Today's Heart of the Matter Friday Meme is "Conquering Clutter".
Before we homeschooled and I had more time during the day to watch some television one of my favorite tv shows was Clean Sweep. While the rooms in my home have never looked like the ones they feature, I have employed a couple of tips that they use to conquer the clutter in my home.
#1 -Tackle one room at a time - I think we often want to have everything done at once. That is our nature. Or we do nothing because the thought of going through all of our stuff is just overwhelming. I pick one room once a month to go through and declutter. That way I go through our home twice a year and use the "trash, giveaway, find a spot for it, keep" method.
#2 - In and out - I have an "in an out" rule in our home. For everything that comes in that is new, that is not replacing a broken, old,lost or outgrown item, one thing goes out. If Genius purchases a new video game, an old one must be given away or sent to the resale shop. If I purchase her some new clothes just because, the same applies with an item she hardly wears even though it still fits her. If I purchase a kitchen gadget I just have to have, another less used one, needs to be donated. This cuts down on the growing clutter, and makes us more careful about our purchases. If there is nothing that we are willing to part with at the moment, we are less likely to buy new things, and thus be better stewards of the paycheck God has blessed us with.
This third strategy is one my Dad enforced while I was growing up, and it worked!
#3 - Everything has a place and there is a place for everything - This rule applies more to Genius than anyone else in our home, as Hubby and myself are fairly responsible at putting things back where they belong. It was a tough love, and hard task to do, but Genius is somewhat of a neat freak now. By using the above rule she learned quickly that cleaning up her possessions or things that she had used from others that were not put away, was a responsibility better not left undone. In our home, she is given two warnings to put her things where they belong when she is finished using them. After she has been told twice, and the items in question are still lying around, they are put in a bag and given or thrown away. Not just for a little while, but permanently. She only had to lose a couple of favorite things once, and now is a prompt "cleaner upper" when asked, since she knows we will follow through with the decision.
I am looking forward to reading other ways that homeschoolers conquer the clutter in their home, come along and read with me at Heart of the Matter Online, or post on your blog, and link back there, so I can check out your methods too!
Madrid Skyline (Image Via Wikipedia)Growing up in Canada I was fortunate to be able to learn a second language in school as soon as first grade. Combine that with having both my parents immigrate from another country and learning another language at home, and I can get by (in most cases) in three languages. 
Field Trip, 