(Too) much stuff?!... cleanup tips please!

[hokuspokus]

So, my room is só messy    And it's not like i'm a messy person, i just seem to have too much stuff!
Actually, i try to clean up when the first stuff is lying around: i put the books together on their shelves, hang my clothes in the closet bla bla.. but it keeps looking messy in here! 




It's like i have too much stuff, although i have threw away stuff at least 5 times last year. I'm not hamsering stuff and yet it seems too much... is there any one who has good clean up tips for me? A step by step plan? I could use some help here!




The worst thing is, my messy room makes my head also messy. I can't seem to find my rest. I'd really like to change this, but it never seems to work.

[teresat]

I'm in the midst of cleaning a house full of a decade of accumulating stuff.

I've been doing what's easiest for me first.
-Magazines and catalogs that have piled up. If they're out of date and not interesting out they go. It can all be found on the internet. I just keep track of topics or websites.
- Books that I have read or will never read. Off to the used book store they go.
- Clothing I haven't worn in a long time
- Old CDs, DVDs, and other media goes out too

I'm learning to keep bins for donate and sell, not just discard. I keep putting things in there that I find. I also don't second guess myself. Once I decide it goes it goes!

Don't know if that helps but I found it to be a good start for me.

[lemontwist]

Sounds like you might need more storage. Under-bed storage totes are what I like. Even if you "organize", if it still seems like you have too much stuff, it's probably because it's all out where it can be seen, leaving what's basically "organized clutter" lol.

For cleaning and organizing in general- 20 minute cleaning periods with 10 minute breaks between. If you wear yourself out working on it for too long all at once, you won't have as much motivation to clean more often. If you can get it pristine clean, then devote 10 minutes a day to spot-cleaning and it should be okay.

[Eviecorn]

Man, this is my life story!  I find getting rid of stuff is easy when you break it down to things you absolutely couldn't live without versus things you never think about.  Then I donate everything in the second category.

I'm the worst about clothes.  Every time I move I get rid of a bunch, but somehow it grows again ... time to get out the leaf bags! 

[Sonata]

When I was in Portugal living with my family, I used to give a massive clean-up once a year. All I didn't want anymore I would donate and other things that I didn't need and were useless, like catalogues of... stuff, I would just throw away. Now that I am in London, I am slowly bringing stuff here so that I can sell them on Ebay, specially the loads of clothes I have ! It has been going well so far. But if you want to keep everything, maybe you need more storage ! I love cute boxes to keep everything separated~ But I think you should probably look around the room and see if you can make it better organized and more some furniture around to make more space~ That might help. But yes, it is hard because it IS organized in a way, except it's all in a place that can be seen. I still struggle with that nowadays lol

[kaoskat]

Don't look at me. I can't seem to manage either! But I do wish you luck! These sound like good ideas so far!

[GazeboMouse]

The only thing that works in my messy house are storage boxes. I used to have loads of big plastic ones, but it meant I was bunging all sorts into them and made them a nightmare to sort out when I was looking for something.
So I changed to decorative cardboard storage boxes, and only put things of one category in each. Eg photos, letters, jewellery, childhood souvenirs, film merchandise, etc. So now there are more boxes but they look ok piled up, I can find things instantly, and if something doesn't fit in a category of things I'm collecting or keeping, it goes. And I can get rid of stuff a box at a time if I need to.

[StoryDreamer]

Take pictures of things like childhood toy, art, etc. Things that have sentimental value but you want to get rid of.

[TexasGal]

What I have done that helps is a fairly easy thing to start and keep going.  Take fifteen minutes and only fifteen minutes, and clean up one little area at a time.  Get it thoroughly clean, from top to bottom.  Throw away things, put things in a box to sell, and others in a box to give away.  Do it for only fifteen minutes to keep from getting burnt out on it, and after the 15 is up, do something else for 15, then back to another spot.  Make sure to put things back where they go when you are done, and remember this...it saved me, so it might save you:  books can be borrowed from the library or donated to Half Price or another bookstore of your choice.  It can give you some money back, or keep you from spending it at all!  Also, DVDs can be taken out of cases and put into those big cases that hold bunches of them...if I didn't do that, I'd have a million movies everywhere...and my husband would be worse! 

[teresat]

Take pictures of things like childhood toy, art, etc. Things that have sentimental value but you want to get rid of.

Yes! I forgot about this. It's such a habit with me though with the kids' artwork. Too bad this doesn't work with ponies.

[hokuspokus]

Those tips are wonderfull! thanks guys I think i can use them quite well!!
*off to clean up right now*

[Kiwi]

Good luck with the cleaning

I tend to look at the overall room and pick out what is bugging me the most (sometimes it's papers, sometimes dishes, etc) and take care of that first.