Sure, life is messy but that doesn’t mean your house has to be. We all have our “non-collectible collections” those large groups of items we keep adding to even though they’re not worth much to anyone but us. For me it’s books, magazine articles, and information printed off the Internet. As time goes on and clutter builds up, every drawer, closet, corner and flat surface in your home becomes affected.

And the more clutter, the more chaos. You can’t find bills when they need to be paid, movies and library books when they need to be returned, or a clean spot to do crafts or play games as a family.

Getting rid of clutter (if it isn’t a major issue and you’re not a packrat) doesn’t have to be an enormous task or require whole weekends of work.

Depending on how bad the clutter is, divide your home into “zones” and “hot spots” that seem to attract clutter in your home. In my house, I have zones like; my daughter’s toy corner, my home office desk, and my hallway closet. Hot spots at my house include the top of our entertainment center and the top of our microwave. Do you know what the zones and hot spots in your home are? Good.

First, grab a trash bag and spend fifteen minutes walking from room to room, throwing away anything that is obviously garbage. Junk mail, papers, old magazines, and empty cartons for example.

Now that that’s done, everyday commit to clearing out one zone or hot spot of anything that doesn’t belong there or that you don’t want there. As tough as it may be, don’t keep things just because they were gifts and you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Don’t keep things that don’t belong to you. Call the owners of the items and give then a few days or a week to pick up their things or they’ll be donated.

As you’re going through each zone or hot spot, keep three boxes or bags with you. One is for trash, one for donation or selling and one is for keeping but not where it was – where it belongs instead. If you keep doing a little each day, before you know it your clutter will be under control.

Unfortunately the work doesn’t end there. You have to set up some rules about what is allowed to come in and where things need to go.

For some really good tips, check out “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh of the hit show Clean Sweep