Remember that delaying the de-cluttering will only increase the amount that you have to de-clutter when you finally get around to it!

• It’s all about expectations! Do not EXPECT to de-clutter your home in an afternoon. If it took you years to collect the clutter, it will take several days to sort through it. 
• Try de-cluttering and organizing one room at a time. 
• When de-cluttering bedroom closets remember the rule that if you haven’t worn it in the last year, throw or donate it. Out with those 1980s jackets with big shoulder pads! Be ruthless. 
• De-clutter the children’s bedrooms at least once a year – Toys, books, games and clothes need to be sorted through and donated if “gently used”. 
• Kitchen cupboards need to be emptied, and food past the “best before” date needs to be trashed immediately. Don’t forget to check those spices. 
• Bathrooms can be a hoarding area for medicines, toiletries and cosmetics. Remove items from the vanity cabinets and drawers, vacuum and then wipe the inside. Take a look at the items and decide what you REALLY need located in these areas. Discard anything that has an expired date on it. 

Before you sit back and enjoy your tidy home, donate your gently used items to a local charity in your community such as Child Crisis Center in Mesa. For donation locations please visit www.childcrisis.org. The Child Crisis Center was founded in 1981 and has a mission to create strong families and safe kids. It is committed to preventing child abuse and neglect, providing emergency shelter and strengthening families through programs and education.

Now you can sit back, relax and enjoy the S P A C E around you! If you need your house or office cleaned after the de-clutter please contact Clean ‘N Fresh Cleaning at 480-821-1481

It’s that time of the year when we are busy gathering documents and paperwork ready for tax preparation. It the PERFECT time to get that home office organized. When your office is cluttered and disorganized it hinders creativity and productivity. How can you get started on a project when you can’t even find the paperwork to get started?

Home offices can be a magnet for important items such as unpaid bills and high priority work tasks, but it can also be the place where “things” are left because they have no permanent place to live in the home. When the two are mixed together chaos ensues.

If you have a lot of paperwork you will need to get a filing cabinet and a filing system underway. Reserve a space in there for work and home paperwork and label label label. If you can place the filing cabinet within easy reach from your desk do so. Keep a recycling bin close by to help prevent unwanted paperwork cluttering the floor. Keep a shredder in the office for destroying sensitive information that identity thieves would have a party with.

Keep pens and pencils neatly in a pot near or on the desk. Make sure unpaid bills are on a notice board in clear view or keep them in a separate clear plastic file close by in view. You can even write on a whiteboard in the office when each bill is due and check it has been paid promptly.

If you have a bookcase or shelving in the office, remove the books that you are highly unlikely to use and store them out of sight. Lastly, relocate ”things” that do not belong in the home office. The idea is to de-clutter and focus the mind, so that creativity and productivity flow again.

 Happy de-cluttering. Let us know what system works for you in your home office by connecting with us on Facebook at CLEANNFRESHAZ.

Before we clean, we need to de-clutter. If you can’t see the floor for the shoes and toys, or the counters for the bills and magazines, your house is talking to you. Tidy me NOW before I disappear under all this! To get yourself in “the de-clutter zone”, envision your house de-cluttered and clean! Open your eyes and try to hold onto that vision.

Schedule time to de-clutter, or we find a million and one excuses not to begin. Rather than putting off the “worst room” in the house until last, walk into it now and take a note of the problem areas in that room. Establish why the room is messy and untidy in certain areas. For example, if it’s the laundry room scattered with unmatched shoes, dirty laundry and school bags, establish why it looks the way it does. Do you have a system already? If so, where is it breaking down?

Look at each item in the room and decide if it needs to go in the

• Keep
• Donate
• Recycle or
• Trash pile.

Then distribute the piles to their respective places. Be sure to check with other family members beforehand. In fact, make it a family task!

If you are finding it hard to schedule a block of time in for de-cluttering, why not focus on an area in a room and spend 20 minutes de-cluttering that. Small steps can also get you to a clutter-free zone.

If you feel like sharing your de-cluttering tips or have questions, please join us on facebook at www.facebook.com/cleannfreshaz or follow us on Twitter at CLEANNFRESHAZ

We hope that your Holidays were filled with fun, laughter and precious time with family and friends. Happy New Year to you and we hope that 2012 brings you and your family, good health, wealth and happiness.

January is the time of year when we focus on New Year Resolutions that we hope to keep throughout the year and beyond. Do you have any New Year Resolutions for your home this January 1st? If you are planning on decluttering and reorganizing your home or office during the first quarter of the year, stay tuned over the next month or so as we talk you gently step by step through the process.

Sometimes we feel so overwhelmed by the tasks before us, that we don’t even get started or we find a million and one reasons and excuses why we should not even begin. Our aim is to break the tasks down so that they are in bite sized, manageable pieces which will increase your chances of success in 2012.

Connect with us on Facebook at CleanNFreshAZ or on Twitter @CleanNFreshAZ. We would love to hear how your New Year Resolutions are progressing.