As a professional moving company, the dedicated and experienced staff at All Reasons Moving has seen it all when it comes to home moving. Well, of course. It’s what we do. What is interesting is the amount of things people accumulate in their homes. All of those things people simply can’t part with. There’s a psychology to keeping your home uncluttered. The most important point is that an uncluttered home is a clean home, and a safe home as well. It will also save you time, money and energy at moving time.
Cleanout Mentality
Some people, especially those raised during the Depression, or who experienced scarcity as a child can tend to hoard. Objectively look at your home environment and see if you could call yourself a “hoarder.” If you have trouble moving around in your house, or if you consistently can not find things, if you have trouble loaning things to friends, or if you’re embarrassed to have friends over, you might be a hoarder. Hoarding does not always have to be on a grand scale like you see on television shows it can be on a much smaller scale of just having too much “stuff” and not being organized.
Hoarding provides a sense of security in the short term, but an environment of chronic clutter is not only unsanitary (as it makes really good cleaning impossible), but also cuts down on mental freedom. If you’re worried about holding on to things, you aren’t really free to enjoy them. My grandmother used to say, “Everything needs to have a place and everything should be IN it’s place.” She believed if you didn’t have room for it you should get rid of it.
Think twice before you bring anything into your home, from a playbill to a cookie’s fortune … everything you bring home has to go somewhere!
Clutter Wastes Time
How much time do you spend searching for things? If you had one place to put all incoming mail and then went through it all at a scheduled time, you would have more free time, as you would if you hung your keys on the same hook every time and didn’t spend hours fishing around for them. These tiny, simple things can go far in aiding peace of mind, time freedom, and even money.
Incentives
If these aren’t enough to help you get cracking on the closet clean out, then perhaps money would be. Think of what you could earn selling your stuff on eBay or Craigslist. There are many professionals who will sell your things for a small percentage of the proceeds. Maybe you need a tax write off, donate things. Homeless shelters and other worthy organizations are always hungry for castoffs. If you don’t want to toss it out and don’t have time to take things to donation set it near the curb with a note that says “free” someone will take it and at least you know it’s being put to good use. Garage sales are another great way to de-clutter and make a few extra bucks. Nothing you get rid of needs to go to waste. Your junk could be someone else’s treasure.
Start Small
You do not have to clean out the entire house or garage at once. Pick a closet each weekend or even just one drawer. Create small achievable goals for yourself and do it a little at a time. As a big project it can seem overwhelming but broken up into smaller projects it doesn’t seem so huge and you will feel great at the end of each session.
And remember if the thought of doing this by yourself is too much you can always hire an organizer to do it all or just help get you started. There are many to choose from and All Reasons has referrals for you depending on what area you live it just contact us at (408) 351-9515 and we’ll be happy to share our resources with you or haul some of that unwanted stuff away once you’ve sorted through everything.