That time of year; Learning how to simplify spring cleaning at the Bartlett Library
On Tuesday, May 17, patrons picked up helpful tips on how to better organize their belongings at the Bartlett Library program "Declutter to Simplify Spring Cleaning".
Laurie Neumann, professional organizer and certified personal photo organizer, presented her six step process in order to aid in making spring cleaning simpler. The six steps follow the acronym of "RELIEF."
"R" stands for "Reveal your intention," which means to focalize your efforts so that you don't worry about all the rooms you have to go through. "E" is "Evaluate everything," which means to put items into four categories: Keep, toss, recycle or donate. This coincides with the letter "L" because it stands for "Let the clutter go." Let the clutter go by putting it into one of those four categories.
"I" stands for "Identify a home for items." This means to put items in their own places based on how often you use them. So, if you use something like a spatula every day, you would want that somewhere easily accessible, but if you use the vacuum once a week, then you would put that somewhere out of the way.
The second "E" stands for "Edit regularly," so you shouldn't wait and let things pile up. One of the patrons pointed out that she keeps a garbage can near her front door so that when she gets the mail, she looks through it and throws out all the junk mail right away so that it doesn't even make it to her kitchen table.
And lastly, "F" stands for "Freedom": The freedom to enjoy a clutter free space, and also the freedom to enjoy the items that you did keep around after finishing up spring cleaning.
To wrap up her presentation, Neumann raffled off a Starbucks gift card to a lucky patron in the audience.
An upcoming Adult Services program is "On the Road to Glory: Fred Lorenzen" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25. NASCAR driver Camden Murphy will present an insider's account of the amazing NASCAR career of the outstanding Illinoisan driver, Fred Lorenzen.
For information and a complete listing of scheduled programs, visit www.bartlettlibrary.org or call (630) 837-2855.