If you’re plagued with clutter and need some tips on how to get it under control, you’ve come to the right place. Some of the most common clutter issues involve incoming mail, collections of sentimental items and seasonal decorations. Many also struggle with what to do with clutter in closets, home offices and unused bedrooms. Extra furniture can be a problem, and laundry rooms and attics are clutter magnets. Some clutter involves areas that are sight-unseen, so they are easier to not address.
First, let’s deal with incoming mail. Two rules to incorporate are open mail daily and touch it only once. When you get home from a hard day’s work, open the mail. Toss the junk mail, put all bills in the bill box and all correspondence you must respond to in an envelope marked “correspondence.” If you are limited on space and pay bills at the kitchen table, create envelopes for each of the categories and keep them in one area always for quick easy access.
For attacking clutter in other areas of your house, use the “How do you eat an elephant?” method. The answer is, “One bite at a time.” Your goal will be to target the most prominent areas that everyone sees in the house, first. Work your way through the home one room or area at a time.
Begin by clearing all clutter in the room into one trash bag or box, regardless of the items. Remove anything that does not have a purpose in that room or area. Once the clutter is cleaned out, sort it into the following categories and put into labeled trash bags or boxes:
* Trash
* Charity
* Store
* Repair
Ask yourself the following questions while sorting:
* Can I throw this away? If you have no immediately use for it, toss it.
* Do I have an immediate use for this item? If so, put it use right now.
* Is this a sentimental item from generations? If so, either give it away to your children or store it in a plastic container marked family treasures.
* Is it something I can use now, but needs repair? Don’t delay, schedule a date and time on your calendar that you will either repair it yourself or take it to be repaired.
If you want to keep extra furniture that is causing clutter problems, either rent a storage unit or ask a friend or relative to store it for you. When you are finished with each room, take the trash out immediately, so that you aren’t tempted to bring it back in, again. Make it a goal to work on one room an hour every weekend until you are finished with it, then move on to the next. Get the family involved and make it a fun event. The benefits are that you could create some memories and some habits that will stick.
Donate the charity items on the way home from work, so that they don’t stick around. For items to be stored, buy plastic see-through containers and sort them into specific seasons or holidays, type of items and anything else that will help organize them. Label them, accordingly.
After finishing the entire house, determine to go through the home once a month to clear clutter. Schedule it on the calendar monthly, so that it doesn’t ever revert to its former cluttered condition. Take charge and you’ll begin to gain a sense of pride as you see your clutter disappear and order take over.
Ki lives in Austin Texas. His site provides information and statistics on Austin Texas real estate along with a graphical search of the Austin MLS. Monthly updates are posted on his blog covering Austin real estate and the national market.
Posts Tagged austin mls
Beginning October 2008 through October 2009, the U.S. Treasury Department has been bailing out U.S. banks. In efforts to undergird the economy, and stabilize the struggling institutions, over $200 billion has been paid out to over 600 mortgage lenders through the Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program.
Surprisingly, almost $71 billion has been paid back to the U.S. Treasury so far. That’s almost 36 percent of $200 billion being paid back by 41 different banks. Interestingly to note, almost 7 percent of the banks who borrowed federal money owed 36 percent of the government’s capital purchase.
Looking at the extensive list of all lenders included can make your head spin. Names like 1st Enterprise Bank, 1st FS Corp. and 1st Source Corporation start off the registry that progresses to a multitude of variations of Bancorp names, ending on Yadkin Valley Financial Corporation, York Traditions Bank and Zion Bancorporation.
The Freeport State Bank of Harper, Kansas received the lowest bailout in the amount of $301,000. It looks like CitiGroup Inc. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. of New York, along with Wells Fargo & Co. based in California, received the largest bailouts in the amount of $25 billion each. Out of the three lenders receiving the biggest bailouts, only JP Morgan Chase & Co. is noted as having paid anything back to the government. To the credit of JP Morgan Chase & Co., the group has repaid the entirety of the $25 billion borrowed.
Not surprisingly, lenders in New York State lead U.S. territory and states in the Union with $79.5 billion in bailout bucks. The ten states that top the list are:
1. New York State - $79.5 billion
2. North Carolina - $28.6
3. California - $27.6 billion
4. Pennsylvania - $9.4 billion
5. Ohio - $7.65 billion
6. Minnesota - $7 billion
7. Georgia - $6.2 billion
8. Illinois - $4.5 billion
9. Virginia - $4.2 billion
10. Connecticut - $3.8 billion
States in which lenders borrowed the least include the following bottom ten:
1. Washington, D.C. - $6 million
2. Wyoming (all in Buffalo) - $8.1 million
3. Rhode Island - $31 million
4. New Hampshire - $40.8 million
5. New Mexico - $45.5 million
6. Nebraska - $51.6 million
7. Maine - $58.4 million
8. Idaho - $81.7 million
9. Arizona - $83 million
10. North Dakota - $85.8 million
The following states and companies are in the top ten to have paid back bailout money in the amounts indicated:
1. New York State — $51.7 billion
– JP Morgan Chase & Co. - $25 billion
– Goldman Sachs Group Inc. - $10 billion
– Morgan Stanley - $10 billion
– American Express Company - $3.4 billion
– First Niagara Financial Group - $184 million
– Signature Bank - $120 million
– Alliance Financial Corporation - $27 million
– Bank of New York Melon Corp. - $3 billion
2. Minnesota - $7 billion
– U.S. Bancorp - $6.6 billion
– TCF Financial Corp. - $361 million
3. Virginia - $3.7 billion
– Capital One Financial Corp. - $3.55 billion
– First Community Bank Shares - $41.5 million
4. North Carolina - $3.15 billion
– BB&T Corp. - $3.13 billion
– Crescent Financial Corporation - $24.9 million
5. Massachusetts - $2.1 billion
– State Street Corp. - $2 billion
– Independent Bank Corp. - $78 million
– Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc. - $40 million
6. Illinois - $1.6 billion
– Northern Trust Corp. - $1.6 billion
7. New Jersey - $397 million
– Valley National Bancorp - $300 million
– Sun Bancorp, Inc. - $89.3 million
– Somerset Hills Bancorp - $7.4 million
8. California - $248 million
v CVB Financial Corp. - $130 million
– Westamerica Bancorporation - $83.7 million
– Bank of Marin Bancorp - $28 million
– First ULB Corp. - $4.9 million
– Manhattan Bancorp - $1.7 million
9. Washington - $200 million
– Washington Federal Inc. - $200 million
10. Texas - $200 million
– Sterling Bancshares, Inc. - $125 million
– Texas Capital Banchshares, Inc. - $75 million
Don’t let the numbers fool you. Just because a bank borrowed little doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a strong institution. On the contrary, it could be a smaller bank with shallower pockets. That should be even more cause for concern if the bank has not yet repaid borrowed bailout money to the government.
On the other hand, it should be encouraging if your bank is one of the lenders who landed in the top ten list of those who repaid their debt to the government. Also encouraging is that the $150 billion government bailout of the 1980s for the savings and loan debacle served the U.S. economy well. If history repeats itself, this will set the banks on track to overcome the current U.S. economic challenges.
Ki graduated from UT, and stayed in Austin to live and work. He authored a website, which serves Austin real estate buyers. It has a feature, which includes free searches of properties in the Austin MLS. His site also has statistical information on Austin real estate and a graph which shows mortgage rate history.