Goodwill Industries offers expert tips to make this spring the cleanest yet.
Spring cleaning is a great time to sort out the
clutter, but it can also be an overwhelming chore that intimidates us out of
even getting started. Goodwill offers these five expert tips to help you not
only start, but also conquer, spring cleaning and develop new habits to keep
you organized all year long.
Lorie Marrero is a Certified Professional
Organizer®, Woman’s Day
contributing editor and Wall Street
Journal bestselling author of The
Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your
Life and The Home Office Handbook.
She also created ClutterDiet.com and is a spokesperson for Goodwill Industries
International. We asked Lorie for her top five spring cleaning tips.
1 Have a plan. You
don’t want unwanted items cluttering up your home any longer than necessary, so
plan to spring clean and take items to Goodwill on the same day.
2 Start with success. For
the first room or space to tackle, choose the one that will give you the
biggest bang for your buck—one that will provide immediate daily benefits in efficiency and
reduced stress. Is it your home office? Does your car not fit in the garage? Do
you struggle to find anything in your closet in the mornings? Zero in on those
areas so that when you succeed, you’ll be motivated to tackle another space!
3 Clean slate. Once you’ve chosen your
project, clear it out as much as possible and start from scratch. By stripping
your shelves bare and restocking them only with items that make you smile, your
whole house will become a happy and inspiring place. By donating your unwanted
items to Goodwill, you help people find jobs and build their careers.
. Make it fun! Shake
up your spring-cleaning routine with a peppy playlist: after a song finishes
playing, move on to the next area of the room. Create a fun contest for the
family: challenge everyone to find 10 items to put away and 10 items to donate
to Goodwill. This can become a race, with the prize of a traveling trophy (or a
hot fudge sundae, if you don’t want any more clutter!) and you can repeat it
once a week for the entire spring season. Share your family’s success story
with the hashtag #CleanSweep.
5 Be brave.
Inherited items may come with guilt and obligation. Are you keeping things you
don't want or need? Instead of keeping the items, take an artistic photograph
of them, frame it and display it in your home. Then take the items to Goodwill
to help you let go and move on. Wouldn’t you rather the items do good by
helping people build their employment skills than take up space in your home?
"Decluttering your home in the spring
provides a fresh start for both the donor and people who need jobs in your
community," Jaymie Eichorn, VP Marketing & Communications
of Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC said.
"We hope tips like these will make spring cleaning more fun for families
and more fruitful for Goodwill, which means we can keep providing the critical
job training services needed in our communities.”
For more information about what you can donate
to Goodwill, and how donated goods and store purchases support our efforts in the
local community, visit our website at goodwillnwnc.org.
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