When you declutter your home, you declutter your mind. Get decluttering tips, tricks and an easy to tackle checklist to learn how to declutter, efficiently.
I’m joining some of the most inspiring friends today to share printables that will get you organized, without a lot of effort. Be sure to take the time to stop by and visit them all!
With the kids back in school, it’s time to do a little decluttering. With a few extra hours in the day filled with peace and quiet and lack of interference as items make their way to the trash, recycle and donate piles, there’s no time better than the present.
My motto is sometimes simplicity is simply the best. I love the way our clutter free home feels. I find myself becoming overwhelmed when clutter takes over. It’s one of the many reasons I’ve embraced a minimalist lifestyle.
Let’s face it, the holidays turn everything upside down which is why it feels so great to take the month of January to get organized. If you haven’t yet, I hope you join my challenge to get organized in 30 days!
Table of Contents
To Start the New Year in a Positive Direction, Declutter Your Mind
The first step to organization is decluttering. Eliminating excess is the easiest task, and quite possibly the most rewarding. Getting rid of clutter is so freeing. When you declutter your home, you declutter your mind.
First, let’s define clutter…
“Clutter is a collection of things lying about in an untidy mass.”
I personally believe clutter is anything in excess or without a home.
I, too, fall victim to clutter, but quickly declutter regularly almost without thinking about it from creating a habit with the below tips to declutter.
Yes, I may look like a madwoman every now and then sifting through a pile of papers and throwing them in various directions, but there’s method to my madness.
How to Declutter
- Take it one step or area at a time. If you tend to feel overwhelmed, start small and work your way up! Some areas give you maximum impact for little effort, which will make you feel accomplished and hopefully, snowball into more decluttering! Scroll down for a list of things you can declutter in minutes.
- Whatever space you are working on, create trash/recycle/donate/relocate piles in that proximity to make decluttering quick and painless.
- Ask yourself, “do I need this?” {Note, this is also a great question while shopping}. If the answer is no, place it in a trash/recycle/donate pile. If it hasn’t been used in the last 30 days or up to a year for seasonal items, the answer is almost always “no.” If it is expired, the answer is simply “no.” If you find it difficult to part with items, ask yourself “is it worth the space it consumes?”
- Relocate anything that is out of season to a designated area of your home.
- Immediately place trash and recycling in the appropriate bins and donations in your vehicle. It gives you a sense of accomplishment while eliminating the risk that items will re-enter the home. This is particularly important if you’re going through toys!
- Designate a spot for incoming papers. Mail, receipts, school papers, etc…you can file them away later.
Things You Can Declutter in 5 Minutes
- a counter
- a shelf
- paper catch all {quickly thumb through to see what is trash, recycling or a priority – you may be amazed at how little it dwindles down to}
- medicine cabinet {remove any expired medications or items that don’t belong, combine duplicates}
- an end table
- the refrigerator {discard anything that is expired, looks less than desirable or hasn’t been used recently}
- magazine basket
Favorite Tip
Eliminate anything in your closet you can part with, that is the wrong size or out of style. Then, use Oprah’s tip – hang your clothes with the hangers in reverse. When you wear an item, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction. After a month or two, you’ll see which pieces you should eliminate from lack of wear.
When You’re Decluttering, Ask Yourself
- Have I used it in the past year?
- Will I really use it?
- Do I need it?
- How many do I have?
- Why do I own it?
- Do I feel obligated to keep it?
- Would I buy it now/keep if I moved?
- If it’s broken, why has it taken so long to fix? Either fix or eliminate.
- Does it make me happy?
Download your Decluttering Checklist here (preview below).
Are you in the decluttering mode? What’s your favorite decluttering tip?
At one time you mentioned the sweeper/vacuum cleaner or wet vac you like to use. Can you share that with us again? Thank you.
glad to find you in this new stage of life!
Where did you purchase your simple elegant bedroom head board
Restoration Hardware – I love the simplicity of it and it’s slipcovered should you need to clean it. I also have 2 of these white french seam slipcovered headboards I love! Enjoy!
I love all of your ideas and suggestions! Can you please show how you organize your own closet and jewelry
Hi! It’s on the to do list – to be honest, it’s so ugly – dark, dated bathroom with mirrored doors and carpet that is probably older than all three of our children combined. We’re renovating this spring and I couldn’t be more excited to get it organized and share with you!
Hi Julie!
Thank you for all the helpful tips! I wondered where you stored your dry goods such as pastas, canned goods and breads? I hadn’t located that in your other blog posts from your pantry organization. You mentioned you have a baking pantry and one that’s for the children’s lunches, so I wondered where the other items would go. Thanks so much!
I make pasta and bread from scratch, but otherwise I’d store pasta in the cereal containers. We do on occasion have a loaf of sandwich bread on the top shelf.
Thank you so much for this. I’ll be using this. Now if I can get the husband on board. LOL
Good luck – that’s the hardest part!
I have been waiting for your message today. My painter is finishing with my living and dining rooms today and as I replace items in those rooms I want to be careful in what I keep and what I need to trash. Cannot wait to get to work and hope your email helps today.
Hi Jean! I don’t see an email or previous comment from you?
These are really great tips. I conquer paper clutter by dealing with everything as it comes in!
Me too!
Me too, as well……
Great tIp – thanks.
I would love more tips with schoolwork and forms.Tips on coats/seasonal items with storage. I have 4 children and it is hard determine what should stay and go.
Hi Kari! I’ll add this to my to do list. Schoolwork/forms can be so overwhelming!
As for coats and seasonal items, I have a cedar closet in the basement that I hang out of season jackets/coats and use bins for out of season shoes that go on a storage shelf. Each kid has 3 pair of shoes a season – one pair of tennis shoes and depending on weather dress sandals and flip flops or casual shoes and dress shoes + rain boots. Their rain boots are lined up in the mudroom and the remaining shoes go into 2 baskets under the mudroom bench so that they can put them on as they leave and take them off as they enter our home rather than running around to find a solo shoe. I hope that helps!
I forget where I read this, but one of my favorite tips is if you’re not using something and you can replace it for less than $20 in less than 20 minutes then it’s not worth holding on to so get rid of it!
🙂
Kate
Ooooooh, that’s SO good! Thanks for sharing, Kate!