Are You Ready To Declutter Your Home and Your Life?
Do you feel like you’re drowning in clutter? I know I certainly feel this way from time to time. It’s amazing how the clutter around you can actually affect our mood, isn’t it?
According to Psy.D. Sherrie Carter of Psychology Today, messy homes and workspaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed.
If you look around and see STUFF cluttering your home, it’s time to do something about it!
Why You Need To Declutter Your Home
One of the main reasons why you should declutter our home is because it reduces stress in your everyday life. It also frees up space in your home that you might not even know existed.
It’s amazing how getting rid of stuff makes even a small space feel so much bigger.
Are You A Clutterbug
Is your house cluttered with unnecessary items that are keeping you from living up to your full potential?
Yes, clutter can keep you from living life to your fullest potential!
Clutter is anything that doesn’t have a PLACE or adds VALUE to your life. They’re unneeded items that don’t bring propose to your life!
How To Recognize If Clutter Is A Problem In Your Home
If you come home after a long day at work and your home is a disaster… how do feel when you walk in the door? More than likely your stress levels will increase while thinking of everything you need to pick up or clean.
When all you want to do is sit down on your couch, relax, and enjoy your family, dealing with clutter can ruin your night. If meaningless STUFF is taking away your time then you know its time to declutter.
My favorite tip when you begin the decluttering process is to remember you are DECLUTTERING your home. So many people get decluttering and cleaning confused.
If you don’t want your home to look cluttered you have to actually get rid of stuff.
Yes, cleaning will make your home look amazing for a minute or two… But then you’ll be back at the same point you are right now.
And the cycle will start all over again.
So remember, before you start this process “cleaning” and “declutter” are different.
Declutter Room By Room
The easiest way to get rid of clutter is to go room by room. Yes, this is going to take time but that’s okay.
Depending on the size of your home this is going to be a big task!
Heck, you might even want to call in some backup.
Before you start decluttering, I recommend starting with the rooms you use the most! If you start decluttering a room that you don’t go in often such as the attic or a basement bedroom, you aren’t going to see your progress right away.
If you start in your main living area you’ll see progress within the day, which will give you the motivation to keep going!
What rooms should you declutter:
Dining Room
Living Room
Entry Way
Main Floor Closets
Bathrooms
Bedrooms
Basement
Garage
Attic
Don’t Overdo It
Have you ever tried cleaning your entire house in one day? Yea, me neither…
I’m not talking about picking up the toys and other clutter on the floor. I’m talking about a full-blown deep cleaning every room in your house.
If you have, I bet it was beyond exhausting or you didn’t manage to finish. The same goes for decluttering.
It can’t be done in one day!
Try to declutter your home for 2 hours then stop and bask in your glory. Spend the rest of the day admiring what you accomplished and start again tomorrow.
How To Get Rid Of Clutter
So you’re planning to declutter your house starting tomorrow. What are you going to do with all of the extra stuff you don’t need? Here are a few options for getting rid of your junk.
Have A Garage Sale: Remember, your junk might be someone else’s treasure. Garage sales are an easy way to make some fast cash. Yes, garage sales take some upfront work but in my case, it’s always been worth it. Are you new to your area? If so, garage sales can be a great way to meet all of your neighbors too. The most popular days for garage sales are Thursdays through Saturdays.
Recycle: When I went through my pantry recently I probably had 8 or 9 glass flower vases. They all went straight to my recycling bin and freed up so much space on the floor. Do you have any unneeded glassware, boxes or other recyclables? If so, bring them to the nearest recycling bin.
Donate: If you have items that aren’t worn, donate them. The Salvation Army is a great place to bring gently used clothes and other household items. If you want to get rid of clothes or household items ASAP, most towns have a Goodwill.
During the winter months, a lot of organizations accept winter jackets, snow pants, and boots for the less fortunate. You can always donate to family or friends as well. We always try to donate useful items so that we can help others in need.
Facebook: There are so many different ways to sell used clothing and household itemsonline, however, Facebook garage sale sites are my all-time favorite. If you’re looking to declutter and make some extra money, give your town’s Facebook garage sale site a try.
Ready to organize room by room? Enjoy these tips for getting rid of unnecessary clutter in different areas of your home.
Decluttering Your Kitchen And Dining Room
Your kitchen and dining room are probably one of the most used areas of your home. The more counter space you have the more stuff piles up.
Where To Start:
Start by getting rid of any unnecessary clutter from your countertops and table. Once you remove the clutter sort it and get rid of it. Try and make it a habit to clear off your table and kitchen countertops once a day. Don’t let mail and kid’s art projects pile up to the point where the clutter overwhelms you.
Go drawer by drawer, cupboard by cupboard. If you take everything out of all of your kitchen cupboards at once and set it in the middle of your floor, you’ll end up losing your mind. Dump out one drawer at a time. Put back what you use. Put the rest of the stuff in your donation box. Then move on to the next cupboard.
Get rid of extra plates, bowls, cups, coffee mugs, kitchen utensils, and pots. A lot of people have multiples of all of these items. If you haven’t used it in the last year you don’t need it. Don’t let these items take up room in your kitchen.
Let’s face it many of us have multiple kitchen appliances just sitting in our pantry. If you haven’t used it in over a year get rid of it. If you feel guilty about getting rid of it, give it to a friend. Just get it out of your house.
Toss oldTupperware that is damaged or missing lids. I love these Tupperware sets. Out with the old in with the new!
Clear out under the sink. Take everything out. Get rid of old cleaning products you don’t use. Add additional storage such as this awesomeunder the sink organizer. Group together your cleaning supplies in a caddy. Under your sink will now be decluttered, organized, and the next time you go to clean, your supplies will all be sitting neatly in your caddy.
Go through your refrigerator. Wipe it down and throw out any old or unopen items. To keep organized, add some of these neat refrigerator organizers.
In your pantry, take snacks and cereal out of their boxes. Add snacks into neatly named clear bins so your family can see what’s in each bin. These storage organizers will really help you keep your space clutter-free.
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How To Declutter Your Living Room
It can be overwhelming to have one of your most-used spaces cluttered with toys, whether it be from your kids, dogs, or you! Here are a few tips to remove clutter from your favorite space, your living room.
Do your end tables have drawers? If so, go through them. Get rid of all of your magazines you’ve already read. Chances are you will not read them again anyway.
Go through bins of toys or any other hidden clutter.
Add storage if you need it. Toys scattered around the floor drive us crazy BUT your kids have to have at least a few. If you can’t stand having toys everywhere buy a basket or two. Once you have gone through the toys and decided which ones you’re keeping. Put the others neatly in a basket and store them under an end table.
Piece by piece go through every item in your living room. If you don’t use it it has to go. You’ll be surprised at how happy this process will make you when it’s over.
How To Declutter Your Bathroom
Most bathrooms are small! The more people you share your bathroom with, the smaller a space feels. A handful of bath toys on the floor can soon send you into sensory overload… SO where do you start?
Declutter your medicine cabinet! Throw away all expired medicine and products you don’t use on a daily basis.
Get rid of extra towels and wash rags you don’t use. You don’t need more than 2 per person.
Keep hair appliances off of the countertops. Store them under the sink or in a basket on a shelf.
Most of the clutter lives under your bathroom sink. Its amazing how much stuff you can hide under there. Take everything out. If you use it, keep it. If you don’t toss it. Get rid of all of those mini shampoos and conditioners you’ve accumulated over the years.
Add storage baskets under your sink, this will keep all of your items you do use organized! I love these plastic bins for under the sink! They fit under the sink perfectly and they are plastic which makes for easy clean.
Use organizers in all of your drawers! This is a life changer!! We use these organizers which are similar to what you’d use to sort your utensils in your kitchen. This way you don’t end up with toothbrushes cluttering your sink.
Lastly, go through all of the products you have in your shower space. Get rid of any items you don’t use. If you have kids, go through their bath toys.
Most of us don’t spend much time in our bedrooms yet it’s usually one of the messiest spots in your home. It’s amazing how that works isn’t it.
Let’s get rid of your clutter:
Start with your bedroom closet!! Take all of your clothes out! I mean everything. Go through each piece one by one. If you wear it often put it back in the closet. If you don’t wear it put it in your donate pile. If you think you might wear it in the future put it in your closet with the hanger facing the opposite direction of the rest of your clothes. Give is six months. If your hanger is still backward (you haven’t worn it) toss it!!
Go through your sock and underwear drawers. Remember there are only 7 days in a week. If you do laundry twice a week do you really need 30 pairs of socks? NO!!
Get rid of anything you have outgrown or no longer wear.
Free your nightstand of papers and other things that have been piling up. Get rid of any books that you haven’t read or don’t plan to read.
Don’t forget to look under your bed. I know we all hide stuff under there from time to time. If it’s under your bed and you’ve forgotten about it, chances are you aren’t going to use it any time soon. Add it to your donate pile.
Always make time to fold your clothes! Don’t let them pile up at the end of your bed. I know we’re all guilty of this!
Always put your dirty clothes in the hamper. I added a cute wicker hamper in our bedroom (instead of just in the bathroom). Now my husband doesn’t have a choice but to put his socks in the hamper instead of our bedroom floor.
The Best Way to Declutter Your Garage
I’m not going to lie, you might need to set a timer on this one! Decluttering your garage is a lot of work. It actually took us 3 months to completely declutter our entire garage this summer. Yes, it took the whole summer. Garages usually contain big tickets items, so it takes longer. We went the route of selling everything so it took time… You can declutter your garage at a faster pace!
Where To Start:
Take down all of your storage bins and go through all of your holiday decorations. Get rid of anything old, broken or items you just don’t use.
Get rid of kid stuff that they no longer use! Everything from bikes, helmets, life jackets, toys, kiddie pools.
Get rid of old dressers, refrigerators, and other large-scale items that are taking up space. In their place, add storage shelving racks so that you can organize the stuff you do keep neatly in your garage.
Get hooks to hang your bikes up when you aren’t using them. This creates so much extra free space.
Declutter Your Home Checklist
Now that you have a game plan on how to declutter your home, I thought I’d give you a short checklist of things you can toss out RIGHT NOW! These are items that we have laying around our home but more than likely do not use.
1| Throw-Out Old DVD’s and CD’s
We all have old DVD’s and CD’s hiding in our homes and vehicles. Chances are you don’t listen to a majority of your old CD’s or watch those old DVD’s that are sitting in your basement. SO, get rid of them.
This past summer we got rid of all of our DVD’s in our garage sale. It was a little sad but guess what I haven’t even noticed.. WHY?? Because we hadn’t watched them in years and chances are we weren’t going to watch them again. So if you have old DVD’s or CD’s taking up space. Donate them and take back your time and space.
2| Shoes That Don’t Fit
Do you have shoes that are old or worn? We all have shoes that sit in our closet that we don’t wear but we keep them because someday we might! If you haven’t worn them in the past year you aren’t going to wear them again. So cut your losses and donate them.
They won’t be missed
3| Medication That Is Expired
Have you gone through your medicine cabinet lately? Take a few minutes to sort through all of your medication in your cabinet. Toss anything that is expired or that you don’t use anymore. It’s amazing what you’ll find stashed away in your cabinet that you didn’t even know you had.
4| Holiday Cards
So who hoards greeting cards?? I know a majority of us do, I do.. Or did. We feel guilty throwing them away and so they pile up in your closet, drawers, and basement. Take a few minutes and sort through them. Find the ones that have some type of sentimental value to keep.
Toss the rest. If you can’t do it, set them on your table and have someone else do it when you’re not looking.
5| Appliances That You Don’t Use
Do you have any extra appliances sitting around your home that you don’t use? Do you have more than one crockpot or blender? If so, donate them. Do you really need more than one blender? Probably not!
Your kitchen, basement or where ever you hide these extra appliances will thank you!!
6| Pens and Pencils
We have so many pens and pencils lying around our house.. probably in the hundreds. Do you have a similar issue? The funny thing is more than likely you only use one or two. I know I have a favorite pen. Collect all those pens and put them in a small box and only bring one out when you throw another one away.
7| Coffee Mugs and Water Bottles
Do you collect coffee mugs or water bottles? If so, have you sorted through your collection lately. Just like pens most of us only use one coffee cup or our favorite water bottle. The rest just sit in a cabinet.
Sort through yours, toss the ones you haven’t used in the last month or two.
8| Your Junk Drawer
We all have a junk drawer somewhere in our house. I don’t even know why.. When did a junk drawer ever become a thing? Sort through your junk tossing anything you don’t use. Then organize it neatly. Once a month remember to stop and examine the drawer and get rid of anything you don’t use.
9| Books and Magazines
Books and magazines that you haven’t touched in a year can go. Magazines are usually one time reads so if you have a pile of them donate them to the nearest library. Most of us only read books once as well. Most libraries will take used books. Take advantage of your local library. Check out a book and bring it back.
This is an awesome way to save money and to keep book clutter out of sight.
10| Old Blankets, Sheets, and Towels
How many beds do you have in your home? Now, how many pairs of sheets do you have in your home? If you have more than 2 pairs per bed its time to discard a few pairs. The same goes for blankets and towels.
Take the number of people you have in your house and times it by 2. That’s how many towels and blankets you should have in your house. If you can get by with even less, that’s great!!
How often do you declutter your home??
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I took all our DVDs that we still watch out and put them in a 300 CD disk zippered case. We recycled the boxes and just put the disks in the sleeves. It condensed everything down into one case that fits nicely in our TV stand is much more compact and looks much nicer than having the DVDs everywhere. It made our living room look much less cluttered. Works for CD and video game disk collections too. of course
I like the guide and it helps for de-clutter, but we have things in our den that are collections and take up space but we don’t want to get rid of them.
This is exactly what I needed to read. I don’t know how many times I’ve started to declutter my house and have gotten sidetracked cleaning it. Then I wonder why I can never maintain it. It seems so obvious now that I’ve read it! And why do I own 30 pairs of socks?? It means I either have a ton of socks that never get worn just taking up drawer space or I put off washing them for a month in which case I have a bunch of dirty socks just sitting around all the time! So many good points in this post. Thank you for opening my eyes!
Thanks for checking out the post. I’m guilty of collecting socks and it consumes my drawer space lol It’s probably time for me to do some decluttering again too!
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I took all our DVDs that we still watch out and put them in a 300 CD disk zippered case. We recycled the boxes and just put the disks in the sleeves. It condensed everything down into one case that fits nicely in our TV stand is much more compact and looks much nicer than having the DVDs everywhere. It made our living room look much less cluttered. Works for CD and video game disk collections too. of course
That’s a great idea!
I like the guide and it helps for de-clutter, but we have things in our den that are collections and take up space but we don’t want to get rid of them.
Thanks for checking out the post! Keeping things that have monetary or sentimental value is understandable!
This is exactly what I needed to read. I don’t know how many times I’ve started to declutter my house and have gotten sidetracked cleaning it. Then I wonder why I can never maintain it. It seems so obvious now that I’ve read it! And why do I own 30 pairs of socks?? It means I either have a ton of socks that never get worn just taking up drawer space or I put off washing them for a month in which case I have a bunch of dirty socks just sitting around all the time! So many good points in this post. Thank you for opening my eyes!
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for checking out the post. I’m guilty of collecting socks and it consumes my drawer space lol It’s probably time for me to do some decluttering again too!
David
This is a great guide and motivates me to get started. I can think of so many things I don’t need.
Hi Sherry,
I’m glad you liked this guide! Thanks for checking it out!