Be An Angel ? Clear That Clutter!: Fun Ideas to Organize Your Home - Softcover

Newcomb, Jacky

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844096378 ISBN 13: 9781844096374

Publisher: Findhorn Press, 2014

Synopsis

Be An Angel — Clear That Clutter! is a best-selling author’s fascinating true story of how she went from chaos to clarity. Using lessons from her own clutter-clearing journey she uses humor to show you how to clear and sort your own home.

Follow the heavenly tips on:

- How to deal with emotional and inherited clutter
- Successfully merging two families belongings into one
- The secrets to getting family and friends involved
- Discovering ‘hidden’ storage
- Living like a VIP by using the ‘good stuff’ every day

If you’re a secret hoarder or just a little bit messy, you’ll find plenty of inspiration in this motivational, fun guide.

About this title

About the Author

Jacky Newcomb is a multi-award winning, Sunday Times and Amazon best-selling author and columnist for Take-a-Break’s Fate & Fortune magazine. She is the author of 17 books. Jacky has published hundreds of articles and appeared on numerous TV shows including: ITV's This Morning, Channel 5 Live with Gabby Logan and The Lorraine Kelly Show/. She has also been interviewed for radio stations all over the world. Jacky has been featured in hundreds of magazines and been interviewed in the national press about her work including The Daily Express, The Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 3 Starter Projects
When you’re faced with years of belongings, getting started on clearing your home can be more than a little daunting. My advice is to start small. Work on simple projects which will spur you on and get your excitement going. The more you do the more you’ll want to do. Tiny projects you can complete during the advert-break on television or whilst you’re waiting for dinner to cook can give you the little boost you need. Here are a few ideas for you;
Grab-a-Bag
Carry a black bin liner around your home and fill it to the top. Make sure you empty waste paper baskets from around the house too (you might need two bags! Go for it!)
Charity Bag/Box Search
Carry a plastic storage box around the house and fill it with things to donate to the charity/thrift shop. Look in your wardrobe, your clothes drawers and your shelves for anything that fundraisers might be able to re-sell.
Tidy your sock drawer!
First tip everything out onto your bed. Dust, wipe or vacuum out your drawer as appropriate and then lay out the socks in pairs. Anything which doesn’t have a matching pair has a deadline; leave it a week or two until your washing basket has been completely emptied. Where do those odd socks disappear too? Usually they are lost in the middle of quits or pillow cases, misfiled or stuck up the sleeve of your sweater!
Let’s be honest it might be a year before they turn up so decide if you can be bothered to wait and if not discard the odd socks. Check for holes too. Make sure white socks are actually white and throw away any socks where the elastic has become too loose. I discarded several pairs of socks which simply slipped down every time I was wearing boots! Replacements were cheap and the annoyance went away immediately. Little details like this really ease your peace of mind don’t they?
Organise your CD or DVD storage
This is a great one to do during the adverts. As before empty the storage out completely. Clean. Organise into piles. When was the last time you played/listened to your CD/DVD’s? Can you give any away to relatives or charity? If you have a large pile to discard remember that CD’s and DVD’s can be sold online (see previous chapter and back of book for details);; you won’t make a fortune but it may free-up enough to buy something new. CD’s can be recorded and kept on your phone or computer (back-up to be sure you don’t lose anything). Then organise and replace back into your cupboard or rack.
Sewing box
I did mine whilst I was watching the TV too;; it’s such a useful measure of normally- wasted time. Have a couple of carrier bags handy (one inside the other) for things you want to throw away. Roll up cottons, chuck dirty threads away; get rid of bent pins (you know you have some); find little boxes to organise things into if possible (old plastic chocolate acrylic/plastic boxes are perfect as well as small tins). Sharpen sewing scissors.
After my initial sort-out I had a wonderfully organised container yet 1 year later I found a small jewellery box in a discount store and clutter cleared again into a smaller box. It was fastened by a large ‘button’. I took it home and although it was really small, I turned it into a miniature sewing box. It had everything I needed (very little!) and I gave away all the spares.
How many reels of cotton do you really need for repairs? Black and White? A needle-case full of pins and needles; a tape measure, pair of scissors and a tiny selection of black and white shirt buttons? Do you keep ‘too much?’ I know I did.
Cutlery drawer
Tip everything out onto the worktop. Give away duplicates; throw away corks, elastic bands etc and replace pegs and other random items back where they belong. Wash drawer and replace items.
Handbag
This is another great one to do in front of the TV. I organised my own bag with clear plastic zip-lock bags; now everything can be found easily and at a glance. Do regular clear outs of paper and receipts, and keep a check on out-of-date make up etc. You might also consider investing in a lift out handbag organiser. You organise your contents into the insert and then easily move the inserts from handbag to handbag! Voila! This only works with big bags but you might prefer a smaller bag with built-in compartments.
Imagine a friend’s toddler tipped the contents of your bag all over the floor in front of a crowd of people. The mother looks on fondly whilst you blush with terror. Is your bag ready for an audience? Hold this thought as your guide whilst you sort and throw.
...and briefcase
I bet your briefcase needs a sort out too. Look out for old files, old diaries, pens that don’t work and scrap paper!
Bookshelf
This might be a starter project or something more time consuming depending on the size of your collection! So let’s assume you have a small bookshelf full of books for the purposes of this project. As always, remove everything from the shelves. Dust or wash down the shelves as appropriate – don’t forget to clean the top of the shelves. Remove everything that is not a book (unless you also use the shelves for display in which case each shelf needs no more than 3 or 5 items (two photo frames and a plant; a group of three pots one side and two figurines the other maybe).
Look carefully at your books one at a time. Sort into four piles; keep, give away, donate, throw. Items you don’t want to keep need moving out of the house immediately, preferably right into your car. Then sort your keeping books into categories and display. Because I’m an author I’ve done a longer section on books later.
Medicine cabinet
Wherever you keep your medicines and no matter now organised you are I bet this area needs attention too. Empty, clean and then check the dates of products. Remove old prescription drugs (your local pharmacist will dispose of these safely). I like to keep a smaller box with the basic essentials altogether; plasters, antiseptic cream and standard painkillers on each floor of the house. One main location might work better for you. Keep medicines up high and if possible locked away.
I can’t remind you enough how important it is to remove everything from the space and then sort it back into its location. I promise you’ll do a better job this way.
Sponge bag
Clean toothpaste tubes and bottles (wipe around the screw lid and outsides of the bottles and dry-off with a paper towel. Remove old bits of cotton wool and cotton buds, old razors etc. Do you need a new toothbrush or sponge bag? Does your razor blade need changing? Check for duplicates. If you have more than one of the same thing either pour the product into the same bottle or store one and finish the existing bottle before starting the next one.
Jewellery box
I actually have a vast collection of costume jewellery and mine takes up half of a small room but it’s all organised. I display many of mine in a lit-glass cabinet and love the idea of browsing my own ‘shop’ each time I get dressed. Jewellery is part of my ‘love it’ collection.
If you have a lot of items to organise I suggest you place a sheet on top of a bed and tip everything on top (a jewellery designer or hobbyist might be grateful for your broken pieces – offer them up on Freecycle). Have a carrier bag handy to throw away broken or tarnished items and a small box in which to put old jewellery you want to donate.
Alternatively invest in hobby glue to reattach the stones that have fallen out (you’ll need a special glue that doesn’t cloud the surface of the stones). Earring wires can be replaced, you can purchase new earring backs and fastenings can be picked up at hobby shops. It’s always worth fixing broken items but as before, give yourself a time limit. If this is important to you then you’ll get it done, otherwise throw. Place pieces in a clear bag inside your handbag so you have it with you when you next go shopping and can ask for advice at your local hobby shop. A small, personally- owned shop might be prepared to fix your broken items for you (for a small fee) whilst you browse around the shop! Ask...you never know.
If you have family pieces that you no longer wear, now is the time to pass them on to others (ask if they are interested rather than assume or burden them with items they don’t like – inheritance-guilt) Alternatively consider if a specialist jeweller would be able to turn that unwanted brooch into a fabulous necklace! Consider selling your great aunt’s antique earrings and buying something you might actually wear. You know she’d love you to do this! You’ll have the same energy but bang up-to-date.
I have jewellery boxes and jewellery rolls to separate my costume jewellery into colours and types but I also have a selection of shop fittings and keep much of my jewellery out on display. My haul includes velvet bangle stands (my bargain bracelet buys look a million dollars all arranged together under the lights);; display ‘busts’ and t-bar hangers. Professional shop-display items vary greatly in price so shop around the internet for bargains. You can buy leatherette, velvet, wood, cardboard, glass and acrylic. Little metal stands to hang your stud or dangly earrings on cost from just a couple of pounds. Charity shop bargains like that old bridge cage can surely be adapted for more display right?
Look also to see if you can re-purpose other items around your home for storage or display. Old mug trees are great for hanging bracelets and smaller necklaces. Gather cocktails rings together in an old china tea cup or sugar bowl; add hooks to a shelf or mirror. Some shops sell jewelled hooks and hangers at Christmas in the gift section (I have several crystal jewel crown hangers and I adore them).
Place pipe insulating sponge around an old hairspray can (cover in fabric if you wish), and load up your bangles. Hook dangly (especially sparkly) earrings around the edge of a cut glass vase or champagne glass (try your local charity shop for fantastic inspiration or use those inherited glasses you never drink out of). You’ll also find vintage ring trees at charity shops and boot sales or do what I’ve done and invest in a whole velvet ring pad!
Incidentally, costume jewellery benefits from regular cleaning. Make sure you have silver and gold cleaner for the good stuff and wash gold and silver-plated items in a handful of washing up liquid and water (or hand soap). Rub the jewellery in your hands with the liquid soap to loosen the dirt and then rinse and polish on an old towel – leave to dry on paper towels before adding to your display or storage. Clean before tidying away.
Keep silver and gold jewellery in small zip-lock bags or tissue-wrap safely in your jewellery box. Chunky beads could be hung on a towel rail or toilet roll holders attached to the wall! Stack your bangles up on a kitchen paper towel stand. I have a fabulous inherited cut-glass ships decanter. It doesn’t have any alcohol inside but it makes a wonderful choker holder for my fancy diamante necklaces. Get your thinking caps on and if you need further inspiration do a search online.

Edition details

• Publisher: Findhorn Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844096378
• ISBN 13: 9781844096374
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128