Is your house getting fat?  It happens far too easily and in the simplest of ways such as stopping by the store to pick up one thing and leaving with a cart full.   Maybe your parents or a close relative are downsizing and you go to help and leave with a car full of stuff including furniture in a rented truck.  Then there is the community or church garage sale where you buy more than you sell.  Now you have too much stuff.  When you do decide that you have too much, how do you decide what goes and where does it go?  

First, congratulations on making the decision because "nothing happens without a decision" and next, you need a plan for moving those items onto their next life. How much time are you willing to spend on this project and where will you start? What resources are available for donations, will you need a dumpster; can you get your family to help? What will the end result look like?  

Make the decision process easier by creating some rules to guide you.

·         RULE: I will keep no newspapers older than one week and magazines no older than 2 months.

·         RULE: Anything in my food closet older than a year will be donated to a food pantry or shelter.

·         RULE: When I clean out my linen closet, I will keep two sheet sets for each bed & 3 towel sets for each person.

·         RULE: I will clean out my clothes closet and keep only items I love and can wear.  

Some general rules will also come in handy.

·         RULE:  If it's worn, torn, stained or broken, out it goes.

·         RULE:  If it smells, bulges, or oozes it goes bye-bye.

The key here is to decide before you start so that you will be less likely to get hung up on "they’re pretty, I like it, it was a present, they were moms, or I paid good money for that". Each decision moves you closer to your goal or farther away. Which way are you going?