do you have intense clutter?

Do you have intense clutter? You are not alone. Whether it's an emotional attachment to family heirlooms or a fear of needing it someday; it is a common problem among nearly all of my clients (and lots of other people too). We get frustrated by the magnitude of our problem and are paralyzed to the point of not being able to know where to start. Here are some solutions to help you deal with your clutter and prevent future accumulation.

1. Get Help! Let's face it; we are all attached to our stuff. As a result, we find it difficult to make the decision to let go. For totally objective help, call a professional organizer. Not only are they able to help you to purge the clutter, they can help you to set up a workable solution for organizing what remains, and help you to avoid future problems.

2. Pack up and leave: No, we aren't advising just walking away from it all permanently. But, if you are paralyzed and just can't do it, pack up a weekend bag, or a week's worth, leave and let someone else come in and clear out the clutter. This can be frightening because you have no say in what stays and what goes. But, it may be just what you need to do to finally get rid of the clutter.

3. Do a little imagining: Imagine you only have three hours to gather what is important to you and evacuate your home. When you're faced with the need to make that decision, it becomes much clearer to you what you can and can't live without. When you realize this, you also realize how little of the rest you really need.

4. Make a comparison: Take a visit to a women's shelter, or an organization that has transitional housing. Once you see how great their need is for goods, and how little they have, you may find it easier to let go of your excess.

5. Live out of the box: Choose a room and pack it up--just as if you were moving. As you need things, remove them from the boxes. Whatever hasn't been removed in a month's worth of time gets donated. Drastic? Yes. Effective? Yes.

These ideas may sound ridiculous to you right now, but if you are serious about clearing a huge amount of clutter from your home, you may have to take drastic measures! From my experience (which is a lot!) I witness the stress melting off my client’s shoulders after the clutter has been cleared from a room in their home. It’s overwhelming but it’s worth it.