I have compiled 6 of my favorite articles on eliminating waste and how to purge clutter from your own life.

Lists and Tips to Reduce Clutter

• Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life: A post at ZenHabits.net that gives 72 concrete ideas that you can start implementing today to reduce clutter in your life, with links to even more information on many of these tips. Note that clutter involves more than just physical possessions, but anything your life that takes up unnecessary time or energy.
• 10 uncluttering things to do every day: A decluttering to-do list that you should get into the habit of doing at home in the mornings and evenings without fail. If you can make a habit of these simple tasks, you will find yourself more content and feeling more in control of your own home.
• Home Organization Tips: From the National Organization of Professional Organizers comes an article in a de-cluttering format I haven’t seen before: the author gives specific furniture, storage, and shelf/hook placement suggestions for different rooms in a home for minimizing the chance that an item will not get put away properly. Kitchen purging suggestions like using drawer dividers, because  so much random stuff accumulates in the kitchen, and using low hooks in kids’ rooms so that they can begin to pick up after themselves is simple but very helpful information.

Strategy and “Big Picture” Resources for Purging Clutter

• Declutter 101: Strategies To Cut Clutter: This article discuss different strategies for approaching the clutter problem, including where to focus first, how fast to move, and what kind of results you can expect to see from each strategy. Truly informative and thorough for those who don’t know how to start tackling clutter.
• My War on Clutter: The Tools to Purge BIG: An informative and helpful case study on what exactly Merlin did to purge every single thing that he didn’t need from his life. Inspirational, especially if you are still struggling to imagine yourself actually doing the big purge.
• Live Simple: Purge Your Stuff This is just step one of a multi-page guide to living more simply. It uses a rules-based approach to helping you determine what to keep and what to eliminate. If you make even a small effort to follow the guide, your life will be changed dramatically (for the better!).

1. Suggest that groups of friends or relatives go in for a gift together. You may have to push for this one, because people tend to want credit for their own gifts, even if it was just a cheap $5 toy from the grocery store. Explain how you are trying to keep clutter down, and thank them preemptively for being so thoughtful, and they will find it difficult to resist you. The added bonus is that your son or daughter will get a nicer present out of the pooled funds, and perhaps even something educational, such as an early elementary school microscope.
2. Enforce a “one in, one out” rule. As soon as your child is old enough to understand, explain to her the importance of not letting toys overtake her room or the whole house, and that from now on, every time she wants or receives a new toy, she has to choose one to give away to charity, too. Tell her that there are many children who have no toys, and by giving one of hers away, she will make it possible for another little boy’s or girl’s parent to buy the toy for their own child. For more on how to break the toy addiction, read Elisabeth Wilkins’ post on EmpoweringParents.com.
3. Give your child gifts of experience and ask for them from friends and family. Take your child to the zoo or amusement park on his birthday, or plan something even bigger during the holidays, such as a Disney cruise for the entire family. From loved ones, ask for pool passes or gymnastics lessons, or a gift card to the child’s favorite restaurant. The benefit of gifts of experience is that they can also provide a bonding opportunity for the whole family.

If you explain to your friends, family, and children your goal of having a clutter-free home, and that you would appreciate it if they altered their gift-giving style, I can promise that the vast majority of them will understand, and maybe even want to implement your plan into their own lives. Plus, you will create not only a much happier household for yourself, but much more loving relationships between yourself and your friends and family, as you can relax and not have to worry about how in the world you are going to fit yet another loud, plastic toy into your house.

1. Do your research beforehand. If you are looking for a Camden Crate & Barrel sofa, for instance, be sure you know what it looks like. Consider visiting your desired couch in its retail location beforehand, and even take some pictures if you can. And of course, know what the retail price is. Most people won’t outright lie in their Craigslist ads, but they might fudge and say the couch cost them $100 more than it really did, or that it’s a more expensive model. Know your facts, and you won’t be tricked.
2. Be patient, and do not compromise. Do a search on Craigslist for your search terms; for example “Ikea” and “futon,” and at the bottom right of your search results there will be a link for an RSS feed of your results. Subscribe to this link (I use Google homepage) and you can easily see if there are any new results for your search. If you are specific in your search terms, you also won’t have the chance to compromise and get a couch you don’t absolutely love. Only bring the perfect couch into your home
3. Once you find a listing for an ideal couch, contact the owner as quickly as possible. If there aren’t pictures in the posting, ask for pictures, and if the couch comes from a smoke-free and/or pet-free household. If its current owner smokes, you are going to have to give the couch a thorough cleaning to get the smell of smoke out (including washing as much of the fabric as you can), which is a time-consuming operation to undertake. If the owner has pets, a good vacuuming should fix the fur problem. Find out if there are any stains or other problems with the couch. Why is the owner getting rid of it?
4. If you still like the couch: if you’re not in a huge hurry to bring a new couch home, offer 10% or so lower than what they are asking and see what happens. Otherwise, tell the owner you will purchase the couch and ask when you can come get it. At the house, sit on the couch and look over it one last time to make sure you love it before you pay for it. Then, pay in cash, and bring it out to your vehicle. The posters on Craigslist are generally not interested in helping you move it or load it, so make sure to bring a friend or two, and a truck to take it away in.

If you find a couch that is the right shape and size, but not the color or fabric that you want, consider re-upholstering it or buying/making a slipcover for it. Repairhome has a great article about creating your own slipcover, including some good suggestions on how to make your slipcover more unique. Re-upholstering a couch is a much more difficult task that can be physically exhausting and time-consuming. If you are prepared for this, however, it can make a huge, positive change to outdated or unattractive fabric on your sofa. Curbly has an extensive do-it-yourself re-upholstering guide, complete with pictures, for amateurs who want to give it a shot. For everyone else, there are professionals who will re-upholster your couch for you, so consider giving them a call. Happy couch hunting!

I’ve researched what can safely be disposed of right now, how long to keep other things, and all the rest that you need to keep forever. Hopefully you will be able to throw away some paper clutter today with no regrets or fear that you’re making a mistake.

What To Keep Forever

Find a safe yet easily reachable location for these documents to be stored, because they need to stay with you for the rest of your life. Take the items to which you won’t need constant access to a safe deposit box at your local bank, so that if you are robbed or your home is damaged, your vital files will still be safe. Safe deposit boxes usually cost only about $20-30 annually, and have the advantage of being kept securely in a place that is probably much more theft-proof, natural disaster-proof, and damage-proof than your own home. Here’s what you need to keep with you or near you forever: Items in bold are strongly recommended to be stored in a safe deposit box.

• Birth Certificates, Adoption Papers, and Custody Papers
• Citizenship and/or Naturalization papers
• Social Security Cards and/or Other National Identification Cards
• Marriage, Separation, and/or Divorce Papers
• Diplomas and Transcripts
• Medical History Documents
• Appraisal and Inventory of Household Goods
• Insurance Policy
• Tax Returns
• Real Estate Documentation
• Living Will
  
• Audit Information
• Appraisals

What to Keep for a Limited Time

Most documents on this list are only useful for you to keep for the duration of the life of the item they refer to. When the underlying item or the document expires, safely dispose of the documents to avoid paper clutter taking over your life and overwhelming you.

• Passports: keep until they are replaced
• Automobile titles, along with warranty information and receipts for purchases and servicing for the automobile: keep until you sell the car
• Stocks, Bonds, and Savings Accounts: keep until you sell them or close them, plus six years for tax purposes
• Bank Account Documents: keep until you close the account, plus six years
• Canceled Checks: keep for three years
• Credit and Debit Card Information, plus Account Statements: keep until you close the account, plus six years
• Income Records: keep for six years
• Records of Tax Payments: keep for six years

As you can see, there are plenty of papers that it is truly necessary to hold onto. Paper clutter is an annoying but unavoidable aspect of life, but you can reduce the stress of thinking about all that paper by dealing with the situation today. Sit down and go through your papers and set aside everything you will absolutely need to keep. If you haven’t signed up for a safe deposit box yet, go get one. Find a seldom-used area of your house, and some sort of paper storage unit to keep your vital documents until then.

We will discuss paper storage techniques in a later post, but hanging files, folders, or binders should do well for you until then. For more suggestions on where and how exactly you should store each file, check out this family records article. And if you really don’t want to rent a safe deposit box, you might want to look at this article about getting your own home vault.

Herbs are probably the best starting ground for container gardening newbies, as they are easy to grow, don’t take up much space, and can be used in the kitchen in just a few weeks. What’s more, this is the season ideal for planting most herbs! The herbs you should look at are, thyme, basil, oregano, dill, lemon balm, and mint. These plants are both versatile and easy to grow, and it’s hard to imagine a dish you could make that wouldn’t benefit from the addition of at least one of these seasonings. If you want a complete list of all herbs that will survive in containers, visit Container Gardening.

Thyme can withstand a little neglect as well as poorer soil than most herbs can survive in, and thrives in direct sunlight. You will probably need to buy it as a seedling from a nursery, however, as it can be tricky to grow from a seed. Thyme is a popular ingredient in many meat, poultry, soup, and vegetable dishes.

Basil is a hardy herb present in almost any Italian dish. “Sweet Basil” is the most popular variety, and the most useful type to purchase. Unlike thyme, basil is easily and cheaply grown from seeds. Basil also likes strong sun, but keep the soil moist, too. The more you harvest basil, the bushier and fuller it will grow back, so no need to worry about running out of it. To read more about growing basil, among other herbs, check out Lori Kimball’s article on Associated Content.

Oregano is another herb well-adapted to many environments, though it needs well-drained soil to grow well. It is known as the “pizza herb” because of the Italian dish in which it is such a prominent feature, but you may also recognize it in Mexican and Spanish meals. It is best grown from a nursery cutting. Oregano can survive the winter if you bring it inside and place it near a well-lit window.

Dill is another sun-loving herb, and grows best if planted in the early spring. You can easily grow it from seeds, and dill will usually reseed itself, so your first dill seed purchase will hopefully also be your last. It can grow several feet high, so make sure that, once fully grown, your dill won’t block the sunlight of your other herbs. Dill is a common flavoring in potato and fish dishes.

Lemon Balm is a, not surprisingly, lemon-flavored herb used in flavoring teas, salads, and sauces. It can grow in most climates, and will usually survive the winter, especially if you mulch it in the fall. It tends to be invasive, so container gardening is actually ideal to control lemon balm, and many people with traditional gardens will still choose to pot lemon balm. You can grow it fairly easily from seeds. Keep the soil moist but well drained, and harvest and prune it often for best results.

Mint is available in hundreds of varieties, but the same general concepts apply to all of these: containers for mints, like lemon balm, are ideal for control the herb’s weed-like tendencies. It grows best in fertile soil and partial, and sprouts easily from seeds. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. During the winter it will usually survive indoors by a window, if you take care of it well.

For more cooking with herbs advice, visit this article on Googobits. For more thorough planting and growing advice, visit this excellent herb gardening website categorized by the most popular herbs. Some of the information, however, you will need to adapt to a container gardening situation.

Before the garage sale:

1. Put up large, clearly-labeled signs with “Garage Sale,” your address,  the date of the sale (including the time it opens), and an arrow pointing the way to your home. Try to make all your signs look the same, so if you have competitors with their own signs, your potential customers won’t start following those accidentally instead. Also stay away from posting on utility poles; it’s against city ordinances in many areas, and with your address right on the flyer, it’s an admission of guilt.)
2. Talk to your friends and neighbors about having a sale with them. The more items for sale, the more customers you get. If you want to get a newspaper ad, you can also split the cost with them.
3. Place an online ad on Craigslist, at the very least, and consider some of the other online classifieds available, including Garage Sale Hunter and the online classifieds section of your local newspaper. Mention some of your most desirable items for sale, such as TVS or couches.
4. Buy stickers and write prices clearly on every item that is unique. Prepare signs for items that people will probably buy in bulk, like clothes, toys, or shoes, and list the price for each item, such as “every pair of shoes $2.”
5. Don’t choose a major holiday weekend. On the holidays, people are on holiday, usually somewhere far away from home, and aren’t interested in going to yard sales.

The day of the garage sale:

1. Put up large, clearly-labeled signs with “Garage Sale,” your address,  the date of the sale (in
2. Keep your money in a fanny pack or close-fitting purse around your body. Have many dollars’ worth in coins for making change, and bill amounts in all sizes. Some people will pay you in nickels and dimes, and others will hand you a $50 bill for an item worth $1.50.
3. Stand up and walk around, but don’t be a nuisance. Be ready to answer questions for people driving by and for customers, but leave them alone unless they talk to you first. You can also watch out for shoplifters more easily if you are walking around.
4. Have plastic grocery bags ready to give people who buy your things. They will be grateful and perhaps even more inclined to shop a little bit more.
5. Be ready to pull out an electric extension cord to prove that electronics and appliances do run. Most people won’t buy them unless they see them running.
6. Borrow long plastic tables from everyone you can think of. No one wants to go digging through stuff that’s just lying on the ground. Your stuff will sell much better on tables.

The initial investment to have a good garage sale is fairly small, and the money to have a successful venture is small compared to the increase in profits. For more tips, check out Yard Sale Queen’s extensive list of tips from her own personal experience.