10 Tips for a Clutter-Free Home

Whether you're preparing to sell your house or just need to rid yourself of unnecessary items, it's important to give all your things a home. De-cluttering can make preparation your home less stressful, and make the moving process faster and easier.

Here is a list of the top 10 things to do to organize your San Diego home:

1) Get Rid of The "Things" in Your Life

When debating on whether to keep things, think about how important that thing is to you on a daily basis. Could it be more useful to someone else?

2) Start Small

Start your organization with a single shelf, drawer or cupboard in your home and don't move on until that is totally cleaned out. Use a "Put Away" bin and "Give Away" bin and grab a trash bag for the things not worthy of being kept.

3) When Have I Used this Last?

Anything you haven't used in the last few years is probably not worth keeping. If it's sentimental, display it in your home or take a photo to keep in your memory. If it's worth money, consider selling it online.

4) Keep "Like" Things Together

Make sure similar items are stored together. It will make it much easier to keep track of things in the long run!

5) Organization in the Kitchen

Get rid of that junk drawer and use drawer dividers to keep things organized. Keep your refrigerator cleaned out and don't let paper float around.

6) Get Rid of Clothes

When deciding what clothes to keep, take all your hangers and turn them backwards. When you've worn a piece of clothing you can turn the hanger back around. After a year, anything with a backwards hanger should be given away.

7) Organization in the Bathroom

Go through all your perfume, makeup and old medication. Check the shelf like on these tiems and get rid of them if they're expired. Use dividers or jewelry boxes to organize jewerly, hair ties and makeup.

8) Give Everything a Home & Don't Overcrowd

Some storage spaces in your home have a limit to what they can hold. When going through things such as books or DVDs, think about whether you will really read or watch again and get rid of what you won't use.

9) With Kids, Less is More

Give bins labels or photographs so the kids know exactly where everything should go when they're done playing. You can even go through the toys with them to see what they might want to give to a child in need.

10) Never Let Anything "Sit"

One of the best ways to keep a home from becoming cluttered is to simply put things away once you get them out. If you do it right away, you won't have to motivate yourself to do it later.