Is clutter control hard for you? Do things just get out of control before you can even turn around? I was chatting with my daughter last night—the one with young children and she was saying from the garage to the house there is always so much stuff to bring in and then there is clutter everywhere. (For one thing that is an exaggeration—we may feel like clutter is everywhere, but stop and give yourself credit—there will be some where there is no clutter).

We started talking about each separate thing she always has to bring in from the car and came up with a plan. One thing that is a necessity to control clutter is to have things available to stop clutter in its tracks.

•Have garbage cans handy to toss trash so it doesn’t even get in the house.
•Designate a bag for the “stuff” that has to come back in the home like Sippy cups, water bottles, toys etc. Then after unloading it, hang it on the door knob to remember to take it back to the car.
•Limit the amount of toys or other things that are taken to the car in the first place. Maybe have car toys that actually “live” in the car that the kids can play with only in the car.

Do you have clutter control ideas that can help young mothers who struggle with this same problem?

Here I am “clearing clutter”. When we were traveling between the canyons in Southern Utah we stopped for water and took time for this photo opportunity. Actually this would be the hard way to clear clutter—just whipping it into shape.

My system to clear clutter effectively is a simple three process.

1. Searchlight—evaluate what works for you and what doesn’t work for you. Write it down in a notebook.
2. Spotlight—set goals to achieve what you want your space to look like. Write these down also.
3. Green light—go, go, go. This is the time to dig in and organize.

By following this simple three step process we can all clear clutter simply and maybe even easily in every room in our homes.

By the way, does this photo make my ears look big?

A picture is worth a thousand words. These beautiful pictures of Cedar Breaks and Zions in Utah is where I was last week. I wanted to share the beauty with you and to make an observation about pictures.
When you are getting rid of clutter in your home before you start take a picture. Then after you are finished getting rid of clutter in any specific room or even in an area in a room take a picture. We all think we will remember how horrible it was—but truly we don’t. And if feels so great to look at the before and after photos and enjoy the progress we made.

Send me your before and after photos and we will post them here. (No names included unless you give permission).

As you can tell Kitchens are on my mind this week. Here are 4 tips to get rid of clutter in the kitchen:

1. To protect your wrists and arms from burns use full-sized oven mitts instead of hot pads. Toss worn out hot pads or mitts—those that have been burned and are ugly or those worn thin and don’t really work anymore. You deserve nice ones!
2. Place heavy food items like flour and sugar on lower shelves. This saves your back and prevents dropping heavy items as you are getting them out of the cupboard.
3. Check expiration dates often to prevent spoilage. When you get rid of clutter don’t you feel good to throw out that icky spoiled food? Check the fridge often to avoid food spoiling—same for canned foods.
4. Mark expiration dates with a bold marker so they are easily readable. This is a good practice to do with prescription medications also.

We would love to hear what you do to get rid of clutter in your kitchen.

Clutter control in the kitchen is the theme of my blogs this week. Here are 4 more ideas on how to get a handle on clutter control in your kitchen. When we don’t have clutter around we feel so much better about ourselves and our homes.

4 timely tips on clutter control for your kitchen:

1. Have a landing place for mail, like a basket or some other container. It is easy to move to the office or other places where you like to sort mail.
2. In a cabinet below the counter place small appliances you don’t use every day. This will make more counter space and reduce clutter.
3. Add inexpensive, under-cabinet lighting to make it easier to work, to see and to clean the countertops. Battery-powered, stick-on varieties are available at most home improvement stores. I also use this as a “night light” that the last one home at night can turn off, but it makes it cheery for them when they come home after dark.
4. Clearly post emergency numbers for poison control, neighbor’s phone numbers and relative’s numbers. In an emergency it is easy to forget even often called numbers. Write these numbers in large print so they can be seen easily. Also program them into your phone and have a list of the programmed numbers.

What clutter control have you done in your kitchen?

Stay in touch with grandma is how they advertize this great service I just found on the web. Check out sunnygram.com for customized newsletters by mail, unlimited free responses by mail or phone, and more for only $9.95 a month.

You email it (a normal email whatever that means and photos too) to your loved one’s Sunnygram address, they then mail it and your loved one receives a weekly newsletter in the mail with all your updates. And they respond back using personalized stationary or the phone.

This sounds great for people who shun computers. There’s more than one way to “skin a cat”, send messages, and clear clutter.

Clear clutter today by starting on a project that you have been putting off. You’ll have it done in no time and will feel less stress and reduce depression by just getting it done.

The kitchen is the heart of our homes. It is the gathering place for special dinners, breakfasts, snacks and maybe after noon gossip (good kind of course). But with all of these activities do you need to clear clutter in your kitchen?

Her are 4 tips on how to clear clutter in your kitchen:

1. If your cabinets are so high that you have to use a stool to reach items, which can be risky, move heavier items or the things you use every day to the lower shelves. Now is the time to consider getting rid of those appliances (like a bread maker) that you no longer use to reduce clutter.
2. Use a “lazy Susan” or flat round tray that spins easily inside a deep shelf or a corner cabinet. This saves space and lets you reach items easily from the back of your cabinet.
3. Install ready-made, slide-out shelves or baskets in cabinets so you don’t have to reach to find what you are looking for. These are very inexpensive and come in white or stainless steel.
4. Keep countertops clear of unnecessary clutter. This will free up more space to work.

Happy de-cluttering your kitchen!

I sure feel a lot better today that I did over 20 years ago today (I hadn’t better say exactly how many years ago). My oldest daughter’s birthday is today. Happy, Happy Birthday Cindy. I have to say she has always loved to clear clutter much to my chagrin sometimes. When she was going into High School she said to me one day that she had just thrown away everything she had kept from elementary school up to that point. Things like her diary, old photographs, and other items. (I gasped)

I told her that when we clear clutter we don’t have to throw away everything. Finding places for things we cherish and want to keep, and that have meaning for us is an important part of clearing clutter. When things are organized it is no longer clutter.

Happy Birthday Cindy, I hope all your wishes will come true.

Are you a member of AARP? This is an organization for adults over 55. They get some great discounts—it almost makes you wish you were over 55.

Check out www.aarp.com/carrentals for discounts from six major car rental companies for discounts that range from 5 percent to 25 percent.

Forget about getting rid of clutter, take a vacation and enjoy car rental discounts.

For those of us who are staying home and are planning on getting rid of clutter in our homes remember to do it a little at a time. Just take a small bite so you don’t become overwhelmed and discouraged.

True confession: I have been putting off clearing clutter in my stack trays on my desk, I am going to commit to going through every pile right now and I know as I clear clutter I will feel so much better. Hum, I will do one shelf a day until it is done. That is how to do just a little at a time. I feel better already having made my decision.

What have you been putting off doing in your getting rid of clutter quest?

It is so nice when someone lets me know that my advice works. As a professional organizer I give a lot of tips about organizing everything in your homes and lives. My friend Edna told me she wanted to get rid of clutter in her home and more specifically the clutter she has with her photos.

I recommend to get rid of clutter when it comes to those boxes of photos or envelops of photos or even lose photos to follow these 4 tips:

•Gather your photos all in one place.
•Set a timer and start going through your photos and get rid of the ones you don’t remember or never knew who they were. Get rid of bad pictures. You know the ones where someone looks ugly and they really aren’t or the photo is fuzzy or a picture of the sky or floor was taken by mistake. When the timer dings take a break and come back later.
•Organize your photos the way you want—by person, event, year etc. If you don’t care, that is okay. If your goal is just to get them in an album that’s fine.
•Buy a photo album where you can slip in the photos, write next to it who it is and if you want the date it was taken. Embellish with stickers if you want and voila you are done.

This method makes getting rid of clutter easy and you feel so good having your photos organized without spending a small fortune and taking up all your time.

This is the technique Edna used and she told me she feels so good to have her photos all in one place and she doesn’t have to worry about them anymore and she can enjoy them.