De-Clutter!

My main goal for the new year is to De-Clutter. I often find piles surrounding me,paper scraps flying, and a lone basketball in the middle of my room. I don't have a dirty home (it's very clean and pristine) but I do hace clutter. Everything has it's place and I have a bad habit of taking something out of it's place and not putting it back. So in 2009 my main goal is to de-clutter the space around. Not only for physical health, but emotionally also.

1. One main thing that can help me to "de-clutter" would be eliminate three piles once a day. Yes three piles. The quicker I can get them away, the better I'll be feeling! I have a pile on my desk, one on my table, and on near my bookshelf - I'll file the paper on my desk, throw out and donate the stuff on my table, and shelf and donate the books my bookshelf.

2. Donate. My goal is to donate 100 items by the end of 2009. Whenever I'm going through my piles and I find something that's still new, but I truly don't need - I'll put it in a big bag to take to Goodwill and then at the end of every month march over there and drop it off.

3. Sell - One great way to de-clutter would be to sell things I don't need. My goal is to sell 10 things by the end of 2009. It will add a little bit of money to my bank account and help to get things out of my home.

4. Shop At Home - I recently found a great site called Cindy's Porch , where the main goals are to DO and Shop At Home first. Whenever I need an item instead of running to the store I'll first look at home to see if I have the item, if I don't I look for something similar to it. Then I check the weekly sales flyers to see if the item I want they have on sale - if they do I look for a coupon, if they don't I still look for a coupon!

5. Use The Library - So many people have heard this before, but I still need to remind myself. I love books - I love going to the bookstore. Over the years I have a huge collection of books - and now I need to take a little bit of a break. My new rule, I'll go to the bookstore on my normal schedule and write down any books I find that I want to buy/like. Then I come home, log onto the librarys website and look through their catalog to see if they have the books I want then I put a request through for them. If they don't and the book I like is in hardcover, then I wait for it to come out in paperback. If they don't and the book is in paperback then I will buy it after I donate/sell two books. In order to get 1 book, I need to say goodbye to 2.

Hope I can succeed! Happy Holidays everyone and Happy New Year!