Cubic Clutter Busting--

We all know the room, it could be an attic, an extra bedroom, our ten year old son's room, our own bedrooms; but it has so much junk, clothes, things, boxes, books, shoes, etc., that you feel that there is no hope.

Well, let me tell you, there is hope, there is a way to do it without going crazy or losing the rest of the house while you do it. I call it cubic packaging. First of all spend a few minutes analyzing the mess. Is it mainly laundry? Books? Craft projects? Hubby's hobby supplies? Using the chart below, gather the needed supplies to package the mess so that you can methodically sort and deal with it.

Gather your supplies, start in the middle of the room or the bed, shove everything over to one side so you have room to sit down with everything around you. Without taking time to figure out whether you want things or not, simply sort by what it is. It helps later to sort dark laundry in one pillowcase and light/white in another. A pillowcase holds close to one full load of laundry. Don't stuff it too full. It helps to have the boxes close to the same size for stacking purposes. We got a painter friend to give us paint buckets, which get used for tools for projects, cleanup, mixing and storing certain tools. They can stack together, hang on a hook or nail or even be emergency seating.

Each of these containers now becomes a Cube for the actual clutter busting and sorting. I found that nearly half the junk in my disaster room was actually packaging material, trash and true junk and went out in the garbage. The clothing filled several pillowcases and was taken care of by doing one extra load a day over two weeks. The books turned out to be the loved ones and were then placed in bookcases that we made in each child's room. The hardest boxes were the ones filled with all the good, but why in the world are we saving it, type things. I had the hardest time tossing even the smallest bead, even though I have seven shoe boxes filled with various beads. But, I would still do the tedious sorting since I found my missing antique diamond earring that I thought I had lost nearly ten years ago. Enjoy the sense of neatness that you create. Let it just be for a day or two before you dig in and start sorting the contained mess. (Label the boxes so that you know where to start looking if you package an important paper or library book.)

The faster you go through things, the more accurate you are about their value to you. Everything can become important to you if you sit and think about it for awhile. I do put all throwaway things in a black bag so that I can't see it (neither can my family members); same with thrift shop items. I do have a box where I put things that I am not sure about, and I go through it every time one of my four sorting boxes gets full. It gets easier and easier to throw things when you have handled them twenty times and still don't have a clue where it should go.

I do not recommend this style for every room, but it is a marvelous technique for that day when you are so overwhelmed that it seems hopeless, or when you have company coming and you have to have the space cleaned up. This way you aren't just stashing and stuffing, it is organized so that you can continue from that point. You have a direction to go. This also works as a way to do a speed cleanup of the house. For that I use a laundry basket, put everything that doesn't belong in the laundry basket, pull it to sorting center and GO!