enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Julie Falatko of South Portland, here with her son, Eli, kept a journal detailing her yearlong effort to rid her home of clutter. Falatko admits it is a never-ending challenge, however, and says there are still a few cluttered areas in the house that need to be addressed, including the desk pictured behind her. Her most ironic giveaway of the year: several books on decluttering.

enlarge John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Julie Falatko’s sons, Henry (right) and Eli, pick up toys in the boys’ bedroom. Falatko spent the past year trying to declutter her house by getting rid of something every day. But she admits the task is especially hard with growing kids at home.

LESS MESS: HERE'S HOW HERE ARE SOME creative ways to dispose of clutter, courtesy of 1-800-Got-Junk? -- Donate your full-back TV to a college or university dorm student, or take it to an e-waste recycling business such as End of Life Electronics in South Portland. -- Offer your leftover Christmas wrappings to a local art teacher or craft program for kids. -- Staples accepts computers, monitors, laptops, desktop printers and fax machines regardless of brand or whether it was purchased at the store. Data is destructed and parts disassembled for recycling. There are four locations in the Portland area. -- Start a cell-phone drive in your community. There are more than 150 million unused cell phones sitting in Americans' homes. Phone Fund (www.phonefund.com) refurbishes them and resells them to secondary markets. The proceeds help schools, churches and other organizations who wish to raise funds for their projects. The shipping is covered by the organization. -- The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Portland redistributes furniture, appliances, toys and clothing to needy people in the community. -- If your athletic equipment is in reusable condition, think of donating it to a local community group such as the Boys Scouts or Boys and Girls Club. Other programs take sports-specific equipment. World Vision's "Get a Kick Out of Sharing" program collects new and "gently used" soccer balls for children in poverty-stricken countries. -- Fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury and cannot be thrown out with regular trash. Stores across the state collect and recycle these light bulbs through Efficiency Maine's compact fluorescent lamp recycling program. To find a location near you, visit www.efficiencymaine.com. -- Riverside Recycling takes used tires and turns them into asphalt. -- Public libraries, schools and used book stores are looking for children's books and other reading materials. Call ahead to see if they're accepting.

out of a magazine. Falatko's oldest son, 4-year-old Henry, had tired of the trading card, but it still found its way into the toy basket.

Falatko got rid of 52 items in the first month. She found, like many people, that her home had clutter "hot spots."

There was that little-used kitchen cabinet where she discovered one no-bake lasagna sheet and a partially empty container of teff, "which I bought thinking it would be Our New Grain, but which we obviously haven't taken to eating."

There was the "oil and vinegar cupboard" above the stove. Falatko found three bottles of rice vinegar, two bottles of cooking wine, and several other bottles that were either unused or empty.

Some of the items Falatko tossed had sentimental value and were more difficult to part with, such as the wedding veil, wedding gown crinoline and wedding corset she discovered casually stored in a box in the garage. Falatko soon realized that if she had really cared about the veil and other items, she would have stored them properly.

She also remembered that she still has the earrings and shawl she wore on her wedding day to pass on to future generations, and that made it easier to get rid of the other things.

"Most of the time, things that (people) think have value to them don't," said Bill Paesano of 1-800-Got-Junk? "We see a lot of people who keep stuff in storage facilities forever. You'd be surprised, when we go to the storage facility, everything's going. Nothing stays."

Other items Falatko found were obviously junk, but she had no problems getting other people to snap them up like candy when she posted them on Internet sites such as Freecycle, Craig's List or eBay. She even got someone to take a collection of used bras of different sizes.

Baskets are an iconic form of clutter -- everyone has them gathering dust in various corners of the home. Falatko posted five baskets on Freecycle and got 15 responses from people essentially begging her for them. Same thing with a cat hair mitten.

Yes, a cat hair mitten.

"I think there are probably people on Freecycle who have their own clutter problems," Falatko said.

Her most ironic giveaway: Several books on decluttering.

The item that makes you want to go "ewww!": A pair of stretched-out Speedos.

Perhaps the weirdest moment in this grand experiment was when Falatko's cat, Peatie, died in March. Falatko recorded the internal debate she was having in her journal:

"I did have a brief moment wondering whether I could add Peatie to the 365 things list (has this whole project made me ruthless?) but since I wasn't really wanting to get rid of him, I'm not going to put him on."

MORE IN CONTROL

Falatko estimates she made about $550 selling some of her junk on eBay, and could have made more if she had focused more on that. But money was not the goal.

By July, Falatko had reached her 200th item. Her 365th item, tossed in December, was a "weather plate" that Henry made. Cute, but falling apart.

Now that 2007 is over, Falatko is the first to admit that her home is far from clutter-free. She has to clean her desk every day because it is a clutter magnet. "The cupboard above the refrigerator, I don't even know what's in there," she said.

But for Falatko, who grew up in New Jersey ("the Land of Malls"), her relationship with clutter has changed. Shopping has begun to feel like a waste of time, so now she buys toiletries and other basics online and skips the trip to Target that always ends with a basket full of things she doesn't really need. If she does make a purchase, she thinks twice about whether she really needs it.

"My specific goal for this year is to not accumulate so much," Falatko said.

In the meantime, Falatko's notion that clearing the clutter would make way for new things has come true.

In September -- surprise! -- she found out she's pregnant.

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:

mgoad@pressherald.com