30 day$ to a Clutter Free Life

30 days is all it takes to learn a new habit so...Ready, Set, Go!  Choose one or all of the following ideas to achieve a less cluttered home and life, decrease your stress and possibly save money while you are doing it too.  Practice your new clutter free tip daily for a more organized life in just one month!

Paper and laundry cause my home to be in more disarray than everything else combined so I will tackle those first.

1)  The MAIL:
Open it, read it, file it or toss it!
I use a plastic file envelope to store bills.  When they arrive I file them in the envelope to await the bi-weekly bill paying session.  I store any checks that need depositing here too.  I toss JUNK Mail as soon as I know it's junk, place magazines and newspapers in a basket and save them to read later.  No counter clutter!  Daily newspapers are placed in a decorative basket and thrown out on trash day.

Magazines are sequestered in decorative baskets and taken to the Half Price book store periodically to redeem for cash!

2)  The LAUNDRY:
Have hampers or laundry baskets in areas where your family sheds their dirties.  For us that is the teenager daughters bedroom AND Bathroom.   I run a load of  laundry almost every evening.  It gets paced in the dryer first thing in the morning and is ready to be hung up before I go to work.  Hung up=less ironing. Towels and undies can be left to sit in the dryer if I run short of time.

I'm fortunate enough to have a small laundry room that is close to a closet.  I store hangers on top of the dryer in a cardboard container I got for FREE from the local dry cleaner.  When clothes come out of the dryer they are folded or hung up and take up stairs later than night OR put in a closet to be ironed at a later date.

3)  Death or TAXES:
I have a shoe-box that I label with the year in big bold letters.  Any receipt, tax mailing, bank ledgers and statements all go into the box in the event I'll need them at tax time.  (see #1)

4)  A year of SCHOOL items
12 x 12 scrapbook boxes make a great storage place for report cards, art work and newspaper clippings.  If you scrapbook you'll have all of juniors year in one place and in order!  If not, label with the year and store away!

These are OLD boxes that I use to store scrapbook papers in since I never throw anything away but plastic ones are available at craft stores like Michael's or Joann's for under $10.

Check back for more tips to an organized life in my next post!