Press release from Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina:
Spring cleaning is a great time to sort out the clutter, but it can also be an overwhelming chore that intimidates us out of even getting started. Goodwill offers these five expert tips to help you not only start, but also conquer, spring cleaning and develop new habits to keep you organized all year long.
Lorie Marrero is a Certified Professional Organizer®, Woman’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 also created ClutterDiet.com and is a spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International. We asked Lorie for her top five spring cleaning tips.
1. Have a plan. You don’t want unwanted items cluttering up your home any longer than necessary, so plan to spring clean and take items to Goodwill on the same day.
2. Start with success. For the first room or space to tackle, choose the one that will give you the biggest bang for your buck—one that will provide immediate daily benefits in efficiency and reduced stress. Is it your home office? Does your car not fit in the garage? Do you struggle to find anything in your closet in the mornings? Zero in on those areas so that when you succeed, you’ll be motivated to tackle another space!
3. Clean slate. Once you’ve chosen your project, clear it out as much as possible and start from scratch. By stripping your shelves bare and restocking them only with items that make you smile, your whole house will become a happy and inspiring place. By donating your unwanted items to Goodwill, you help people find jobs and build their careers.
4. Make it fun! Shake up your spring-cleaning routine with a peppy playlist: after a song finishes playing, move on to the next area of the room. Create a fun contest for the family: challenge everyone to find 10 items to put away and 10 items to donate to Goodwill. This can become a race, with the prize of a traveling trophy (or a hot fudge sundae, if you don’t want any more clutter!) and you can repeat it once a week for the entire spring season. Share your family’s success story with the hashtag #CleanSweep.
5. Be brave. Inherited items may come with guilt and obligation. Are you keeping things you don’t want or need? Instead of keeping the items, take an artistic photograph of them, frame it and display it in your home. Then take the items to Goodwill to help you let go and move on. Wouldn’t you rather the items do good by helping people build their employment skills than take up space in your home?
“Decluttering your home in the spring provides a fresh start for both the donor and people who need jobs in your community,” Jaymie Eichorn, VP Marketing & Communications of Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC said. “We hope tips like these will make spring cleaning more fun for families and more fruitful for Goodwill, which means we can keep providing the critical job training services needed in our communities.”
For more information about what you can donate to Goodwill, and how donated goods and store purchases support our efforts in the local community, visit our website at goodwillnwnc.org.
About Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina:
Goodwill stores sell your donations to fund job training and community services, such as computer classes, financial education, job interviewing skills, resume reviews, job transportation, child care and many more. Last year, Goodwill served more than 32,872 people. In Western North Carolina alone, over 6,000 people were provided training or support and over 1,200 were placed in gainful employment. Thousands experienced positive impacts while participating in Goodwill programs structured to help career planning, improve employability, obtain new skills, and earn nationally recognized, industry-specific credentials.
There are more than 100 Goodwill donation centers and drop off locations in northwest North Carolina, and almost 30 in Buncombe County alone; most are open 7 days a week. To locate a drop-off site or retail store, visit goodwillnwnc.org.
Goodwill is a 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization that is ranked among the most efficient charities, with 90 cents of every dollar generated going toward fulfilling its mission of creating opportunities for people to enhance their lives through training, workforce development services and collaboration with other community organizations.
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