Be honest – are you a pack rat? If you are, you more than likely know it. What’s wrong with being a pack rat? Well…nothing if you don’t mind a lot of clutter and never being able to find anything. If you’re tired of living in an unorganized mess and want to kick the pack rat habit, the first thing you need to do is acknowledge that you’re a pack rat. Take this quick test to find out.

1. Do you complain that you don’t have enough room or space?

2. Do you have things piled up in your cabinets and closets or stacked in corners because you don’t have anywhere else to put them?

3. Do you have magazines stacked around the house waiting to be read?

4. Are you saving old magazines for the day when you’ll sit down and cut out articles, recipes, and patterns?

5. Do things get lost in your house?

6. Do you think, "I’ll just put this here for right now. I’ll put it away later."

7. Are objects collecting on top of your refrigerator, dresser, counters, end tables, coffee tables, and bookshelves?

8. Do you have things around your house that you haven’t used for a very long time and probably won’t ever use?

9. Do you ever buy something you already had – you just couldn’t find it?

10. Do you have to move things around in your closet or cabinets to find certain items?

Guess what? If you answered, "yes" to three or more of these questions, you are probably a pack rat.

If you are a pack rat and want to change your ways, don’t worry. You can do it. The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem with getting rid of things. Once you do that, tell yourself that you didn’t get into this problem overnight and you’re not going to get out of it overnight either. But you can get out of it. Here are some steps to help you.

Step #1 – Pick an area that is bothering you the most.

Step #2 – To de-clutter, make three piles. Pile #1 – you keep. Pile #2 – you throw away. Pile #3 – you give away.

Step #3 – Set a timer for 15 minutes and start de-cluttering just that area.

Step #4 – When the timer goes off, put up the "keep" pile. Throw away the "throw away" pile and put the "give away" pile in your garage to take to the Good Will store once a week until you have successfully de-cluttered your home.

Now that you know you’re a pack rat, you can begin to take steps toward cleaning your home and getting rid of all the "stuff." This may be painful and difficult at first, but you can do it. Once you get in the swing of things, you will get carried away and have your house de-cluttered before you know it.