Recently, I decided to convert a spare room to a craft/spare bedroom. Moving from one house to another, I placed everything I didn’t know what to do with into this room. The end result was a little overwhelming.

I have two methods for cleaning and decluttering:
The first method is to be quick and ruthless. This works well for me when I’m cleaning the garage. I don’t have an attachment to items, so I can go through in an afternoon and make decisions quickly about how to dispose of items either by donating to an appropriate charity, throwing away or dropping them at a recycling center. I like to place items that will be donated or recycled in my vehicle as I’m cleaning and immediately throw items in the garbage as I go. This stops me from having a pile in my garage at the end of the day that I need to do something with.

The second method takes a little more time and worked well for me when cleaning out the spare room.
First, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, so make goals that work for your schedule. For example, make a goal to go through one bag, one box or one drawer a day.
Next, decide how you want to get rid of things and have totes, boxes or bags in place to place items in as you go. Where do you get rid of things? Charity Thrift Stores, Recycling Centers, Ebay, Garage Sale, Give Away, Garbage, Put Away in Another Room.
Third, try to get rid of items as you go. If you decide something should be thrown away – throw it away; don’t leave it out where you may start questioning your decision. Make weekly stops at your favorite charity or recycling center to dispose of items. If something belongs in another room, take it to the other room and put it away.

How do you decide what to get rid of? Ask yourself these questions:
Is it in style?
Will I ever use this?
Is this item a duplicate? Do I need more than one?
Will I ever have space for this item?

Letting go of things you no longer use or need will give you more space to do the things you really enjoy – like rugmaking.