How to Declutter your Home in 7 Easy Steps
Does your home always look messy, even though you feel like you're always cleaning? Perhaps you should consider whether you have too much clutter in your home. By saying that, I'm not suggesting that you're some kind of hoarder or slob. But sometimes, the size of a person's house is just too small for the amount of things that are in there, and it creates a look of constant disorder. You may need to scale back to the absolute minimum of what you need to live in order to keep things looking neat in your house.
Learn how to declutter your home in 7 easy steps.
1. Start with the worst offenders. The living room and kitchen are usually the two most used rooms in the house, and consequently are usually the rooms that collect clutter the fastest. It's easy to dump stuff on a kitchen counter or toss it on the couch or coffee table when you walk in the door. Remove anything that does not belong in these rooms, and train yourself to put things completely away when you come in the door. If you're having a hard time breaking the habit of dropping stuff as you come in the door, purchase some stylish baskets to keep near the door of those rooms. Make it your goal to keep the baskets empty by putting things where they belong. If you forget, at least the clutter will be contained and won't be such an eyesore.
2. Go through every room in the house (one at a time) and remove everything from drawers and cabinets. This is a time-consuming process but it is easier to start with an empty space and fill it instead of simply pushing things around.
3. Divide every item into categories. You can use heavy duty trash bags or boxes for this part. Everything that you find should go into a category: KEEP, THROW AWAY, GIVE AWAY, and RELOCATE. Items that will stay in that room are to keep. Things that you don’t need or are broken can be thrown away. Clothes or furniture still in great condition can be donated. Anything that definitely belongs in another room can be labeled for relocation when you get to that room.
4. Do not start a new room until you have completely finished the previous room. Once you have decided what will stay in that room, place items in the drawer or cabinet where you want them. Throw away the trash, put the donate box in the car so it can be taken care of right away, and place the relocate box in the next room in which you will be working.
5. Do not completely fill your spaces. Get rid of enough stuff to leave extra room in your drawers and cabinets. If every space is filled to maximum capacity, you will constantly be knocking things over as you get things in and out of the drawer or cabinet. (Tupperware avalanche, anyone?) Leave plenty of room to get things in and out while keeping them neat.
6. Keep as much as possible out of sight. Even with only the essentials remaining in a room, things can still look cluttered when you have random items sitting out in full view. Use attractive containers or baskets whenever possible to keep everything contained and out of sight.
7. Once you have successfully removed clutter from every room in the house, implement the “One in, one out” rule. (Every time something new comes into the house, something else has to go.) This will keep your house from becoming full of too many things and creating the need to declutter all over again.
What did I miss? What are your best tips for decluttering and keeping your house organized?
15 Minute Tasks for the Week
This week we'll work on disinfecting the living room.
Monday
Take down and wash curtains and other linens.
Tuesday
Clean the ceiling fan and knock down any cobwebs from the ceiling.
*Helpful tips for cleaning ceiling fans*
- Use an old pillowcase to clean the fan blades. Just slip it over the blade, grip it tightly, and slide it back off of the blade. The dust will be contained inside the pillowcase instead of floating around in the air.
- Clean the rest of the fan with a swiffer duster or a damp rag.
- Keep a spray bottle of water handy, and spray the air around the fan as you dust. The mist will help the dust particles fall to the floor instead of floating around in your face and making you sneeze. (I tried this for the first time this week, and was amazed that I had no problems with sneezing, itchy eyes, sore throat, etc. like I almost always do when I’m around dust.)
Wednesday
Mist walls with a non-toxic disinfectant. Scrub any smudges, crayon drawings, etc. off with a rag.
ThursdayÂ
Move furniture out from the wall. Dust the baseboards and spray with disinfectant. Vacuum the entire floor, including underneath of the furniture. If you have a wood floor, sweep and spray the entire floor with disinfectant.
Friday
Spray all furniture with a non-toxic disinfectant and wipe down with a rag.
Saturday
Remove any items that do not belong there. Place them in the correct places in the house, throw away trash, and get rid of things you no longer use.
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15 Minute Tasks for The Week
I'm finally back with another week of 15 minute tasks! We'll start with Tuesday, though, since I'm a day late getting this up!
This week we'll be working in the pantry. Mine is more like a catch-all room, so I've got a lot of work to do in there!
Tuesday
Grab a trash bag and set the timer for 15 minutes. Go through every shelf, throwing away food that is expired, that you know you're never going to eat, or that you know you shouldn't eat! If you're trying to take baby steps toward healthier living, don't hinder yourself by keeping food that is bad for you in your house! If you're not sure, read the labels, google certain ingredients, and learn what things are! I have kicked a lot of food out of my house this way. It didn't seem so bad on the surface, but when I checked into what I was really eating, I just couldn't bring myself to eat it anymore.
Wednesday
Today you need to take a rag and a bottle of cleaner into the pantry. (You can use my DIY non-toxic cleaner if you like.) Set the timer for 15 minutes and start clearing off shelves and wiping them down with your cleaner and rag. You can put the stuff back on the shelves any old way because we'll be organizing everything later.
Thursday
Head into the pantry with small baskets, jars, or bins. Group like items together and place smaller items into baskets. Use jars if you'd like for opened pasta, rice, beans, etc.
Friday
Finish up organizing the items on the shelves. If you keep other items stored in your pantry, organize them in the most efficient way you can.
Saturday
Vacuum the floor, scrub the walls, doorframe, and lightswitch, and you're done!
If you want to join us for the next round of 15 minute cleaning organizing tasks, be sure to subscribe to free email updates or follow me on Facebook so you won't miss it!
15 Minute Tasks for the Week
If you’re just joining us this week, this program is set up so that you can jump in right where you are! You may want to subscribe to email updates or follow along on Facebook so you can keep up with each week’s new tasks.
We're back after a couple week's break from our 15 minute cleaning and organization tasks.
This week we're going to finish up in the bathroom.
Monday
You get to skip Monday since I'm late getting this up! 🙂
Tuesday
Head into the room with a trash bag.  Work your way around the room clockwise and go through every shelf, drawer, nook, and cranny.  Be sure to go through products in your shower, look through your makeup, etc. Don't skip anything. Be honest with yourself and throw away items that you don't use.
Wednesday
Set your timer for 15 minutes and begin organizing one shelf or drawer at a time. Place like items together and use baskets or bins to hold smaller items. Check out my Organizing board on Pinterest for more ideas.
Thursday
Work for another 15 minutes on organizing your shelves, drawers, and cabinets.
Friday
15 more minutes of organizing, and you should be finishing up in the bathroom.
Saturday
Make a list of projects that you would like to complete in the bathroom as well as the materials needed. Maybe it's hanging new towel hooks or doing some redecorating. Get it all on paper so that you will be more motivated to get it done.
Is your house starting to look clean and organized? Just think, we haven't even finished three months of the year — you'll be able to accomplish a whole lot more by the end of the year!
15 Minute Tasks for the Week
If you’re just joining us this week, this program is set up so that you can jump in right where you are! You may want to subscribe to email updates or follow along on Facebook so you can keep up with each week’s new tasks.
This week we'll be working in the bathroom. If you only have one bathroom like me, this week will be a little easier for you. If you have two bathrooms, I've tried to make each day's task easy enough where it shouldn't take much more than the usual 15 minutes if you do both bathrooms.
Monday
Check the corners for cobwebs and knock them down. Dust and disinfect shelves and counters. Check out my non-toxic disinfectant recipe if you need one.
Tuesday
Take down the shower curtain and put it in the wash. You may want to wash the liner with bleach to get rid of mildew. Put rugs and any other linens in the wash as well. Climb inside the tub and spray down all the walls and shelves with cleaner. Use a scrub brush to scrub them, rinse well, and use a squeegee to knock off the water. Don't worry about the tub itself today; just the walls. Put the linens back up when they're dry.
Wednesday
Fill up the tub with bleach water and let it soak for a couple hours. Come back with a scrub brush and let all the water out. Scrub the tub, rinse well, and use a squeegee to get as much water off of the bottom of the tub as you can. (If you use a squeegee after every bath or shower, your tub will not get slimy nearly as often. You're constantly putting soap into the tub, so it should stay clean. It just needs to be rinsed well and stay dry.)
Thursday
Clean the mirror, sink, and toilet thoroughly. Empty the trash.
Friday
Scrub the door frame, door handle, light switches, cabinet knobs, etc with disinfectant. Gather bathroom cleaning supplies to keep somewhere in your bathroom – rags, disinfectant, toilet bowl cleaner, etc. From now on, you should keep them at arm's reach, and wipe down the sink and toilet every day. Your bathroom will stay spic and span all the time, and only need a deep cleaning every so often. This is what Flylady calls a swish and swipe.
Saturday
Sweep the floor and scrub it with disinfectant.
Be thinking of bathroom organizing ideas. (Check out my Organizing board on Pinterest!) That's what we'll be doing next week!
Did I leave out anything important? Please tell me how your house is coming along! I hope this is helping you get your house in shape!
15 Minute Tasks for the Week
If you're just joining us this week, this program is set up so that you can jump in right where you are!
Last week we worked on disinfecting the remaining bedrooms. I hope you didn't find any bed bugs! This infographic from Moxie Pest Control tells you exactly how to look for them and how you can get rid of them.
This week we’re going to focus on organizing any of the bedrooms that you didn't work on a couple weeks ago. I’ll be focusing specifically on the master bedroom, but do whatever works for you.
Be thinking ahead how to best organize your bedrooms so that you can be gathering the necessary supplies. Andrea posted a very inexpensive way to make matching organizational bins, and Nicole shared some great tips for organizing small spaces.
Monday
Head into the room with a trash bag and three boxes. Set the timer for 15 minutes and begin a purge of the room. Work your way around the room clockwise and go through every closet, drawer, nook, and cranny. Throw away any trash, add anything you do not need to one box to be donated or sold. Add anything that belongs in another room to the other box to be put away. In the third box, place items on which you are undecided. You may think you can’t bear to part with something, but by the end of the week you may realize it’s time to let it go. (Don’t focus too much on cleaning out the clothes unless you readily see something you know you need to get rid of. We’ll be spending a couple days dedicated to just clothing later on.)
Tuesday
Continue with another 15 minutes of purging. If you finished one bedroom on Monday, work in another bedroom.
Wednesday
Set the timer for 15 minutes and work on organizing one closet shelf or drawer. Place like items together in bins or baskets. Over-the-door shoe holders work well for holding small items such as small toys, scarves and accessories, or hey, even…shoes! If you’re working in a child’s room, organize the room in such a way that is easy for children to keep organized themselves. Label dresser drawers or toy bins (use pictures if they can’t read) so that children can put their items away in the correct places all by themselves.  If you're an adult, don't be embarrassed to label bins for yourself too. We all forget sometimes what we decided belongs where.
Thursday
Work for another 15 minutes on organizing another area of the room.
Friday
You guessed it! Another 15 minute organizing session in the bedroom!
Saturday
Take 15 minutes to wrap up loose ends in the bedroom. If you have boxes of things that you haven’t decided what to do with, now is the time to make a decision. Decide where the items belong and put them away, or put them in your donate box.
How did you do last week? Did you get those bedrooms disinfected? It makes you feel wonderful when you walk into the room, doesn’t it?
If you’re just joining us, you’ll probably want to subscribe to email updates or follow along on Facebook so you can keep up with each week’s new tasks.