love it...or lose it!

When your closets become difficult to close, your cupboards are overflowing with dishes, and your storage area has reached capacity, it's clearly time for an organization intervention!

It is a challenging task, however, to make your mind up to eliminate the unnecessary and useless items and bring more order and organization to your home. By taking a logical “love it” or “lose it” approach to organizing your home, you will easily clear your cherished storage spaces of superfluous clutter and perhaps even clear your mind in the process!

KITCHEN:

Love it: Plates, bowls, cups, and glasses that coordinate and easily nest into other pieces.
Lose it: Storage containers that are missing their tops or bottoms, dishes that do not nest into other pieces, chipped or broken glassware, and your massive collection of water bottles and coffee cups.

MEDIA:

Love it: Any movie that you watch repeatedly and classic books you enjoy revisiting.
Lose it: 8 tracks, books you never intend to read, your entire collection of CD's (after you transfer them onto a computer or MP3 player).

KNICKKNACKS: (I personally would say to lose all of them…but I’ll be nice!)

Love it: Memorabilia from special events, souvenirs from vacations, and small collections…as long as they can be beautifully displayed with adequate shelf space.
Lose it: Everything else!

CLOTHING

Love it: Your favorite sweatshirt and pair of jeans, an appropriate mixture of business and casual clothing, and at least one of each basic clothing item.
Lose it: Those clothes you `hope to fit into one day,' clothing that is stained, damaged, or waiting more than 6 months for repair, outdated and out of style clothes.

Taking a `Love It or Lose It' approach to getting organized will simplify decisions made in the process of your next organization intervention. The predetermined deciding factors will serve as guidelines as you easily choose which items will stay and which will soon find another home.