Wonder where to start decluttering your home? The new year is always a time when we want to get a fresh start and can use some decluttering tips and organization help to get the ball rolling.
It is common for our houses to be taken over by clutter within no time at all! Can you relate to the piles of magazines, shoes, clothes, projects, or junk mail here, there, and everywhere? If you look around your home and become anxious or downright stressed when you see all there is to put away or organize, it’s time to de-clutter. As we know a cluttered home is a stress-filled home.
Don’t get overwhelmed. Many times people get to a certain point and feel there is just too much to tackle and they give up completely, but you don’t have to throw in the towel just yet. Besides, that towel has a place and it isn’t on the floor! The process of decluttering your home may seem a bit overwhelming to you, especially if the clutter has been allowed to pile up over several weeks, months, or even longer, but it doesn’t have to be a monumental task.
Start small. The best way to tackle clutter is to do it in small increments. Begin with a drawer, closet, or a counter and then move to a room in the house. Start small! Ask a friend or family member for help during this process if it helps you keep your momentum. Besides, that other person will have an objective perspective and may help you make better decisions.
How To Start Decluttering
Prepare to declutter your home by gathering a few bags or boxes. You’ll have three categories:
Give, Keep, or Sell.
Right now it seems you don’t have room for everything, but once you decide on what you’re keeping, you’ll have a better idea of how it fits into your plan of organization for each space.
Choose a small space that has been bothering you for a while and start there.
Keep in mind the following questions to ask yourself when decluttering.
- How does this item make you feel? Are there negative feelings associated with this item?
(If so, give it away!) - Does this fit? Do I wear it regularly?
- Do I LOVE it?
- Does this item make my life simpler or more difficult?
More than likely, you’ll find forgotten treasures you can use to create entirely new displays in your home. Storage options will present themselves naturally as you put things in the “Give” container.
As soon as you get through a space, load all of the items for charity into your vehicle. If possible, take them right away! If you plan to sell some items at a consignment shop, on Ebay or Craig’s List, set a time frame for listing them.
How to Keep Clutter Under Control
- Open mail over the trash can. Pitch junk mail immediately. File statements right away. Bills go in a designated place to pay later.
- One area of the home should stay clutter free always – a counter, room, or drawer at the very least. Just try keeping one place clean at a time.
- Purge regularly!
- Take 15 minutes a day and de-clutter a corner, a counter, or the office desk. You will be surprised at the progress you can make.
- Everything needs a home, and has to fit somewhere or it needs to go to charity.
- Try the Buy one – Give one method. If you purchase something new, plan to give something away.
- As soon as you come through the door, have a place designated for coats, shoes, backpacks, briefcases, outwear, purses, and the like.
We need to accept the reality that clutter is going to happen. We all have clutter so never feel alone in this. Given our busy and hectic lives, clutter is often the end result. The good news is that you can stay ahead of it if you purpose to organize your home and simplify your life. First when you start decluttering each area of your home and then by maintaining it regularly.
How do you keep clutter under control? You have any tips you can share with us?
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Oh yes! This is the time of year for that. Just dumped my jewelry drawer out yesterday to try to get a handle on it. It’s going to be a multi-day project. I struggle unceasingly with taming clutter. Mostly I just have to be brutal and stay detached from stuff… passing it on with ease. Paper flow is really my biggest challenge. So. Much. Paper.
Sounds like you are busy Patti! Yes well paper is a bugger for sure! Hope you can dig your way out soon. : )
Excellent message and ideas Denise! A clutter-free home helps build a clutter-free soul! ~ Blessings, Amy
Amen Sister!
I love the idea of starting out keeping one area clutter free at all times. I am pretty good at keeping my kitchen in functioning order because so much of my time and effort is spent in that room. If it’s a mess, I won’t want to be in there, and we wouldn’t get fed! I think considering the function of my other rooms might help me keep one area per room very clean, and I’ll bet it would spread. For example, our family room is entertainment central, from TV to reading nooks to my daughter’s art and play areas. None of that enjoyable stuff functions well at all if it’s a jumbled mess. Maybe instead of looking at the clutter as a chore I want to avoid, I should focus on how much more functional (and therefore enjoyable and useable) the space will be once I tackle it.
Thanks so much for the inspiration! Time to get offline and start putting stuff away!
Great ideas Allison! I love your theory about considering the function of the room.
When i first began tackling the clutter in our home, it felt daunting! The kids wanted to keep EVERYTHING and I just did not know WHERE to put things. Once I bit the bullet and made the choice to do the following, life was so less complicated, I yelled a LOT yess, I complained a lot less, and the kids {who were all under 10 at the time} began appreciating what they had and became much more creative!
1.Told the kids…in a LOVING way of course…”Too bad. Some stuff has GOT to go!”
2. Committed to the idea that if something did not have a place to *be* in our home, it needed to *be* in someone elses home…or Salvation Army…or Good Will….or FREECYCLE :0)
THIS is a great post! I shared and plan on listing it on my Organization section of my blog!
Donna,
You sound like a veteran clutter buster. It does get easier as we go along, and the more I get rid of and see the feeling I have the visual rest, the more I want to declutter.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh Denise, can you just come to my house and do it for me??? Please!!??
Well Cherie we would have so much fun, and wouldn’t get anything done! Miss you friend!
You snuck in my house and took a pic of my kids room!
I need this guide, thank you for sharing it! Good advice, I plan to use it.
Haha! Yeah for sure!
great tips! I’m working on cleaning/decluttering our home right now! there are 4 of us in a 2bedroom apartment so we need all the room I can find/make. Organization is a trick! Our home tends to get cluttered because lots of things don’t have a place they belong. I’m working on solving that problem little by little as I clean, purge and organize!
Wow you have a challenge Paula! I can imagine that living like you do, can be quite a task. Good for you, for working on it. Thanks for reading here.
Have a great day!
pinning this post for future reference!
Thanks so kind of you! Glad it could inspire you.
I am having such hard time trying to organize my house. I am very sentimental and like keep things , so with that said- you can prob imagine my “clutter”. It’s so hard get motivated. After reading your article, I feel inspired. I’ll start small and work my way through. Thank you so much for all the great articles that you write. I love your site! !! Tomorrow will be Day 1 for the “decluttering” of my house. Thank you !! ♡♥
YOU are wonderful with all your great ideas. Thank you so much. I have a crafts room that would prob make your hair stand up- – it’s that bad! ! Hahaha. Got any free time ?? Thank you, Denise. You are terrific!
I find the most difficult part of this is old stuff from when I was a kid…
My family says I am a Pack Rat. Truth is I have lost so much in my life time, I don’t want to part with my things. I am very sentimental and I adore things people give me. There is a story behind everything. I know I have to bite the bullet and hang on to the memories, but get rid of a LOT OF STUFF. My parents and a son of mine have passed away, and I can’t bear the thought of getting rid of their things. I wish I could go through them and pick out the ones that mean the most to me, and get rid of the rest, but like I said, everything has a story behind it. I am not physically able to care for all of this stuff
and I have given my girls a lot of things that I want to stay in the family. Any help out there?
I try to live a clutter free life. Moving 10 times in as many years has helped that. What has helped me keep the clutter at a minimum is, before buying something, I ask my self if I really want to haul it up and down the stairs. Usually the answer is no.
Not everybody moves so often, and now I am settling down, so the question has become, “Do I really want to keep this clean?” The answer is usually no. I have realized that part of my desire to live clutter free is also a combination of liking things to always be clean and being too lazy to clean all the time.