Spring Home Improvement LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com May 1, 2015 25
Learning to live with less
Decluttering:
T
he TV show “Hoarding: Buried Alive”
demonstrates how easy it is for people
to let clutter take over their lives. People
who accumulate a lot over the years may
feel guilty about getting rid of it.
As JULIE MCCORMICK exclaims,
“Clutter can
distract you,
weigh you
down, and
in general it
invites chaos
into your life.”
As much as
some may
want a clutter
fairy to make
it all disappear
overnight, that
is not going to
happen. The
work can seem
overwhelming,
but the results
are likely to pay
off.
When decluttering, some “victims” attempt
to rescue themselves by organizing and
storing items. However, others see such
efforts as just a way of rearranging the
unnecessary clutter.
Joshua Becker, in his article “Don’t Just
Declutter, De-own.” He asserts that is it
important to “challenge yourself to remove
the unneeded things in your home.” His
suggestion is to “Carry a trash bag from
room-to-room. See how big of a donation
pile you can make. Or help eliminate debt
by selling them.
It doesn’t matter
so much how you
remove them, as
long as you do.
For it is far better
to de-own than
declutter.”
Among the
strategies offered
by Cynthia Ewer
in “Declutter 101:
Strategies To Cut
Clutter,” is “The
Four-Box method,”
which she says
“forces a decision,
item by item.”
It requires an
individual to take
“three boxes and a large trash can” The
boxes should be labeled “Put Away,” “Give
Away/Sell” and “Storage.” Items that need
to be thrown away go in the trash can.
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