Staff report
Goodwill Industries International is offering five expert tips to help conquer spring cleaning and develop new habits to keep organized all year.
Lorie Marrero is a Certified Professional Organizer, Women’s Day contributing editor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of “The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life” and “The Home Office Handbook.” She created ClutterDiet.com and is a spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries International.
Her top five spring cleaning tips follow:
• Have a plan. Plan to spring clean and take items to Goodwill on the same day.
• Start with success. The first room you clean should give you immediate benefit in efficiency and reduced stress, such as a home office, garage or a closet.
• Clean slate. Once the first project is chosen, clear out as much as possible. By stripping shelves bare and restocking them only with items that make you smile, the whole house becomes a happy and inspiring place. And by donating unwanted items to Goodwill, people are helped in finding jobs and building careers.
• Make it fun! Play peppy songs while working and when one finishes, move to the next area of the room. Create a contest for the family by challenging everyone to find 10 items to put away and 10 items to donate. This can be a race with a prize of a traveling trophy or a hot fudge sundae, etc., and can be repeated once a week for a month to eliminate the repeat of clutter.
• Be brave. Inherited items may come with guilt and obligation. Ask yourself if you’re keeping them because you want them or need them. If not needed, then take an artistic photo, frame it and display it in the home and donate the items to any of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries’ donation centers in Austintown, Boardman, Calcutta, Hermitage, Pa., Liberty, New Castle, Pa., Salem or Warren.
Revenue from items sold at Goodwill are used to fund job training and employment services for people with disabilities or other barriers to employment. Items most needed this time of year are furniture, small kitchen appliances, glasses, dishware and home decor.
– See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/may/17/goodwill-encourages-spring-cleaning/?newswatch
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