There is a surprising little clutter culprit that you can take care of in one morning or afternoon. Its your pile of "things that need fixing". Well, your pile might be a box or a drawer. If it's really neglected it might even be a closet full of things. It's all just sitting there - waiting. Waiting for you to finally find the time to fix it.
If your "fix it" pile is really large, you may find it is half full of things that you no longer need. While I wouldn't recommend this system to anyone, if that is you, going through your giant pile might be easier than you think. You can just toss half of it immediately.
Here is how you start.
1- Put an appointment on your calendar to do this task. Really. That gives it importance and you time.
2- Have on hand a needle and thread (white and black), a scissors, a bottle of super glue and a trash can (because if you don't need it, you aren't going to spend time fixing it either….).
3- Just have at it. Gather all your items (Don't forget to look in the garage!). Sit at a table and go through each item that needs fixing. Immediately put it into a new "fix" pile or toss it*.
3- Now go through your "fix" pile. Sort it into items that you can fix and items you need to have a professional fix (watches that need new batteries, too difficult sewing projects, electronic repairs, etc.).
4- While you are sitting there - fix everything you can.
-- Sew on missing or loose buttons and make all small sewing repairs**. If you have a machine and know how to use it, plan to get those bigger projects done next.
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| The heads fell off this mahogany statue my husband purchased in Africa. |
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| The corner of my iPhone silicon case ripped. |
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| My daughter's clay money lost a couple of limbs. (This is the one that I glued myself to…) |
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| I made an iPad stand using a business card holder, some rug/shelf liner and a tiny wooden shoe. It works great! |
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| iPad stand in action. |
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| I made this necklace storage frame (see previous post) by gluing little hooks to the glass. |
6- Now take a look at that pile of things you can't fix. Take the time right now to find out where to get the repairs done. Call around. Find out how much it will cost and decide if it's something you want to do. If it's not - get rid of it. If it is, set it aside. Once you have all of your items ready and know where to bring them, GO. Go right now - make an errand of it, dropping off everything for repairs.
7- Take a look around and take a deep breath. Isn't it nice to have all that broken stuff fixed or gone? Think of how much money you saved by fixing some of it, rather than replacing it! And next time, deal with these items as they break.
Notes:
* Batteries and most electronics cannot be thrown into the trash. They will leech hazardous chemicals into our ground water. In our city, we can recycle batteries at the library and we can bring hazardous waste to a specific drop-off location. If you need to do this - add it to step 6! Get it done!
** Sewing on a button is VERY easy. You don't want to be throwing out clothes or spending money on a tailor for this simple task. See here: http://www.wikihow.com/Sew-a-Button
or this great link that shows you how to do all sorts of mini- repairs on clothing: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-Clothes
***I have (embarrassingly) super glued myself to a few of my projects when the glue came out quicker than I expected, or started to run while I was holding something together and didn't notice it. Its actually pretty scary - so be careful! I had the best luck by soaking my hand in warm water for a while, but here are some other suggestions just in case: http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Super-Glue
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