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Clutter can make even the nicest living space look dirty. It slows down cleaning and creates visual pollution. Any cleaning starts with an attack on clutter.

A place for everything and everything in its place

Everything should have its own place. If you don’t have a place for it, you probably just have too much stuff. It’s almost impossible to keep a place clean if there is clutter that doesn’t have a home.

Most organizers recommend following this order for serious cleaning

Have a Vision for How You Want the Area to Look

Create a clear and firm vision in your mind of what the room (and entire apartment or house) could look like if it were uncluttered and clean. What would each area be used for (so what things go there)? Keep this vision clearly in your mind as you clean. If you find a lot of things that don’t have a place

Sort

Start in a room and pick up anything that doesn’t belong in that room and move it to the room into which it belongs. Don’t worry about neatness at this point, just get everything into the room it belongs.

Once that is done, do the same thing for each area of the first room you plan to tackle. Put what belongs in that area in that area. This helps you know what you have and get it all together in one place. Now you know how much room you will need to put it away, or if you have too many of something.

Purge

Now that you have collected all the things that belong in each area, it is time to purge. You may not have realized you had 6 staple removers until all your office supplies were together. Get rid of the extras. Have stuff you actually don’t use? Then you don’t need it.

Be honest and real with yourself. If you aren’t using it, get rid of it. This is important. Many of us say, “I may need that someday.” True, you may, but what are the odds really? Start by giving yourself the gift of being honest with yourself about who you are- not who you may be someday or pretend to be now.

For checking on clothes in a closet, put something in as a marker on the far left side of the clothes bar. It can be as simple as a sign on a coat hanger that says ‘marker’. Over the course of the season, newly washed or cleaned clothes only go to the left of the marker. At the end of the season, get rid of anything for that season to the right of the marker because you haven’t used it.

Completely empty drawers and only put back what you actually need AND wear (or use for non-clothing drawers). Purge the things you haven’t worn, you plan to wear when you lose weight, or someone gave you and you know you won’t wear. Also get rid of anything that requires more care than you are willing to give it (hand washing, line drying, ironing. Be honest about it. Get rid of anything that doesn’t make you feel good about yourself.

Throw

Deal with everything else (the stuff still on the table: if things belong in another room, put them there. Throw out trash. Recycle recyclables. Be tough). If you have things you are not sure you will use, pack up all the questionable things into a box. Obviously if you have a lot of stuff, you may need to label the box by where the stuff came from so you can find it if you go looking for it. If you haven’t gone looking for it at the end of six months, you probably really don’t need it. Get rid of anything still in the box at the end of six months unless it’s a seasonal thing; in which case, get rid of it after a year if you haven’t used it.

Refine

Go over each area with a critical eye. Be sure it’s pleasing to you. If you are happy with it, take a picture, print it and put it in the area to remind you what that space needs to look like. This will help re-incentivize you to stay on top of the clutter.

Maintain

OK, you’ve put the work in. Now the big challenge is to keep it looking good. This is a habit. I found when I spent months clearing my house that had collected stuff for 30 years, that I had a great deal of incentive to stay on top of it (I never wanted to work that hard to clear out again). Still, you will occasionally let things slide. When you realize the clutter is retaking your space, fight back. Set time aside for reclaiming the area(s) that needs attention. Don’t forget the “hidden” areas- the closets, drawers and pantry. After all, you deserve a nice, clean ordered environment, free of dust gathering clutter, so give it to yourself.

Your car is one of your most expensive investments. Taking care of things you own says a lot about you to others. Keeping a clean car will make you feel better about yourself and will give others a more favorable impression of you. It will also help it look good longer.

I remember how special I always felt (and feel) when getting into a car I know someone just had cleaned before picking me up. Make yourself feel special too by cleaning it for YOU! Need motivation to clean your car? Imagine giving a ride to someone you really like or respect and them getting in your car as it is right now. Would you want to offer them that ride?

Decluttering the Car

The first step to a clean care is to be sure the car is free of clutter, trash and things that don’t need to be there. I once asked my son to “just put it in the trunk” and when he opened his trunk I realized why this was not an option- there was not a centimeter of room to put anything more in that trunk. It had become the eater of jackets and hoodies and books and CDs, and videos and games and even money.

Grab a container for all the things that don’t belong in the car and empty it out. Only put back what ought to be in the car.

What belongs in the Car

A clean car is not cluttered with wrappers from last week’s fast food drive-through, used tissues, old lottery tickets, clothes and jackets from 6 months ago, or the myriads of other things that miraculously congregate there.

Even if you take your car to a car wash for the outside and/or interior clean, make a habit of decluttering the car first.

There are some things you need to have in the car, and a clean car facilitates finding those things that have a real purpose when you need them.

In the glove compartment/box:

Your registration
Owners Manual
Insurance Card
Box of facial tissues
Optional:
Maps
A small box of small kitchen garbage bags or a bag of plastic grocery bags to use as trash bags

In the trunk:

An emergency kit for the car, including jump cables
Your spare tire (you may not see it because it may be stowed under the carpet)
An emergency kit for you. This is seasonal but in winter might include:

a warm jacket in winter
gloves
scarf
boots (extra set with low heel, waterproof and warm), especially if you are a woman who tends to wear high heels or dressy shoes. If you get stranded or need to walk a ways on ice or in the cold, you will be glad you have something warm).
Chocolate bars (for energy)
nuts for protein
at least a couple of water bottles (if it tends to freeze hard where you are, be sure to let out some of the water from these so they don’t expand and crack when they freeze).
Scrapers and brushes for snow and ice on the windshield
Sun shields for sun
A couple of clean microfiber terry cloths for cleaning windows or removing bird poop
In colder climates or if you drive a lot and its winter: A bag of gravel or kitty litter and a small shovel to dig yourself out if you get stuck in snow or on ice.

Cleaning the Interior

Wipe the interior clean with a little spritz of water on a microfiber terry cloth. If there has been a spill or something which requires more than water, use a cleaner designed for the car interior and a microfiber cloth. You can vacuum the carpeting if it needs cleaning with a small portable vacuum, or a larger one if you can easily access a plug. The easiest way is to have it vacuumed at the car wash. They can also clean the interior carpet if and as necessary.

Be sure all your nooks and crannies are decluttered and cleaned too. This means the cup holder, the change holder, the CD storage area at the driver’s right elbow. Once in a while its just good to check to see what’s in there. I found a CD I’d been looking for for months in that compartment.

Clean off the back seat and floors, too.

Cleaning the Exterior

You can take your car to a car wash or if you have the time and energy, clean it yourself. In any case, its a good idea to have your car cleaned regularly to get off salt, bird droppings and dirt, but also to keep a good layer of wax to protect the paint.

Speaking of bird poop: Get it off your car as soon as possible because it can ruin the paint. Use just water and the microfiber cloth you have in the trunk. Use lots of water, wipe, rinse repeat if necessary. You can use a detailing solution if you have it, but water used liberally will do the trick too.
OK, so you want to wash the car. Do not use anything but a solution designed for washing car exteriors or you run the risk of damaging the paint. Follow the manufacturers directions, and rinse thoroughly.

When you have a thoroughly clean car, apply a wax product of your choice following the directions of the product. Some products go onto a wet car while others require the car to be dry. Some are wipe on, spread and leave, while others are wipe on, dry and wipe off. .

For more information and detail, Consumer Reports has a guide to how to wash your car.

Keeping a Clean Car is Easy

Clutter is the biggest enemy but can be easily overcome. Once its dealt with, you can take the car to the car wash or clean it with minimal effort if the clutter is already dealt with.

Create a habit of grabbing anything from your current trip and getting it out of the car when you get home. If you see things from other trips that need to go, remove them from the car too. Be sure you clothes and coats are not left in the car. Try to make a habit of car tidiness at least once a week. DO a look around (say after coming home from the grocery store) and remove anything that doesn’t belong. Empty out the trash bag or any trash in the car.

A clean car will make you feel better about yourself and is good for the car. Make it a habit and enjoy it!

Care of Stuff