Eliminate Clutter in Your Home in 5 Easy Steps

Families of pack rats often find themselves quickly running out of space. While attacking the accumulation may seem like a daunting task, below are five simple resources that will help you easily clear out your clutter.

Yard/Garage Sale. This is a very traditional yet effective way to get rid of extra clutter in your home. It's also an easy way to get the whole family involved (letting the kids keep the money they earn will induce them to put more old toys in the yard sale pile). While making money isn't the key object here, it's a nice bonus to being rid of those items in your home that were just collecting space.

Sell on eBay. This is taking the yard sale to the internet and opening up your treasures to the rest of the world. If you've never used eBay, the world's largest online auction website, it is easy to get started and you can have money rolling into your account in no time. Turn around and use those profits to bid on items that catch your eye. This way you can turn neglected or unused items in your home into items your whole family can enjoy.

Sign up for Freecycle. Freecycle is a relatively new concept sprouting up in cities across the country. Freecyle's mission is to keep all items out of the garbage (and landfills). Even if you no longer want it, Freecycle founders believe someone out there will want it and use it, so don't through it away! By signing up at my.freecycle.org, you have access to daily e-mails of all the items that are free to give away. Items range from large furniture and appliances to collections of books and clothes. Just list what you have to give away and wait for those who will use it to respond and come take it off your hands. It's that simple! All you have to do is wait for a response and then coordinate pickup arrangements.

Try Swaptree. Swaptree.com is a community site for bartering of items. Like eBay, it reaches a mass number of internet users, but instead of selling your items for profit, you are trading them for something that you want. Tired of your old books? Swap them for a new read. Swaptree works for books, DVDs, CDs, and video games. For a small shipping cost you can enjoy a brand new to you item in a few days.

Donate. There are tons of organizations like Goodwill and the Salvation Army that take a wide variety of items for donation. If you have large items you need to get rid of consider a local church or furniture bank. Most have trucks and strong bodies that will come and haul away your items for you. Plus, if the item is valuable (like a car) you can often enjoy a tax write-off.

Cleaning out your closets doesn't have to be stressful anymore. By implementing the above steps, organizing your home can be an experience your whole can be involved in. Plus the benefits of money or new items may make the work well worth the effort!