HAMBURG, N.Y. (WIVB) – It may still feel like winter outside, but spring really is just around the corner, and professional organizer Jennifer Ford Berry says now is the time to start Spring Cleaning your home.
“You just have to realize that it took a long time to accumulate the clutter. It is going to take a while to simplify,” she noted.
Ford Berry wrote the book on simplification and organization – literally. She’s author of the whole “Organize Now!” book series.
This weekend, she’s busy organizing the huge Mothertime Marketplace consignment sale at the Hamburg fairgrounds. Usually though, she’s busy in her other role, helping people organize their homes, their finances, and their lives.
MORE | Click here to learn more about Jennifer Ford Berry, her services, and her advice.
She offered News 4 her four top tips for getting organized during Spring Cleaning.
Number one, she says, is to make a list. Ford Berry says you need to decide what your priorities are, then work through the list a little at a time.
“You cannot do it all in one day. I think people burn out really fast when they think they’re going to spring clean their house and get completely organized it doesn’t work that way,” she explained. “We have really busy lives and usually we only have about ten minutes here or ten minutes there, so set your timer on your phone, get organized for ten minutes, and when the timer goes off, be okay with it. Tomorrow’s a new day.”
If you want to spend less time organizing tomorrow, though, it really helps to stay organized today. That’s tip number two from Ford Berry. “Don’t make organizing a chore. Really, just look at is as a lifestyle that can make you find more space time and energy for the things that really matter,” she advised.
The most important thing, Ford Berry says, is to ask yourself two key questions about everything in your home: Do I love this? Do I use it?
“That will really help you pare down to what you absolutely want to keep,” Ford Berry said, as she laid out her third top tip. “After you’ve done that, every single thing you own that you’ve kept, needs a home. If you don’t have enough space to give everything you’ve kept a home, you’ve kept too much stuff. So it’s a pretty simple formula.”
That begs the question, what do you do with anything for which you don’t have a home? Ford Berry’s fourth top tip is to give a lot away.
“Find organizations that are looking for the things that you have to donate, and just give with open hands, because you’ll make room in your home, you’ll feel good about yourself, you’ll increase your energy, you’ll feel more joy and peace at home, and that’s just what it’s all about is just having a home that you love,” she said.
For more from Jennifer Ford Berry, visit her website: http://jenniferfordberry.com/
