Yesterday I filed my taxes. Good times, eh?

Actually, it was not too bad this year. I’m very pleased to say that, for once, we were very well organized. On top of that I won free tax software in a blog contest over on VoucherCodes.ca! Yay! That was incredibly nice; I rarely win anything (is there anyone out there that does win things regularly? Ha ha.) so scoring some free tax software made an annoying chore less annoying.

Last year I tried really hard to keep on top of my tax documents, and for the most part I succeeded. I only had to go hunting for one form of my husband’s, and it turned out to be sitting on ePost (Canada Post’s electronic mail delivery system) so it wasn’t misplaced after all (it just hadn’t been printed out yet).
It wasn’t the most creative organizing system, it was just two manila folders labelled “2009 Taxes – Caitlin” and “2009 Taxes – Josh”, plus a folder courtesy of Home Depot containing our Home Renovation Tax Credit receipts (all two of them – we built a fence and put insulation in the garage). Not as pretty as this cute tax organizer, but it worked. Everything I needed to file my 2009 taxes went into that envelope over the year, including our Netfile access codes and other info from last year that we’d need to file this year.

For once, tax filing went smoothly for me. No hunting around for days looking for something important, it was (nearly) all together when I needed it! Slowly but surely, I am working my way toward my decluttered goal. These small victories are really getting me motivated for a big Spring Cleaning push!

Have you filed your taxes yet this year? Were you organized, or do you still need some help?

One of my all-time most popular posts is one I made back in the early days about Clearing Closet Clutter Here are 5 more tips to help declutter your closet.
Photo by Liz

1. Start with a blank slate
To truly beat the clutter, remove everything from your closet. Everything, including hangers and bins. Wipe all the surfaces with a micro-fibre cloth to remove dust so it’s nice and clean when you put items back into the closet.

2. Decide on a sorting system
There are many ways to sort your clothing within the closet. You could sort things by colour, by article of clothing (shirts together, pants together, etc.) by type of clothing (“work clothes”, “casual clothes”, “party clothes”, etc.), or even sort by outfit. Pick a system that works for you and stick with it. With a sorting system in place, you’ll know where each item will be located when you need it, rather than flipping through the hangers looking for a particular shirt.

3. Store out-of-season items elsewhere
The fewer things you keep in a closet, the easier it will be to keep organized. Keeping out of season clothes elsewhere is a great way to do this. Bulky sweaters don’t need to take up space in your closet during the hot summer months, and shorts and t-shirts don’t need to be in the way during winter. If you have a guest room, put out of season items in that closet, and swap out when the seasons change. If you don’t have an additional closet, bins that slide under the bed are a great place to store out of season clothing.

4. If you need to lose or gain weight to wear something again, let it go.
Clothing that doesn’t fit properly just takes up space in your life. You either don’t wear it, or look and feel awkward if you do. Odds are by the time you change your body shape in order to wear something again, the clothes will be out of season or out of style. Consider donating these items to a local charity or homeless shelter, or try selling them on Kijiji or Craigslist.

5. Use all available space in your closet
Store things vertically instead of horizontally. Instead of spreading your shoes out along the floor of the closet, get a show rack and store them up vertically, and you’ll have more floor space available. You could add additional short shelves in your closet for sweaters and other items that can be stretched out by hanging on hangers. These items can be folded neatly below hanging shirts to maximize storage space.

Remember to use unconventional space too. The back of the closet door can be used to store smaller items. Hang a full-length mirror there, or put up small hooks for scarves, belts, or ties. Muli-tier hangers can store multiple skirts or pants in the space previously taken up by one.

Bonus 6th tip
Remember that the 80/20 rule applies here; you wear 20% of your clothing 80% of the time. When you put your clothes back inside the closet, turn your hangers backwards. As you wear each item, return it to the closet and face the hanger properly. After a month or two, check how many hangers are still backwards. These items can be donated or sold, since you are clearly not wearing them right now.

What is your best closet decluttering tip? Do you have any tricks to share?

Back when I first started this blog, I tried to keep track of how much clutter was costing me in terms of money. One day I wrote about how simply being cluttered cost me $11.60 and 50 minutes of my time, just because I couldn’t find some serger needles that I misplaced.
Photo by Teresa Boardman

Last night as I was sewing, I broke another serger needle. This happens more often than I’d like, actually. :P
The point is, I reached for a spare needle to replace it and they were right where I was expecting them to be. I did it! I decluttered the area and gave something a proper home and it worked!

This is the goal I am working toward for everything in my home. I’m not even close to accomplishing this for everything yet, but it feels very nice to get some confirmation that the hard work is all worth it in the end.

I know I’ll probably never actually have a home that looks like one of the out of pristine (and often minimalist) homes in Real Simple or Apartment Therapy, but my goal is to end up with a neat, functional, organized home. Everything will have a place, and while it may not always stay there all the time, I’ll know where it goes and I’ll put it back after I use it and it will be there the next time I need it.

Have you recently had some proof that decluttering will all be worth it in the end? Tell us about it in the comments!

It’s getting to be the time of year when we all start thinking about spring cleaning.
It can pay off big time, too. Not only will you get the satisfaction of making your house just that much neater and tidier, but you could also find something valuable that you’ve misplaced.

Photo by Patrick Talbert

A woman in Australia found out she won the lottery when she cleaned up her desk and found a lottery ticket from last September. Taking a few minutes to tidy up netted her a sweet 2.5 million dollars! Talk about making decluttering worth it, eh?

Ito of Clutterbrained found $200 while cleaning up earlier this year.

I found a $50 Canadian Tire gift card that had fallen behind a table when I was decluttering this weekend.

Spring cleaning is a great time to declutter. Everyone talks about it, so there’s lots of encouragement to do it. Stores hold sales on traditional spring cleaning items (brooms, cleaning sprays, garbage/recycling bins, books about decluttering and cleaning, etc.) so you can get some good deals. Just be sure to watch that you don’t buy extra things just because they are on sale. Remember, you’re decluttering, not adding new things into your home.

What’s the most awesome thing you’ve found while cleaning up?

I was lucky enough to be included in a newspaper article along with professional organizer and author Marilyn Bohn! Awesome! Hello and welcome to anyone who found this site through that article!

The article is published in the Deseret News, in Salt Lake City, and is called Curing Clutter: Staying organized year-round is key to spring cleaning.

My quotes are on page 2 of the article.
Here’s a snippet:

Caitlin Thompson, founder of www.cluttercubed.com, said she started a blog to share advice from someone dealing with clutter and to help her get motivated.

“If I’m feeling overwhelmed by my clutter and want to give up, I remember that my readers are expecting me to accomplish something and that usually provides the extra push I need,” Thompson said. “My readers leave encouraging comments when I post progress and that really helps motivate me to keep going.”

It feels pretty neat to have my name and words published in a newspaper, especially for something like this that I’ve been working hard on. I also really appreciate how they linked the URL in the online version, I’ve received a number of hits from this paper and a couple other Utah-based papers that picked it up.

If you are new to this site, here are some other posts that may be of interest to you:

• 5 Ways to Clear Closet Clutter
• Study says Clutter Affects 88% of Homes
• Clutter Control Checklist
• 9 Ways Clutter Costs You