Clear Out!

The New Year is a time for fresh starts, clean slates, and new beginnings. It’s also the perfect time for having a clear out--sorting out your belongings, getting rid of what you don’t want and making space for whatever the coming year might bring.

Sorting this way is not only good for making space, but it can also be very therapeutic.

But it can also be difficult--especially if you happen to be a hoarder like me! It’s very easy to get tired, to look at a cupboard of belongings and think, ‘Why bother?’

We may already be more than three weeks into 2011 but it’s not too late!

Here’s some tips I’ve picked up from experience:

1. Make a list of each separate place you want to tidy (e.g. closet, chest of drawers, under-stairs cupboard). It might look long, but if you’re able to cross things off the list more often, it’s easier to feel productive!

2. Work at your own pace: don’t rush yourself to finish a task within a set time, because some things will take longer than others. If you get tired, give yourself a break.

3. Be mercenary. Sometimes it’s hard to get rid of things--old unfinished projects, trinkets from past holidays, and so on. It’s very easy to hold on to things simply because you are used to owning them.

4. Question yourself. This point is related to the previous one, but questioning yourself about belongings helps to separate what you really want/need from everything else. Ask yourself: Why do I have this? Why am I still holding onto this? Do I want this? Do I need this?

5. Organise unwanted things as you sort them (I learned this the hard way!). For example, sort things into boxes for charity/ebay/a garage sale/friends/recycling/rubbish. If you do this as you sort, you won’t need to re-sort it again before getting rid of it!

6. Put on some music to keep your spirits up--tidying and sorting is easier to focus on with a good album on the stereo!

7. Congratulate yourself on a job well done!