It’s that time of year again, time to deep clean all those places in your home you typically avoid like the plague. Time to purge your home of unwanted clutter and unnecessary items. For some of you, this may be that time of the year you dread. For others, you look forward to getting rid of your spouse’s tacky sweaters and those mugs in the house you never use but always think you’ll need. There is one uniting reason more than 70 percent of Americans take part in some form of Spring cleaning each year: simply … a clean home is a healthier home. This Spring, decluttering your home can not only lead to a healthier home for you and your family, but it can also lead to giving and building a home for another family. Habitat for Humanity ReStore is about to make your cleaning experience much easier and much more rewarding.
While you are pulling everything out of the cabinets, off the shelves and out of drawers for some deep cleaning, why not sort through it? Habitat ReStore offers some tips, tricks and a handy checklist to help your decluttering process be much more manageable as does Cord Moving and Storage a mover based in Saint Louis Missouri on their web site – http://www.cordmoving.com
The Three-Box Method: As you go from room to room, take three boxes or large containers with you. Label them “DONATE”, “KEEP”, and “TRASH/RECYCLE”. Bring some sticky notes along with you for larger items that won’t fit into your containers.
Declutter Checklist for Every Room:
- Bedroom:
- Surfaces: Check out what items you have on top of nightstands, dressers, and counters and make sure they are something you use regularly
- Closet: Take a look at your clothes and shoes. Rule of thumb: If you haven’t worn it in a year, you probably won’t wear it again. Trust me, we all have that one shirt we convince ourselves we will wear EVENTUALLY… we don’t and odds are, won’t.
- Under the Bed: Time to find out what’s hiding!
- Kitchen:
- Cabinets: Time for a thorough sweep. Sort through the dishes you use and those you don’t. Match containers and lids, remove expired items and check spices for freshness.
- Refrigerator: Expired or unused items…time to go!
- Drawers: Pull open the infamous “junk drawer” and get rid of the junk! Sort through kitchen utensils to assess what you actually use.
- Living Room:
- Entertainment Center: Sort through CDs, DVDs, and Blu Rays to donate any you no longer watch. Recycle any empty cases you come across.
- Drawers: Remove trash and unneeded items.
- Shelves: Again, organize and use those three boxes you have nearby!
- Garage/Basement/Shed:
- This is where our extra stuff tends to pile up. Start with your donation box/pile. Load them up and take them to a donation center! Then you can divide everything that is left into categories (tools, building material, cleaning supplies, etc.) and begin organizing.
Items accepted by most Habitat ReStores: beds, dressers, nightstands, sinks, refrigerators, other appliances, furniture, antiques, rugs, bookcases, bricks, pavers, doors, lumber, windows, paint, tools, light fixtures, building materials, kitchen cabinets, sinks, faucets, etc.
Donating is as easy as 1…2…3!
1) Find the Habitat ReStore location nearest you by entering your zip code on the Habitat ReStore homepage or contact you closest North American Van Lines Agent since North American Van Lines http://www.navl.com is the only van lines in the world with an affiliation with Habitat For Humanity.
2) Confirm your ReStore accepts the items you have for donation.
3) Determine the best method for your item donation.
HAPPY CLEANING!
