Spring time is here and that means it’s time to put on those gloves and clean out that clutter. Spring cleaning is one of those dreaded chores that many seem to sweep under the rug while others endure it and eventually reap the benefits. But spring cleaning doesn’t have to be dreadful and believe it or not, it doesn’t have to be rushed.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to organization is overwhelming themselves with the big picture. Come to think of it, that seems to be a problem with many things in our lives.

Breaking tasks up into smaller goals will ultimately be more rewarding, give more motivation and help things move along at a faster pace.

When you look at an entire house as a project, that can be daunting to anyone. Why not try to look at spring cleaning from a different perspective. For instance, break up the house room-by-room. Set a goal to organize your kitchen in one week.

Then, break your goals down even more.

Make a goal to organize all your kitchen drawers in three days. That’s just one and a half drawers a day (not too overwhelming). Then, once that goal is complete, move on to the pantry and then the cabinets. Before you know it, in about seven days, your kitchen is organized and you can move on to the bathrooms, bedrooms, all the closets and then the family room.

Another way to categorize is by chore.

For instance, set a goal to go through the entire families clothes and donate clothes that don’t fit and throw out worn or torn clothing.

Set a time frame to complete the project and then break up the task by person. Start with yourself, then your spouse, next the kids.

Make sure to include them in decisions you’re not sure of though, you don’t want to throw out your husband’s favorite shirt.

Next, move on to toys to rid of, books, old CDs and VHS tapes.

Another motivator is to hold a garage sale. Gather everything you want to sell, mark it with a price tag and put an ad in the paper to let folks know about it.

Sometimes you’ll get those die-hard garage sellers who will make you an offer on all your goods, pay for it and load it all up and haul it off in one swoop.

Other times, it may take two or three weekends of garage selling.

Anything that doesn’t sell can be donated to GoodWill or other charities.

With tax season nearly behind us, another task that most of us face is boxing up our old tax papers, starting a new filing system (if you haven’t already) and shredding files from more than three years ago.

This isn’t so bad, for those of us who have kept up with it year after year, but for those who haven’t tackled it in more than 10 years, it can be an overwhelming task.

That doesn’t mean you don’t face it though, waiting will just make things more difficult. And it also doesn’t mean throw out the documents without shredding them, this can create an entire different level of stress, like identity theft.

So, how do you tackle it you ask? Well, just like every other chore, one step at a time.

If you don’t have a shredder, they can be purchased just about anywhere and they aren’t very expensive.

Try starting one year at a time, if all your documents from 2006 are in one box. Make it a goal to shred that entire box in one week. Then, move on to the next box and so on.

There are also shredding events where companies or cities set up big shredders and encourage folks to come out with their old documents to be shred for free and recycled. Check out a few listings on http://filestoreshred.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=62.

Other events help you to rid of those old computers, refrigerators and furniture.

The City of Auburn is hosting a Great American Clean Up event on Friday and Saturday for those old electronics, batteries and other items you want to dispose of, but aren’t sure how to.

Once all the clutter is gone, you can now start to focus on the cleaning.

Start slow, again, one room at a time. Spring really is a great time to tackle those dusty base boards and cob-webbed corners you haven’t faced in a long time.

And after the cleaning, a little bit of paint can transform those baseboards, drab walls and finger-printed kitchen cabinets you can’t seem to keep clean, but that’s another column.