5 Disorder Disasters: Organized!

5. USE IT OR LOSE IT

You cleaned out your garage — a year ago. Your gargantuan home workout system is parked where your car used to go, and that bread machine you swore you would use is taking up valuable shelf space. You want to use the room, but you're sure you'll need these things. Someday.

Solution: Garages are notoriously the messiest parts of the house, because items can be placed there and forgotten. For Cyndi Seidler, a Los Angeles-based professional organizer and the owner of Handy Girl Organizers, the garage serves as a "final resting place" for items she isn't quite ready to get rid of. She goes through the items every few months, tossing things she can live without.

"If you have gone six months to a year without using or referring to an item, chances are you don't need it," says Cyndi. Stopped drinking coffee? Sell your espresso machine. That garden hose that sprung a leak last spring? Toss it. Come up with a purging system that works for you and stick to it.

If you still can't part with rarely used items, think of the space you'll gain rather than the things you lose. Eliminating clutter, Cyndi says, is like gaining real estate inside your home. Always wanted a craft area? Go through your boxes on a regular basis and you'll have the space. Using the room for something you enjoy is a great motivator to keep it organized.