Raul’s rules of spring cleaning

UF Fine Arts Trash Chair Wood Garbage Pink

photo credit: cdsessums

My Mom is arriving on June 23rd and I want to make sure I have a clean apartment with everything she might need. I also want to make sure that I have gotten rid of everything I *don’t* need, so I’m spending my Sunday morning/afternoon doing spring cleaning. I am trying to set some rules as to what I’m going to get rid of (and since I have a tonne of clothes that don’t fit anymore, there’ll be a lot of clothes going to the Sally Ann or some other charity).

I thought of what I rules would I follow to get rid of stuff, and pondered whether there there any general rules? Productivity fiends would probably say “if you haven’t used it for X months, then you should chuck it”. So this is the set of rules I’m following (for now, I might update throughout the day).

Clothes
- If they don’t fit me now that I’m slimmer, I’m getting rid of them.

Books (academic)
- If they’re not for courses I am teaching/have taught, I’m getting rid of them.

Paperwork
- If tax-related or business-related, archive.
- Pack in a box previous years’ of phone bills, credit card statements, bank statements.
- Only keep the current year (2010) of house paper items (e.g. credit card statements, phone bills, paperwork).

Winter clothing
- Only keep 3-4 pairs of gloves, scarves, etc.

Can you suggest other rules? And more importantly, can you suggest where to give all the stuff

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