Clean Sweep Is It For You?

"More Then a Name for a TV Show"

Getting organized at home can be challenging especially for homes that have one parent households or both parents work, or where the family's schedule is constantly go and go some more. For most people, having an organized home is a continuous test of patience and determination.

Do you have a specific place, more then one spot, or an entire room in your home that desperately needs a clean sweep? Have you ignored those spots so long that the dirty sites are nagging you in the back of your mind? Don't grit your teeth and sigh; we have all been there at one point or another. There are easy solutions to your problem areas, let's do a clean sweep!

The guideline questions for clean sweeping your dirty room are; when did I last use this? When did I last wear this? When did I last play with this toy? What condition is the item in question found? The general answers to these questions are, if item is in bad condition throw it out. If you used the item the last time more then 18 months ago, donate it to charity or your garage sale. Toys can be tricky, are they memorable because they have meaning or are you a packrat?

Your ability to clean sweep the room depends on your willingness to be honest with yourself, but you say, it's a shame to throw out good stuff. If your "stuff" in question is in good condition, ask yourself, do you really want to keep this? If no, then you need to do some research on where to sell the items or where to donate it.

A problem a lot of households face is the paper issues, we generate a lot of paper, what to do with it all? Let's break down our paper mess. You need to divide your paper into several piles. Pile one, should be all the paper that has your personal information with on it, such as social security numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers. The second pile should be for each person in your household, and the third pile is for the trash. Anything that does not belong to one of your family members or have personal information on them needs to be placed in a trash bag and put to the curb.

Now, let's clean sweep the two piles that we have left. The pile that belongs to family members needs to be placed on the dining room table and when they gather for the evening meal, you need to ask them, to sort through it and throw out what they don't want and then they need to place it neatly in their rooms.

The last pile needs to be separated further, the first pile needs to be items that have nothing to do with paying your taxes, and the other is the paper pile that you will need to take to your tax accountant.

The pile that has nothing to do with taxes, you need to shred. Remember that trash is public domain and identity thieves like to go dumpster diving. Shred the papers that you don't need to take to your tax accountant and put the shredded paper to the curb.

The pile of papers that you need to take to your accountant needs to be placed in a file folder; ideally, you should have 12 folders. (They should have ends that are enclosed.) One folder for each month of the year, place the receipts dated in that month in the matching folder. Place your folders in a special spot, so the next time you have a tax receipt it can go straight into the proper folder.

Now, you're saying, but the spot that's a mess and needs a clean sweep is not paper, what do I do now? What are the items? If they are decorations for a holiday, purchase plastic containers that you can stack and place them inside, a closet under the short clothes, if your closet has shelves place these containers on the shelves. If your bed is high off the floor and depending on the shape of your container, you can slip the boxes underneath your bed.

Are you saying you don't have time for a clean sweep? Well, clean sweep one spot each night when you get home, five work nights equals five spots are clean swept each week, seven spots if you do one spot on each weekend day. Eventually all those untidy areas of your home will turn into clean rooms and lend a sparkling feeling to your dwelling.

Last, but not least helpful organization tips for that room that is entirely a disaster. First, enlist the help of your entire family. Advise them of what you are planning to do and agree on a weekend day that everyone can pitch in for a clean sweep of the room.

Now you have helpers. On the day, you have chosen for your clean sweep, have all the stuff taken out of the room. Divide the items up into three piles, keep, maybe keep, and toss out. After removing the items from the room, get trash bags out and dispose of all the stuff in the toss out pile.

Now apply the questions that we discussed above to the two remaining piles and divide both piles again into charity, garage sale, and keep. After this, take the stuff to the car that is going to be donated to charity and take it immediately to that charity.

If you have items to sell, keep them in the garage and the next sunny day, drag them to your yard and sell what you can, however, if you don't sell all the stuff, the rest of the garage sale items need to be taken to a charity.

Now all you should have left is the pile of belongings that you want to keep. Now evaluate your room. What are you going to use this room before it became chronically disorganized?

Now make it into that room. If you need shelving, buy it, if you need new paint get it, if you have a closet and have no intention on using the closet for clothing, use it for storage and put shelving into it. Old dressers are wonderful for storage if you are short on funds.

Regardless of which room or rooms in your home that requires a clean sweep, the guideline questions remain the same. When did I use this last? What condition is it in? Why am I keeping this item? If you cannot give a good answer to two of these questions, then you really need to dispose of the property in question.

When you move into the final phase of your clean sweep, you need to visualize the way you see the room when you are all done with the clean sweep and work towards those goals. There many ways to reach your final goal, sometimes it might be easier to go the store where they sell organization goods and price what you have in mind and then ask if there is a cheaper way to accomplish your final goals.

When you final touches are made to the clean room, show it off to your family and friends. To keep a real fund record of your clean sweep, take before and after pictures.

Another ideal way to optimize a clean sweep is as you are packing to move to another residence. You apply the guideline questions, but a much grader scale, the key is to evaluate everything you pack with extreme prejudiced. After all, if you trash it, give it away, or sell it, you will have to pack and move it! The extra space you will have in your new home will astound and please you and make you proud of your clean sweep.

Now you have turned your chronic disorganization into a totally organized home. Congratulations on a successful clean sweep!