Table of Contents

-Introduction
-Did you know?
-Monthly Mission – Bedrooms and Closets
-Check Out These Pages! – Relevant pages and new site additions
-8 Advantages of Owning Less Stuff

Introduction

Welcome to February! I’m hoping that everyone has reclaimed their homes from the holiday decorations. Now that ours are gone, we’re back to focusing on the other clutter around the house. I have been feeling that we simply have too much stuff, even though I try to purge things regularly. I know there is more I can let go of. Not to mention the rest of the people in my family. It’s also hard to keep things clean when there is clutter in the way. I decided that we needed to sit down as a family to discuss the situation and what we all can do as part of a team to make the house more tidy and comfortable.

My daughter and her clutter are a big frustration for me. She is a perfect example of how having too much stuff makes it too difficult to manage, let alone have time and space to play with it all. I have worked with her to get it cleaned up a bit, but we still have a lot of work to do. Perhaps I will look at this as a learning experiment instead of as my kid just trying to drive me crazy!

Click the logo above to learn more!

Did you know…

Continuing to rise, 8.96% of all American households currently rent a self storage unit. And 30% of those people intend to store their belongings for more than two years.

We have used such a facility while selling our last home. However, it doesn’t make sense to store items long term because eventually the rent becomes more than the value of the items stored.

(Resource: http://www.selfstorage.org/ssa/Content/NavigationMenu/AboutSSA/FactSheet/default.htm )

Here are some pertinent pages on the website you may have missed along with any new pages.

Home Filing System - Keep all your paperwork in order so you can find what you need at a moments notice, and learn what to keep and what to toss.

Living Room Storage Make-over - See how we re-organized our living room (play room) with a new Ikea wall unit that's great for storing lots of stuff.

Closet Organizing Products - Suggestions for products to use when decluttering and organizing your closets.

Organizing Your Day - Suggestions on how to better organize your day so you can get more done in less time and with less stress.

Garage Makeover - before and after photos of my personal garage makeover. See how we tackled the problems and ended up with a functional garage.

Streamline Your Morning Routine - Ideas to help you get out the door in the morning and be on time for work or school.

8 Advantages of Owning Less Stuff

• Finding things is easier. If you only own what you need and love, and have things put away and organized, you will be able to find things much easier and quicker.

• Cleaning is easier. It’s hard to vacuum the floor if you can’t get to it, or wipe down the counters if you can’t see them. Less stuff to move makes cleaning easier.

• Walking through your home is easier. I love that feeling of being able to walk through a room without having to step over or around things. It’s a feeling of freedom. Even the kids love to spin and twirl in a freshly cleaned open space.

• More storage space in your home. If you get rid of things you don’t want/use/need, you will have more space to store the things you actually want, love and need. Empty a closet of what you don’t need and you have new storage space!

• You won’t buy duplicates. When you can clearly see what’s in your home, you won’t buy things you didn’t realize you already had.

• Less Stress. The less you own, the less you have to worry about maintaining and caring for your belongings.

• More time. Again, the less stuff you own, the less you need to clean up, manage, care for, etc. leaving you more time to do what you choose.

• Spend less. When you stop buying things you don’t necessarily need, that money will remain in your bank account, instead of turning into clutter in your home.

I have been feeling the urge to own less stuff for a while. But it conflicts with my households joy of getting new things. So I will continue to look at this topic through the first part of the year.

Until next time, happy organizing!

Tracy Greene
Plan-and-Organize-Life.com