Day 28: Speed up the Outflow

I'd been avoiding it.

 

But when my daughter announced that she had "cleaned out her summer stuff" I knew I had to go downstairs and tackle it.

 

 

 

"It" is our donation station which is one of the single most important things I've ever set up to help us stay organized.

 

This is the place where everything goes if it is going to leave the house. It is here, under my folding table, in the laundry room because most of what we donate is clothing. It's handy to just take it straight from the dryer and put it here.

 

We are on a local charity's call list. I try to always have something for them when they call to make a pick up--so, unfortunately, I do let things pile up a bit too much--but when it works, it works really well. Every time they called last year, I took it as a cue to declutter more and more areas of the house.

 

Now that I have some breathing room, I do my best to maintain the one-in, one-out rule. This is really effective with my daughter. Every time she asks for something new, I always ask her, "What are you going to get rid of to make room for this?" I am hoping that this will stop her pack ratting tendencies in their tracks some day.

 

Aby adds one more thing to the list of ways to speed up your outflow. She advises to stop looking for the perfect home for your things. It slows down the process too much.

 

So, how do you speed up the outflow?

1. Set up a donation bin.
2. Get on a charity's pick up list.
3. Follow the one-in, one-out rule.
4. Stop trying to find the perfect home.

 

Do you have any thing you are ready to donate/give away? 

 

ETA: You can catch all the posts in the series here.