Bonnie's great tip defines Clutter. Next, decide what to do with clutter. For example, I have a large-ish shopping bag in the laundry room to dump clothes that are no longer wear-able - shabby, stained,threadbare, not worth repairing etc. Problems are easy to identify during the laundry process. Through-out season I ask everyone to bring wrecked stuff with their laundry for disposal. If I get clean clothes along with laundry because it 'just didn't look right' it's my clue to add to the 'donate' box.

We have a box subdivided for newspapers, magazines/catalogues & paper which when full goes to communities recycle bin @ the shopping centre.

Anything that is in need of repair is dated with a bit of masking tape. If not fixed in two pay cycles, it's clutter
...out-it-goes.

Cyd, that's great that you have the family trained to bring those items that just don't look right....what a nice way to do it. Good idea to label with a date for repairs....that's a great way to keep tabs on what should go out and when!

Helen- How about giving us an update as you work on your project? We will be your cheering section.

I've begun selecting at least 5 items a day to donate or toss - not include usual, regular household trash like empty food containers, etc.

CO, that is something I could benefit from too! Need to seriously consider joining you!

I've been trying to devote 15 minutes a day to decluttering - it's just enough time to do a drawer or shelf and makes me feels as if I'm accomplishing something, even if the process is slow.

Visual clutter really isn't a problem for me ... it's the sneaky, hidden clutter (drawers, cabinets, etc.) that I'm guilty of providing real estate for! LOL!

I have DS trained to say "Yes" to every charity that calls. I think the charities continue to call their faithrul donators on a regular basis. Sometimes I've had two or even three in the same week!

I'm actually so decluttered now I might tell the next charity that I don't have anything now, but to call again in, say, 3 months. Fact is, even if I had goodies to donate, I don't have time to organize them.

In general, though, I get enough calls that I don't really need a separate declutter day. When I decide I don't need or want something any more, it goes into the "Donate" box. When one box fills up, I start another. The next time a charity calls, I put its name on the box. It gets whatever has accumulated, PLUS whatever I find by going, at that point, through drawers and closets. Sometimes I have enough in the boxes and don't look further. When the donation seems a bit skimpy, I make sure to look through all or most of what we have, so as to be able to give a bit more away. This system has enabled us to move a lot of items out of the house.

This past Christmas, I finally gave away our artificial tree, to neighbors across the street, along with some ornaments. I gave quite a few other Christmas items to charity, because they were "young" and DS had kind of outgrown them, as well as being in keeping with my aim of simplifying the season.

I also gave my old bike away, in as-is condition. It actually was OK, but needed tires pumped up or maybe replaced. I've told myself I can get a new one when I get the shed organized and have room to store it properly - the other one was so hard to get to I wasn't riding it much.

I expect when it finally warms up around here and I tackle our shed, there will be more goodies to give away.

Oh, how I miss charity trucks that come to your house! We now live so far out in the country that we have to drive our donations to a drop off when we're in the city. But, it sure was nice when we lived in the city and could just leave things on our doorstep.

CO, I'm thrilled to be back in a place that has that again! Yesterday I got rid of 14 large boxes of stuff. The truck came by early in the am and out it went. I also have a bag full in the bedroom closet. Need to drop that by on my next outing!

Whoo Hooo!