5 a day to keep the clutter away

photo credit: mary_thompson

Since July was a No Spend Month, I though we’d focus on something new for the month of August. We’re still going to keep an eye on the budget, but I need to think about something else for awhile.

Maybe the distraction will help me spend less? I’ll let you know.

clutter cramps my style

I loathe clutter. To me it’s just more stuff to put away, pay attention to, or clean. I would much rather have less stuff so I can spend more time gardening, reading, writing, or hanging out with the family.

found money

Clutter also represents wasted money. I work occasionally as a professional organizer. Whenever I clean my own home, or someone else’s home we literally find money. While cleaning out my coat closet I found 3 overdue library books. I’ll return them so we don’t have to pay $75.50 to replace them.

I once worked with a client who found several hundred dollars in gift cards, savings bonds, and some important tax documents. Another time it was $80 stuffed in a coat pocket.

Beyond that though you may find things which are sellable, and net a tidy profit from a few hours of decluttering. At the very least you can get the value of the items and take a tax deduction.

the challenge

I’m calling August’s challenge 5 a day to keep the clutter away.

The guidelines are simple.

• Find 5 things a day that you can get rid of. Size doesn’t matter. It could be a spoonrest or an entire wardrobe.
• Put them in a box/bag/bin in an out of the way area (your garage, laundry room, a closet)
• At the end of each week or the month depending on your storage space, trash, give away or donate all the items
• If you find something that indeed is sale-worthy you have the month to sell it. If by the end of August it’s still in your box, it goes, and you get a nice tax write-off.

Options for getting rid of your items include:

• Goodwill/Salvation Army/other charities
• for toys/kid’s clothing consider a local domestic violence shelter
• Craig’s List (free or for sale)
• Freecycle
• Ebay
• Be creative! Maybe you have a friend who could use your old lawnmower, or you create a neighborhood swap.

By the end of the month you should have 155 things to go. Take a photo of it and send it to me via email, or you can tweet my using #5/clutteraway.

Let me know in the comments if you are going to participate, and tell me what your struggles are with stuff.

I find that most people have issues letting things go for one reason or another, and I’m happy to help you work through yours. Feel free to email me, contact me on twitter, or comment here.

A few things that will tie-in with the 5 a day challenge:

• live chat
• videos to show you how I determine if things are saleworthy, and how I choose what to get rid of
• a possible giveaway! (working on sponsors for this right now, feel free to email me if you have a product that ties in with the challenge)

Looking forward to hearing what you think, and getting rid of the clutter with you! My house needs it!

Kelly

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About Kelly

Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.

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Tagged as: 5/day challenge, organization, organizing