It's nearing that time of year where you take a look at your Chico rental properties and begin to assess what can be done to make more space, make a little extra money, or just be more organized. 

When living in an apartment, it can be difficult to be clutter-free let alone stay organized. The task of clearing clutter can easily take you a whole weekend of dedicated time. Here are a few tips to take into consideration before you get started.

1.  Make a Plan

Instead of making "declutter apartment" a single item on your to-do list to be completed in just one day, break it into the spaces that you want cleared of clutter. Write out a list of these spaces so that you can check them off each time you complete one. Tackling your apartment space by space will help with time and encourage you to get the job done and not feel as overwhelmed. 

2.  Four Piles

Before starting on the first space on your to-do list, create four piles: throw away, donate, sell, and gift. For easy removal after the fact, you can labeled boxes in place for each pile though not necessary. This way, when you have an item that you don’t want to keep in your apartment, you're able to give it a sense of purpose by putting it into its pile, bonus you also get it out of your way. 

3.  Know Your Resources

Here in the Chico area, you have many different resources to help clear clutter in Chico rental properties. We have great local organizations that you can donate your goods to and they will got to a good cause. These include The Arc Thrift Stores, The Salvation Army, The Jesus Center and more.

Because you can’t have a yard sale while living in an apartment, utilizing Craigslist, Facebook sale pages, Facebook Marketplace and Book Finder to sell your belongings is the way to go! This will help you to gain some money back from de-cluttering your apartment. Plus, if you're able to make some extra money, you can use that money to buy storage containers that are needed later on to organize and set yourself up for success.

Throwing things away at an apartment complex is great and easy because you don’t have to worry about there being a lack of space in the huge green trashcans. But, keep the products that you can’t throw away that need to be disposed of properly.  

4.  Finish a Space

Once you're done de-cluttering a space, completely finish the task. This includes throwing the trash away, putting the donation goods in your vehicle for drop off, making arrangements to drop off the items that you wish to gift, and putting items up for sale. Once this is done, then it's time to move on to the next space in your apartment.

5.  Rule of Thumb

When you're going through your apartment, it's important to remember that you leave about 10% of each space free to help prevent clutter and disorganization in the future. It might seem difficult to provide that much free space because not all Chico rental properties provide renters with a lot of space, but when possible it's a good rule of thumb to clean and organize by.

6.  Last Minute Tips

Purchasing all your containers, baskets, and other organization tools before de-cluttering may seem like the best idea, but we suggest waiting. Definitely grab a few containers or boxes to get the process going, but you don't know how many you need until you're in the middle of it. Save money and wait until you have a plan of how many you need and at what dimensions you need them at!

Clearing clutter is a great way to optimize space in Chico rental properties. Hopefully you feel empowered to take on this task and maybe you'll find it therapeutic and dare we say - fun?

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