nce, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, do

Who's guarding against clutter growth in your home? Do a clutter control patrol to take back your home from clutter. After all clutter doesn't pay the rent or mortgage; you do. So don't let it take over your home. Try these clutter control clean-up tips:

---Do a five-minute walk-through in your home nightly with a trash bag. Go room to room and pick up any obvious trash. Just get what you see. Don't try to look in crevices and be a perfectionist. What you miss today, you'll grab on tomorrow's walk-through. A better idea is to assign each willing family member a night to do this task. Everyone has five minutes to spare!

---Keep a decorative hamper, basket with a lid or even a storage ottoman in the family room for quick toy pickups prior to guests arrival.

---Sort through your mail on the way back from the mailbox. Immediately discard advertisements that don't interest you into the trash can or your personal shredder. Don't set them down for later.

---When family members read the newspaper, have them lay it directly in a newspaper recycle basket. If other family members are interested in reading it, they can retrieve it and also return it to here. Make it a routine to drop the newspapers into a recycle bin either once a week on the way to work or school or when the newspapers fill the bin.

---When you carry an item from one room to another, take something from that room to another. For instance, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, don

any obvious trash. Just get what you see. Don't try to look in crevices and be a perfectionist. What you miss today, you'll grab on tomorrow's walk-through. A better idea is to assign each willing family member a night to do this task. Everyone has five minutes to spare!

---Keep a decorative hamper, basket with a lid or even a storage ottoman in the family room for quick toy pickups prior to guests arrival.

---Sort through your mail on the way back from the mailbox. Immediately discard advertisements that don't interest you into the trash can or your personal shredder. Don't set them down for later.

---When family members read the newspaper, have them lay it directly in a newspaper recycle basket. If other family members are interested in reading it, they can retrieve it and also return it to here. Make it a routine to drop the newspapers into a recycle bin either once a week on the way to work or school or when the newspapers fill the bin.

---When you carry an item from one room to another, take something from that room to another. For instance, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, do

mily room for quick toy pickups prior to guests arrival.

---Sort through your mail on the way back from the mailbox. Immediately discard advertisements that don't interest you into the trash can or your personal shredder. Don't set them down for later.

---When family members read the newspaper, have them lay it directly in a newspaper recycle basket. If other family members are interested in reading it, they can retrieve it and also return it to here. Make it a routine to drop the newspapers into a recycle bin either once a week on the way to work or school or when the newspapers fill the bin.

---When you carry an item from one room to another, take something from that room to another. For instance, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, do

et. If other family members are interested in reading it, they can retrieve it and also return it to here. Make it a routine to drop the newspapers into a recycle bin either once a week on the way to work or school or when the newspapers fill the bin.

---When you carry an item from one room to another, take something from that room to another. For instance, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, do

nce, if you take wet towels to the laundry room from the bathroom bring back clean shirts from the dryer ready to be hung in the bedroom closet.

---Purge items regularly from your home. If your bookcase is full, don't put another book on it without pulling some off to donate. If you have small appliances collecting dust for two years in the kitchen, donate them. Donate clothes you have not worn in one or two years with the exception of rarely worn special items such as suits you might wear to weddings, funerals and other events. Ask your children to purge a few toys annually too (that is if they want or need to make room for new toys). Get rid of excess and duplicates in your kitchen such as seven mixing bowls, five spatulas and ten frying pans.

---Monitor your impulse spending. A lot of items will catch your eye in the stores. But do you really need them all? Sometimes more stuff (even new stuff) means more clutter. Learn to live simple. It's a prime rule of clutter control. And patrol for clutter in your home on a regular basis so that identifying it and clearing it becomes an easy routine.