Have you ever glanced around your house, sighed deeply, threw

up your arms in despair and watched television instead? We all

have.

For some of us, our entire homes are disasters. We have stuff

everywhere, we don't know how to organize it, and the home

is never clean.

Others of us may have sparkling homes--as long as you don't

open that closet door! Or maybe our living rooms look great, but

the bedrooms look like Kansas during tornado season.

So let's be honest: Stuff piled up = emotional exhaustion.

It's that simple. If you have to walk by clutter everyday of your

life, you're going to feel as if there's a job that you haven't

done, but at the same time feel too overwhelmed to attack it.

And sometimes, if we're honest with ourselves, we don't want to.

We're afraid to throw anything out. Maybe your kids are 8 and 10,

but you still have garbage bags full of baby clothes in their

closet, leaving no room for their clothes, which are now all

over their floor or bulging out of drawers. Or maybe you don't

have room for that heirloom silver brush and mirror set your

grandmother gave you in your bedroom, because your husband's

trophies from the softball tournament in sixth grade are there,

along with VISA statements from 7 years ago, last year's

birthday cards, and slips of phone numbers you didn't want

to forget.

It's too overwhelming to tackle, so you do nothing, and

that emotional exhaustion builds and builds and builds.

So let's decide that we're going to use some of the time we

have this summer to tackle it before school begins again. But

don't worry; I'm not going to make you do it all at once. Here

are some tips for defeating clutter:

1. Set the timer for 10 minutes, and do just one small part.

If the whole bedroom is overwhelming, just do one bookshelf,

or one drawer.

2. Have three boxes on hand: one for things to give away, one

for things to throw away, and one for things you're not sure

about. Pack up all the things you're not sure about, tape

up the box, but the date on it, and stuff it in the closet.

If, one year after that date, you haven't opened the box,

give it away without opening it again! You don't really

need that stuff.

3. Throw out everything you don't really love. Knick knacks

just collect dust, and if they don't make you feel wonderful,

chuck them. Only keep things in your house that make you

feel good (that's why my house has very few knick knacks but

tons and tons of family photos).

4. Throw out clothes that make you feel ugly. Don't wear

something that makes you miserable, even if you paid a lot

of money for it. It's better to have only six outfits if you

feel they flatter you than twenty that make you feel dumpy.

Besides that, it takes up far less room in the closet!

So that's it: try ten minutes a day. It's amazing how much

you can get done in ten minutes, and soon your emotional

energy will return!

Best of all, once you've decluttered, it's easier to keep the

house neat. From now on, have a rule: if something comes in the

house, something goes out. Keep a box in your front hall closet

of things for Goodwill, and fill it up on a regular basis.

The less stuff you have, the less there is to tidy and to clean!

From the July 2003 edition of To Love, Honor and Vacuum newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

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Do you feel like you need to get more organized around the house?

Check out my book To Love, Honor and Vacuum, which gives you great ideas and tips to do just that--and relieve your stress in the process.