Spring is rapidly approaching. Do you get the urge to ‘Spring Clean’?

I detest clutter, but upon saying that I know we all have a least one room that’s a tad disorganized. Whether, its a children’s room or adolescent ( I don’t know a teenager yet that has a tidy room), office space, closet, laundry room or mud room.

Being organised saves time. But its hard to keep up.

One of my pet hates is junk mail, day in day out it arrives and seems to multiply by the end of the week. Now, I am a fairly orderly person, but junk mail drives me crazy. Why? because there is no end to it. What do you do with your junk mail? I started to shred but seriously my little shredder couldn’t cope, so we try and burn ours whenever we can, but we can not burn outside from May to September in Georgia for obvious reasons.

Now I have a bin by the door and immediately sort through the mail as I bring it in, that way, it doesn’t mount up and my shredder can cope with a weeks worth in one go.

When looking at ‘Spring Cleaning’ or ‘De-Cluttering’ – don’t be phased by the what seems to be a daunting task.

1. Decide where you will start.

Our messy most disorganized areas in our home are:

•  The office Spaces – lack of storage and shelving – yet to be resolved but not expensive to do.
• Our closet – I say ‘Our’ but its mainly my issue. I would suggest that you have a clear out every season. If you haven’t worn something in 2 years the likelihood is that you won’t wear it again.

2. What you will need:

• A strong will.
• Bin bags – 1 colour for trash, 1 to re-cycle, charity or consignment stores.
• Rubber Gloves and cleaning aids.
• Extra storage/containers
• Time – “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.
• Help – if you trust them, give the kids incentives to help, its not classed as bribery!

I started with Junk mail as I said earlier, try and sort it as it comes into your mail box, otherwise it piles up on kitchen countertops and then breeds relentlessly.

Tackle one area at a time. It can become overwhelming if you try to do more than one area at a time. Yes, I know that one thing leads to another.

Storage. I love these cubes complete with lids are from 31 bags. The Perspex window at the front enables you to see what is inside. They look very professional as well as stylish. Contact www.mythirtyone.com/bettyeldridge

For your closet look out for belt rings, tie racks and Jewelry holders, so you can see what you are looking for.

The hanging bag for your jewelry saves space. The floral case (a birthday gift) by Ted Baker is ideal for travelling. Or, you may like the open approach to showcase a couple of your necklaces on a jewelry mannequin.

I  store my hats in hat boxes, scarves in bins, handbags in their protector bags – otherwise I wrap them in old tee shirts or scarves. Shoes are stored in their original shoe boxes. For further inspiration go to www.thecontainerstore.com.

Look for unique finds/bargains/hat boxes in places such as Target, T K Maxx, Marshalls, or Tuesday Mornings to name but a few.

When sorting through your wardrobe consider asking yourself:

• When did I last wear this?
• Will I ever fit into this?
• Do you think that one day this item may come back into fashion. then you have a vintage piece.

Don’t start putting things back in your wardrobe once it has been on the ‘Get Rid of Pile’. Its not a bargain if you are not wearing it!

All tidy, vacuum, dust and clean the area. protect clothing i.e suits winter coats, evening wear in zipper bags. Larger items can be stored in Vacuum compressed bags – a great space saver too. Check out www.amazon.com or Walmart

Now don’t you feel you have really achieved something!

There is nothing more satisfying than transforming a cluttered space into a clean, organized and functional room.

Yes you have earned that soak in the tub complete with a glass of wine.

How do you keep clutter at bay?