low-polluting one, not only in terms of the energy sources it uses, but also in the products that are used within its walls. Because it is also a healthy house, the green householder chooses organic cleaning products in preference to harsh and polluting chemicals. Water is conserved and reused when possible.<br /> Recycling is a vital component of the green philosophy. From water and organic waste to recyclable building materials and packaging, the green house minimizes the production of garbage and landfill. The options available to householders for reducing the impact of their homes on the environment are growing daily and range from actions as simple as choosing reusable cloth bags over plastic at the supermarket to solar water heaters, signing on to green power sources, and even selling solar-produced electricity back to the local grid.<br /> Efficient and safe house<br /> When you run an efficient house, the money you save can go to other expenses such as vacations or music lessons or in a bigger house. It can ensure that you are able to make ends meet. There are numerous ways to save money here and there—from choosing energy-efficient appliances and fixing a leaking tap to growing a few vegetables (even a pot of herbs on a windowsill) or shopping in bulk.<br /> But being efficient does not just mean being energy efficient. The efficient house ideally has a place for everything and (on a good day) everything in its place. Clutter is reduced to a minimum. In an efficient house, there is a list of emergency numbers near the phone, you can always find your umbrella, and that bill that needs to be paid today is right at hand—not buried somewhere in the middle of a mountain of papers on the dining room table!<br /> A safe house is not only a healthy one, it also provides a physically safe environment where inhabitants of all ages can feel secure. Safety measures are often a matter of common sense and very little financial outlay. The safe house has fire alarms, circuit breakers, child-proof safety devices for toddlers, security rails in the bathroom for the elderly or infirm, outdoor lighting, a readily accessible first-aid kit, and a lockable storage space for medicines and other potentially dangerous substances.<br /> How clever is your house?<br /> <br /> The following chapters of this book will give you all the information you need to choose your individual path to creating your own clever house. If you feel the urge to change the way you run your home, you’re more likely to be successful if you adapt it, and your lifestyle, gradually. You could start with using fewer toxic cleaning materials and decorating products, and consider the more expensive items, such as furniture or flooring, energy-efficient large appliances or solar water panels, as they need replacing. If you feel overwhelmed by clutter, tackle one room—or even one cupboard or one shelf—at a time. And remember, even the smallest changes can make a big difference. You’ll be running a clever house before you know it.<o:p></o:p><br /> </span><div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> </h3> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>

how to organize Organizing Your Home managing your house

House keeping is about so much more than cleaning a house. Until the fifteenthcentury, cleaning was a peripheral activity to the cent...

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Clearing Clutter

<div style="text-align: justify;"> Unclutter first; then <b><a href="https://www.blogger.com/Still%20undecided?%20Ask:%20What%20useful%20purpose%20does%20this%20thing%20serve%20in%20my%20life?%20If%20it%20isn%E2%80%99t%20something%20you%20use,%20is%20it%20something%20that%20makes%20you%20feel%20good?%20If%20not,%20it%E2%80%99s%20just%20taking%20up%20space.%20Let%20it%20go.%20The%20final%20step%20of%20each%20clutter-clearing%20session%20is%20the%20most%20important:%20Schedule%20your%20next%20session.%20Move%20out%20of%20your%20living%20space%20anything%20you%20aren%E2%80%99t%20using%20but%20can%E2%80%99t%20bring%20yourself%20to%20let%20go%20of.%20Box%20it%20up.%20Write%20on%20the%20box%20what%E2%80%99s%20inside,%20and%20date%20it.%20If%20you%20haven%E2%80%99t%20needed%20anything%20in%20that%20box%20six%20months%20or%20a%20year%20from%20now,%20donate%20the%20whole%20box.%20If%20you%20have%20trouble%20letting%20go,%20think%20instead%20in%20terms%20of%20what%20you%20want%20to%20keep.%20Make%20a%20decision%20to%20surround%20yourself%20only%20with%20things%20you%20love%20and%20use,%20and%20remove%20the%20rest.%20Recognize%20that%20you%20are%20not%20the%20same%20person%20you%20were%2010%20years%20ago.%20Your%20interests,%20tastes,%20and%20styles%20have%20changed.%20Aim%20to%20surround%20yourself%20with%20things%20that%20are%20a%20part%20of%20who%20you%20are%20today.%20Get%20rid%20of%20anything%20that%20is%20no%20longer%20useful%20or%20meaningful.%20Pretend%20that%20you%20are%20moving.%20Ask%20yourself:%20Is%20this%20item%20worth%20the%20effort%20of%20packing%20up,%20carrying%20out%20to%20the%20moving%20van,%20and%20unpacking%20at%20the%20new%20place?%20If%20not,%20give%20it%20a%20new%20home.%20Holding%20an%20object%20increases%20your%20attachment%20to%20it.%20Have%20someone%20else%20hold%20items%20as%20you%20make%20decisions%20about%20what%20to%20keep%20and%20toss.%20A%20heavy%20layer%20of%20dust%20on%20an%20item%20is%20a%20telltale%20sign%20that%20it%E2%80%99s%20something%20you%20don%E2%80%99t%20use.%20Give%20it%20a%20new%20home." rel="nofollow">organize</a></b>. It’s so much quicker and easier to get <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/organizing-your-home-study-computer-room.html#.UkYEPWCUrZw" rel="nofollow">organized </a></b>when you have less stuff. If you aren’t using something and don’t have an immediate need for it, it’s just taking up valuable space—and </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCEP58Q-YBk/UkX3hj1myDI/AAAAAAAAAFk/l7ZLrl8F7H0/s1600/Clearing-Clutter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Clearing Clutter" border="0" height="218" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wCEP58Q-YBk/UkX3hj1myDI/AAAAAAAAAFk/l7ZLrl8F7H0/s1600/Clearing-Clutter.jpg" title="Clearing Clutter" width="320" /></a></div> making it difficult to find the things you do use and need. Schedule 15 minutes a day to unclutter your space. Even 5 minutes of concentrated effort is better than 0 minutes. Once you get started, you may decide to keep going for the full 15 minutes or longer.<br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Start with the easy stuff—things that don’t require any decision making on your part. Grab a trash bag and start tossing in things that are clearly garbage: food wrappers, expired coupons and flyers, stretched-out socks, stained clothing, rusted kitchen utensils, broken items that have since been replaced. Keep going until that trash bag is full.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> When uncluttering a shelf, drawer, cupboard, or closet, take everything out. Then put back only those</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> things you love and use. If you are saving something because you might need it someday, ask yourself, “Could I get another one pretty easily and inexpensively if I needed it someday?” If the answer is yes, let it go. Can’t decide what to keep and what to toss? Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if I decided to let this go?” If you can live with the consequences, you can live without the thing.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Pick a room—any room. Now pick one drawer or shelf in that room, and start there. Remove everything from a single drawer or shelf and sort stuff into five piles:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">                        <b>1. Throw away</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>                       2. Put away</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>                       3. Give away</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>                       4. Sell</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>                       5. Keep</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Throw the garbage away. Put away the stuff that belongs elsewhere. Bag or box your donations and anything you plan to sell. Put back only the keepers—those things that you are currently using or</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> absolutely love and can’t live without.</div> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> Do you find it difficult to make decisions? Create an umbrella rule about when to get rid of things. At what point are you most likely to be willing to part with something you no longer need or use? Six months? One year? Two years? Creating a personal decision-making rule now will eliminate the need to make lots of individual decisions later.</blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Be honest about what you really need to keep. To keep or toss? </div> <blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Ask yourself:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Have I used this item in the past year?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Will I need it on a definite date in the future?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Do I need to keep it for legal or tax purposes?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Would it be difficult to get another if I needed it again someday?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If you answer no to every question, toss it.</div> </blockquote> </blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - Still undecided? Ask: What useful purpose does this thing serve in my life? If it isn’t something you use, is it something that makes you feel good? If not, it’s just taking up space. Let it go. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - The final step of each <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/stop-clutter-around-house-declutter.html" rel="nofollow">clutter-clearing</a></b> session is the most important: Schedule your next session.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - Move out of your living space anything you aren’t using but can’t bring yourself to let go of. Box it up. Write on the box what’s inside, and date it. If you haven’t needed anything in that box six months or a year from now, donate the whole box.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - If you have trouble letting go, think instead in terms of what you want to keep. Make a decision to surround yourself only with things you love and use, and remove the rest.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - Recognize that you are not the same person you were 10 years ago. Your interests, tastes, and styles have changed. Aim to surround yourself with things that are a part of who you are today. Get rid of anything that is no longer useful or meaningful.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - Pretend that you are moving. Ask yourself: Is this item worth the effort of packing up, carrying out to the moving van, and unpacking at the new place? If not, give it a new home.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - Holding an object increases your attachment to it. Have someone else hold items as you make decisions about what to keep and toss.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> - A heavy layer of dust on an item is a telltale sign that it’s something you don’t use. <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-journey-to-organized-home.html" rel="nofollow">Give it a new home</a></b>. </div>

Clearing Clutter how to organize Organizing Your Home Clearing Clutter

Unclutter first; then organize . It’s so much quicker and easier to get organized when you have less stuff. If you aren’t using something a...

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Soft Decoration in Home Space

<div style="text-align: justify;"> Life is inseparable from space. In home space, it is difficult to give a separate definition to life space. To make a distinction between the characteristics and properties of different spaces, living space in this book </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2cRWSlhVrQ/UkASC3xaRFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/zXxNVhJE5k0/s1600/Soft-Decoration-in-Home-Space.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h2cRWSlhVrQ/UkASC3xaRFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/zXxNVhJE5k0/s1600/Soft-Decoration-in-Home-Space.png" width="320" /></a></div> refers to the living room and the dinning room.<br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Living rooms and dinning rooms serve as the centre of family life and the main sites for family gathering.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Compared with other home spaces, living space enjoys the most intimate relationship to men, thus having</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> more meticulous and rigorous requirements for soft decoration.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Living room is the main room of family life, the locality for such activities as sitting, reading, relaxing and gathering as well as the space to receive and entertain guests. What deserves the designers’ studious</div> <div style="text-align: justify;">  consideration more before the soft decoration design of the living room is the spatial role of the living room:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> whether it is a place mainly for resting or working; a site for guests entertaining or receiving; a space featuring the general decoration or the collection display. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, the role of the space is determined on the basis of men, their demands and tastes. In the soft decoration design of the living room, the design content of different parts including doors, windows, the sofa and the like should be determined in line with the frame feature of the space. Moreover, the diversified effects of the decoration viewing from each and every angle should be also took into consideration. The design of the living room would exert more multidimensional effects and still smoother and more natural proceeding with the above aspects.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Dinning room is a place where we can have dinner, talk and share happiness as well as a locale to get together all the family members and enjoy the good times.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Located between the kitchen and the <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/07/organizing-your-home-home-living.html" rel="nofollow">living room</a></b>, the dinning room seldom enjoys its own independent space. For the non-independent dinning room, the one next to the kitchen or the <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/09/organize-your-home-solution-do-it-your.html" rel="nofollow">living room</a></b>, the soft</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> decoration would begin with bringing changes into the design to make the dinning room a functional space</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> rather than simply regarding it as the only place for dinning. Meanwhile, dinning room can be used to have</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> a family meeting as well and the dinning table acts as the meeting holder besides the dishes carrier.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As the core of home soft decoration, the design of the rest space should manifest the personality and style of the owner, which needs the designer to set the basic tone and the decorative style of the space in the</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> decorative design process according to the owner’s demand. Apart from offering people the place for sleeping, the bedroom can also perform such functions as changing room, powder room, study and media</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> room, which needs us to attach great importance to the style of soft decoration while donating various functions to it.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/keeping-your-home-organized.html#.UkASxDiUq9w" rel="nofollow">In home space</a></b>, almost all the spaces such as the dinning room, the <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/keeping-your-home-organized.html#.UkASxDiUq9w" rel="nofollow">living room</a></b> and even the bedroom where a couple sleep in the hug of each other are open spaces that can be shared together. Only the lavatory that needs to be locked is the space enjoyed by somebody himself. In this sense, we call lavatory the private space. The soft decoration of the lavatory, the single private space in the home space, should take into</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> account its functionality. The lavatory should comprise such functional areas as the washroom, the bathroom</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> and the toilet. The soft decoration of different areas should be carried out on the basis of the varied functions of each part so as to delight people’s vision and relax their mind.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

home office Organizing Your Home Soft Decoration in Home Space

Life is inseparable from space. In home space, it is difficult to give a separate definition to life space. To make a distinction between t...

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Clear clutter: the STOP clutter method

<div style="text-align: justify;"> Household clutter is made, not born. Its hidden cause? Deferred decision-making. Each item of clutter in your home represents a frozen decision or an incomplete action. Worse, the stale energy of piled clutter attracts more clutter, accreting together into an avalanche of pent-up “must-do, should-do, wanna-do” </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNFrbZirUCU/Ujyi7FNgYxI/AAAAAAAAAFA/VlbsY7tzJNQ/s1600/the-STOP-clutter-method.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Clear clutter: the STOP clutter method" border="0" height="225" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PNFrbZirUCU/Ujyi7FNgYxI/AAAAAAAAAFA/VlbsY7tzJNQ/s1600/the-STOP-clutter-method.png" title="Clear clutter: the STOP clutter method" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Clear clutter: the STOP clutter method</i></b></td></tr> </tbody></table> decisions that are tiring even to contemplate.<br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> For example, bringing in the mail, you notice a catalog you’d like to browse, so you set it aside on the counter. Next day, three more catalogs, a stack of bills, and a page of pizza coupons land in the pile, and by the week’s end, the lone catalog has mushroomed into an unwieldy stack of magazines, letters, bills, permission slips, and store receipts that will take an hour to sort, file, and finish—and you still haven’t found</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> time to peruse the new catalog. The STOP clutter method fights clutter at the heart by thawing the decision-making process. It’s short, sweet, and powerful, and is designed to help you blast through all those frozen decisions quickly—no more sitting on the fence in the face of chaos! By forcing you to make decisions rapidly, you cut through the mass of clutter and regain your <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/09/organize-your-home-solution-do-it-your.html" rel="nofollow">organized home</a></b>. Using the STOP technique, you’ll attack clutter in four easy steps: Sort, Toss, <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-problem-clutter-disorder-and-dirt.html" rel="nofollow">Organize</a></b>, and Put away (see opposite).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>STOP clutter tools:</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The tools you’ll use for each STOP clutter session are simple. They’re designed to set limits, encourage decision-making, and make it easy to wrap up each session of cutting clutter.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> You will need a kitchen timer, three large boxes, and a garbage bag.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A timer Stopping clutter, like acquiring it, is a long-term process of short steps. Too often, the initial excitement of attacking the clutter problem causes people to bite off more than they can chew—or decide, store, or put away in a single session. Result: torn-up drawers, stacks of “Idunno” items and a sense that the job is never finished.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Using a timer to keep STOP clutter sessions short and complete keeps the declutter momentum going, and</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> prevents burnout. You’ll use your timer to start—and stop—each session so that you can finish the put-away</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> step and leave the newly decluttered area clean and ready for use.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Three boxes The put away, storage, and sell/donate boxes lie at the heart of the STOP clutter method. Labeled “Put Away,” “Storage,” and “Sell/Donate,” they’re the decision-making engine that drives the declutter process.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Use sturdy, good-sized boxes, preferably with handles and lids. Look for records boxes (sold in office supply stores), or scour supermarkets for lidded produce boxes. Handles make it easy to circle the house at the end of each STOP clutter session, emptying the Put Away box. Lids help you stack the Storage and Sell/Donate boxes as you gather out-of-season items or set aside boxes for donation or a yard sale. Lids also help to cut the temptation to peep inside and return decluttered items to their old haunting grounds.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Out of sight is out of mind!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A garbage bag An opaque garbage bag or garbage can is star player in a STOP clutter session. Here’s where you’ll entrust all the true trash, the quicker, the better. Black garbage bags prevent the declutterer (or</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> family members) from having a change of heart. If it can’t be seen, it won’t be returned to the scene.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Taking it a step at a time</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> To harness the power of the STOP clutter method, assemble your boxes and garbage bag and set the timer</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> for 15 minutes. The timer’s bell will tell you when it’s time to stop deciding and start putting away. Working</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> in 15-minute increments (plus another 5 minutes to return put-away items and stow the tools), you stay fresh and motivated to do the job.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>1</b> Sort Turning to the day’s chosen clutter cache—the area around the telephone, for example—take the first</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> step and sort the items being decluttered. Quickly move through the pile of clutter that surrounds the phone,</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> making a quick decision about each item: should I keep this here, put it away, sell it, or throw it away?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If the item belongs in the area being decluttered, sort it into a pile of like items: pens with pens, paper clips with paper clips, and notepads with sticky notes.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If the item is an intruder that must be put away in another location, such as a pair of socks, consign it to the Put Away box. Surplus items that can be donated to charity or sold are tossed into the Sell/Donate box, the proper place for the plastic flower pen and the clunky grocery list holder. Items that more appropriately belong in household storage areas—such as light bulbs left over from December’s holiday decorations—are tucked into the Storage box.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>2 </b>Toss As you sort, toss trash straight into the garbage bag. Expired coupons, supermarket receipts, scribbled bits of paper, non-working pens all go straight into the garbage bag.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>3 </b>Organize When the entire area has been sorted and the trash tossed, it’s time to organize. Take a good look at the newly decluttered area, and find ways to organize the items that belong there. Corral pens next to the phone in a pretty coffee mug. Place the phone book neatly beneath the phone base. Consider <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/09/organize-your-home-solution-do-it-your.html" rel="nofollow">ways to organize the area</a></b> for best use; can you replace messy message slips with a hanging write-on/wipe-off</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> white board?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>4 </b>Put away When the timer rings, or the area is cleared, it’s time to put away any out-of-place items identified during the STOP clutter session. Take the Put Away box and circle the house, returning items to their proper places. Toss the garbage bag into the garbage can, and return the timer and boxes to a closet or shelf, where they’ll await the next STOP clutter session.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As the storage boxes fill, add them to a storage area and begin a new box. Decide when you’ll attack the household’s next clutter magnet and note it on your calender. Finally, admire your new, <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/organizing-your-home-study-computer-room.html" rel="nofollow">organized </a></b>telephone area. Using the STOP clutter method, you’ve created a working center for phone calls and messages.</div>

how to organize Clear clutter: the STOP clutter method

Household clutter is made, not born. Its hidden cause? Deferred decision-making. Each item of clutter in your home represents a frozen deci...

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Organize your home - The solution: do it your way

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Learning basic skills—how to declutter, how to clean—is only the first step on the road to better home management. To reach the goal of a <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/solution-to-organize-your-home-skill.html" rel="nofollow">clean and organized home</a></b>, we must craft our own personal home management habits and routines.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Any method we select must work with our unique personality, lifestyle, and strengths.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In home management, as with pantyhose, there is no such thing as “one size fits all.” One person’s list-based </div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OJ3xdxy-Ick/UiTYRJCDZbI/AAAAAAAAAEs/049yE5m26HQ/s1600/02-09-2013+18-23-49.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="organize your home" border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OJ3xdxy-Ick/UiTYRJCDZbI/AAAAAAAAAEs/049yE5m26HQ/s320/02-09-2013+18-23-49.png" title="Organize your home - The solution: do it your way" width="153" /></a></div> routine seems scattered and annoying to someone who prefers the tighter structure of a daily planner. Your neighbor swears by the scheduling advice she found online, but the tight blocks of time in her day don’t work with your more casual approach.<br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Your sister thinks it’s essential to have all counters and surfaces bare of distractions; you can’t work well unless you can see your tools and supplies.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Get personal</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Knowledge is power—but self-knowledge is empowerment.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Moving from disorder and chaos to effective, orderly living requires more than simple information or one person’s “<i>There is only one right way to get organized: yours</i>.” example; it requires personally devised solutions that will work for you as an individual—not for your sister or your neighbor or anyone else.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Throughout this book, we’ll help you tailor advice and recommendations to suit your own personality and family lifestyle. We’ll identify your “clutter personality”—the habits and thinking that have caused you to become a clutterer Instead of establishing one level of “clean”, we’ll help you assess your own family’s needs and constraints, so you can reach the right state of “clean enough” for your home.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Where do I start?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It’s easy to pick up a book about home management, read along, laugh at the jokes, and put the book down again.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Translating that experience into a cleaner, <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-problem-clutter-disorder-and-dirt.html" rel="nofollow">more organized home</a></b> is another matter.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If you find yourself looking around your disorganized home and thinking: “Where do I start?” the simple answer is: you start where you are, then take a single step.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><a href="http://howorganizeyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/keeping-your-home-organized.html" rel="nofollow">Getting organized</a></b> isn’t a race—it’s a journey. On a journey, what matters is the trip, not where you start or how fast you make it, or where other people are along the way.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Too often, folks frustrated by the condition of their homes see getting organized as a hundred-yard dash: an activity with a beginning and an end and a lot of heated pounding in between. “I will clean things up,” they vow, “and this time, it’s going to stay that way!” A week later, they have little to show for all the effort, because they haven’t effected the real change that will solve the problems of disorder and chaos.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> To make that change, take a single step toward better organization, right where you are. Tomorrow, take another step toward better home life. And another. And another. Just as chaos and disorder didn’t spring full-blown into your home in a single day, so it won’t be conquered in one day, either.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The important thing is to take the first step, make the first change—and just keep traveling.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> <i>Start small. Developing good habits, like clearing up clutter that has accumulated at the end of each day, provides easy-to-see results that will help to keep you motivated.</i></blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Find fellow travelers</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Anyone who’s taken a walk with friends knows that sharing and friendship make even the roughest climb easier. It’s no different in your journey to better home management. Look for like minds to walk with you and lighten the way.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> There are a number of places where you might find potential fellow travelers. In your community, be alert for</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> friends or neighbors who might form a support network for your get-organized efforts. Seek out a “declutter buddy”: a friend who brings a detached view to decluttering sessions.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Without the ties that bind, she’ll help you see your stuff in “<b><i>The important thing is to take the first step—and just keep traveling</i></b>.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> a new light and help you release it; next week, it’s your turn to help her clear out the closet. Check with church groups, clubs, or parents’ associations to find other folks with whom to share your progress; their support will make all the difference and will help to keep you motivated and enthusiastic.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Dedicated support groups can be a wonderful source of accountability and motivation. In North America, Clutterers Anonymous (CLA) applies the Twelve Step program first modeled by Alcoholics Anonymous to issues of clutter and hoarding.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Other clutter recovery support groups are offered by counseling centers or volunteer organizations. Community education services or church groups may offer classes and workshops on home management.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> </div>

how to organize Organizing Your Home Organize your home - The solution: do it your way

Learning basic skills—how to declutter, how to clean—is only the first step on the road to better home management. To reach the goal of a ...

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