Space Treat: A Bag a Day Keeps the Clutter Away

Symptoms:
Well, we're deep into the holiday season now. I've been to quite a few parties and have more to come. Every time I arrive somewhere, I've always got gift in hand and so does everyone else. You know what that means, more stuff… and where is it all going? So even if you're not hosting a party, you're probably bringing some kind of gift through your front door this time of year.

In order to prevent a pile up, I have a very exciting challenge for you this week. Take one large shopping bag, like the ones from Old Navy, The Gap or Macy's and rush around your home, room by room, filing it up with anything you can bare to donate. The goal here is to fill up the entire bag for donation, thus creating a little more space for the new arrivals as well as a nice tax write-off for yourself.

The key here is to do it super FAST and NOT to agonize over it, AT ALL! Let your gut guide you and don't over think it. I did it during a commercial break while watching "30 Rock" last week. I gathered one very large novel (way over 1,000 pages) that took me all Summer to read, one very out-of-style sweater that I didn't even wear last Winter, 5 pairs of navy and grey sweat pants that I haven't worn in at least 2 years because I always tend to wear the black ones and 4 odd coffee mugs that were sitting in the back of my kitchen cabinet for a year now. There you have it, one full bag of donations! Gone! I'm sure all of you reading have at least one bag full of stuff to donate… pants, plates, pots, puzzles… get up and get to it! If you're feeling super courageous, do a bag a day!

Write to me to share your successes!

Happy Holidaze,
Erica
The Spacialist
New York Magazine's 2008 choice for BEST SPACE ORGANIZER!
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