Chance Gates' Blog

By Heidi Stevens

RISMEDIA, June 9, 2010–(MCT)–Peter Walsh has you all figured out. You bought the melon baller because it was on sale and, heck, you like melon. You’ve held on to that 3-year-old magazine because you will make the recipe on Page 127. Some night. And those new black pumps do not look exactly like your four other pairs.

You’ve got yourself some clutter, my friend. And Walsh, best-selling author, host of TLC’s “Clean Sweep” and Oprah Winfrey’s go-to organizational expert, wants you to clear it out. Now.

“Later is the best friend of clutter,” he says. “Clutter is really just decisions delayed.”

We chatted with Walsh about tackling five common clutter zones.

THAT KITCHEN DRAWER
“Take the pizza rolling slicing thing and all those other items you bought for less than $5.99 that you just knew you’d always use and put them in a cardboard box,” says Walsh. “Whenever you use one of the items, put it back in the drawer. At the end of the month — with the exception of the turkey baster — whatever is still in the cardboard box you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Will I ever use these?’”

THE BEDROOM CLOSET
“We wear 20 percent of our clothes 80 percent of the time,” Walsh says. Which means the vast majority of your closet is filled with — you guessed it, clutter. Walsh suggests the “reverse clothes hanger trick.”

“Take everything on a clothes hanger and turn it around back-to-front. For the next three to six months — you decide — every time you wear something hang it back the correct way after you launder it. Whatever is still hanging back-to-front, ask yourself: ‘Will I ever wear this item?’ It’s an efficient, non-traumatic way to see what you wear and what you don’t.”

YOUR SHOES
“To understand how many shoes you have, you have to release them from captivity,” he says. “Find the largest room or hallway in your house and line them up. Every pair of shoes you have. Just the visual of that can often throw people into coma.”

Sort the shoes by type — running shoes, sensible pumps, sandals and so on. Then give yourself a ratio. “Let’s say it’s 10-to-1. For every 10 you keep, get rid of one pair,” Walsh says. “Five-to-1 if you’re brave. Three-to-1 if you’re a true pioneer.”

THE CAR
“One: Get in the habit that whenever you gas up the car, in those two minutes you declutter and throw out any trash.”

“Two: Get milk crate-size containers, and put them in the way back. Whenever the kids bring something into the car — sports gear, book bags — it goes in their crate.

“Whenever you go shopping, put the groceries in the crates. Nobody leaves the car empty-handed when you get home. Everyone has to carry their crate into the house.”

THE GARAGE
“Divide your garage into clear zones: one area for gardening equipment, one area for holiday decorations, one area for luggage, one area for tools,” Walsh says. “Establishing zones is a functional way of keeping the place organized and the volume of stuff in control.

“Say the holiday decorations zone is three shelves that will hold two plastic totes each and that’s the limit for holiday decorations. Once they expand beyond six totes, you have to do some purging and discarding.”

(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune.Chance Gates does welcome any questions or comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or on any articles that may be posted.  Send your  emails  to  chance at ballard-company.com

I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.
Oprah Winfrey

I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.
Oprah Winfrey

I don’t think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.
Oprah Winfrey

I don’t think you ever stop giving. I really don’t. I think it’s an on-going process. And it’s not just about being able to write a check. It’s being able to touch somebody’s life.
Oprah Winfrey

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
Oprah Winfrey

I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly.
Oprah Winfrey

I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.
Oprah Winfrey

I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life.
Oprah Winfrey

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional; I encourage all questions and comments, on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog.

Have you ever hear of a little store called “The Proper Fit” located on the corner of S. Virginia and Peckham in the Old Town Mall.   The staff is very knowledgeable about the product; and the owner is a great guy who will actually sit and talk with you for a while.  The product, I found I like the best are the insoles with arch support.  Every pair of shoes I wear now has a pair of those insoles.  My wife who has a job which requires a lot of walking loves the shoes with springs in the soles

As a Reno – Sparks real estate consultant I encourage any question or comments on the Reno – Sparks real estate market or any of the articles I posted here.

I can be reach at  chance at ballard-company.com