A cluttered home can be so stressful. Whether it’s clutter taking over your living room or bedside table, you may feel stressed each time you look at the mess. Decluttering your home may seem overwhelming, but there are secrets you can use to make the job easier.
Whether you start small or get the family involved, you can declutter your home. Let me share some effective tips for decluttering your home effectively!
Get Organized
- Printable Priority Worksheets To Get Organized
- Apps for Organizing Your Life
- Marie Kondo For Organizing
Tackle Decluttering Your Home Once and For All
1. Start Small
The best tip for decluttering your home is to start small. Instead of looking around the living room and not knowing where to begin, just pick an area. For example, you might start with decluttering your coffee table and then move to your entertainment center. Focusing on one area at a time makes it much easier to get the job done.
2. Use the Three Box Sorting System
Whatever area you’re decluttering, use the three box sorting system. What this means is to have a box for items you want to keep, a box for items to toss, and a box for items to donate. As you go through each area, place each item you pick up into one of the areas. When you’re done with the area, go back put the keep items away.
3. Use the One Year Rule
As you’re decluttering, you want to make sure to toss or donate any items that you haven’t used in over a year. While there will be items that you only use once a year, such as holiday decorations, there will also be items that you haven’t used in several years. These are the items you want to get rid of.
4. Hold Onto the Memory, Let the Item Go
If you’re keeping something simply because it has a great memory attached to it, let it go. The happiness of that memory is not in the item itself, it’s in the memory. In many cases, holding onto these items only causes more stress. That’s especially true if you’re holding onto items that belonged to someone who passed away. Donate these items to someone who actually wants them.
5. Create a Blank Slate
When you’re working on an area, remove everything from that area. Once you’ve sorted all your items, the area will be completely clear. As you go back through the keep items, only put items in there that you really want in there. The other items may belong in another room or maybe items you really don’t want.
6. Make a Place for Everything
Once you make a place for everything, it’s easier to not let the area become cluttered. For example, if you have a place for your coffee mugs, and it starts to become crowded, you’ll know that it’s time to go through your collection and toss or donate the ones you no longer use.
7. Bring One In, Take-Two Out
If you’re bringing something into your home that you already have, such as a new tee shirt or handbag, get rid of two that you already own. This naturally prevents clutter from building up.
8. Turn Clothing Hangers Backwards
8. Turn Clothing Hangers BackwardsCan’t seem to part with some of your clothes, even though you never wear them? You might wear them someday, right? If you turn the hangers around in your closet, you will quickly find out which pieces you wear most often. As you wear something, turn the hanger back to the right way. At the end of the season, take all the items that are still backward and donate them.
9. Bring It Out in the Open
Do you hate opening your cabinets and seeing a huge mess? Sometimes the best incentive to keep the area decluttered is to take the doors off your cabinets. When you constantly see the area, you’re more likely to keep it tidy.
10. Use Bins in the Pantry
A great way to keep your pantry decluttered is to use bins. When you slide bins onto the shelves, you can turn a cluttered mess into an organized area. This is perfect for all those items that are hard to stack. For example, a snack bin is perfect for opened packages of chips and small items such as granola bars and bags of fruit snacks.
11. Donate Toys the Kids No Longer Play With
When your kids are at school, go into their rooms and gather up any toys that they haven’t played within several months and any toys they’ve outgrown. These toys can be donated to thrift stores or your local women’s shelter so that kids less fortunate will have toys to play with.
12. Group Like Items
An almost instant way to clear clutter in some areas is to group like items. This works especially well in pantries and linen closets. When you group like items, such as canned goods or bottles of shampoo, you know exactly what you have on hand and are less likely to purchase items you don’t need.
13. Pair Down Each Season
When you’re changing out the decorations in your home, go through the boxes and get rid of any items you no longer want. This will greatly reduce the number of storage boxes in your basement or attic. Plus, there’s a good chance you’re going to buy new decorations for each holiday. Donate the ones that don’t match the look you’re going for and toss anything that’s damaged.
14. Stop Worrying About What You Spent on Something
Clutter can sometimes occur because we buy items that we lost interest in, such as exercise equipment. Instead of holding onto those items because they cost a lot, sell them for what you can. You’ll get some of your money back and you’ll clear the clutter from your home.
15. Get the Family Involved
Last, but not least, get your family involved. You may work really hard to declutter your areas of the home, but it doesn’t do much good when the rest of the home is a mess. Follow the tips listed above to get your family started decluttering.
If you hate clutter but feel overwhelmed, try these tips. You’ll soon find that decluttering is easier than you thought and have a home that you love.
Decluttering your home doesn’t have to be hard! How do you declutter?