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Decluttering has never been more en vogue than right now. But Goodwill Industries of Alberta was way ahead of the trend, having been a part of people’s spring cleaning routines for more than 100 years!
We’re thrilled to partner with our Certified Professional Organizer ® Lorie Marrero to offer five expert tips to make this spring your cleanest yet!
1. Have a plan. Don’t let unwanted items clutter your home any longer than necessary. Plan to spring clean and take your donations to Goodwill ® on the same day.
2. Start with success. Choose the one area of your home that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Once you succeed there, you’ll be motivated to tackle the next space.
3. Clean slate. Clear each area out as much as possible and start from scratch. By restocking yourshelves with items you love, you’ll make your whole house a happy and inspiring place. And donating your unwanted items to Goodwill helps people find jobs and build their careers.
4. Make it fun! Shake up your spring cleaning routine with a peppy playlist and fun contests. Challenge everyone in your family to find 10 items to donate to Goodwill Industries of Alberta. 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!
5. Be brave. Inherited items may come with guilt and obligation attached. Instead of keeping the items, take an artistic photograph of them and frame it in your home. Then donate the items to Goodwill. Wouldn’t you rather the items do good by helping people build their employment skills than take up space in your home?
Last year, Goodwill helped 195 people find jobs through your donations. We hope tips like these will make spring cleaning more fun for families and more fruitful for organizations like us that provide services throughout our community
Sincerely,
Goodwill Industries of Alberta
Spring presents an excellent opportunity to throw open the windows and sort out the clutter, but Goodwill Industries Alberta knows it can also be an overwhelming chore that can be intimidating to even get started! So we asked Lorie Marrero, the creator of ClutterDiet.com and a spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, to reach out to a few of her favorite fellow Clutter Diet ® organizing experts to bring you the best tips to make spring cleaning easy — and even fun. Here they are!
1. Tourney Time
If college basketball’s March Madness has you in a competitive mood, bring the tournament spirit to your spring cleaning routine. Set up a March Madness Spring Cleaning Tournament in your home to compare two like items and then eliminate one. Do you prefer this or that? In your tournament, you keep the one item you prefer and then the winner is compared with the next item in the pile. Just comparing two items is easier than purging many items at once.
— Ellen R. Delap, Professional-Organizer.com.
2. The Truth, The Whole Truth
Be brutally honest when evaluating items in your closet. Do you fidget with the item once it is on? Does it squeeze your arm or ride too low on your hips? Do you have to continually pull it up or down? Yes? Then it has to go. Replace it with something that fits properly and feels great!
— Nealey Stapleton, author of The Procrastinator's Guide to Getting Organized and The-Organizing- Boutique.com
3. Keep It Clean
Once you’re organized, stay organized. Here’s how: for each new piece of paper or object that enters your home or office, ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” If not, put it in a recycling bin or a box for Goodwill® donations. Put the keepers with similar items for easy access. To keep clutter from returning, practice the One-In- One-Out Rule when buying things like office supplies or clothes or shoes: When something new comes in, something old must get donated.
— Helene Segura, TheInefficiencyAssassin.com
4. Make it Fun!
Shake up your spring cleaning routine with fun contests: Challenge everyone in your family 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 more clutter!) and you can repeat it once a week for the entire month of March. Your donations to Goodwill help fund programs and services to help people find jobs, earn paychecks and build their careers. You can take pride in the positive impact donating to Goodwill has in your community.
— Lorie Marrero, TheClutterDiet.com
We at Goodwill Industries of Alberta hope these tips make spring cleaning just a little less intimidating and even a more exciting for your family. We look forward to seeing you at your nearest Goodwill donation center and we thank you for caring about your community and donating to Goodwill.
Have your own tried-and- true spring cleaning tips? Chime in via the comments section below.
Happy Spring!
YCONIC/StudentAwards.com and Goodwill Industries of Alberta have teamed up to help support those attending Post-Secondary schooling.
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