As a family, it’s easy for clutter to accumulate quickly in your home. Between children’s toys, clothes, school supplies, and the general household items, it can quickly become overwhelming. However, by decluttering and organizing regularly, you can create a more functional and peaceful space. In this blog post, we’ll explore some tips and tricks for decluttering for families, so you can keep your home tidy and organized.
Welcome to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series! We will be starting in the kitchen this month. Each day in the declutter series is dedicated to spending only 30 minutes decluttering your specific daily task. We will be working 5 days a week, so you can take 2 days to enjoy time with your loved ones.
Ignore the dates within this post. Each year we do the declutter series, so the dates won’t coincide from year to year. If you wish to subscribe and join us as we Declutter a Room in 30 minutes a Day, leave a comment below. You can also find the video below if you prefer video to reading. Today, we are decluttering in the kitchen. Now, let’s check out my hacks on Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home.
5 tips on Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home
- Involve everyone in the process
Decluttering can be a family activity! Involve everyone in the process, and make it a fun activity to do together. Assign tasks to each family member, and set a goal to declutter one room or area at a time. This will not only help you get more done, but it will also teach your children organizational skills and how to manage their belongings.
- Create a system
Having a system in place for organizing items is essential, especially when it comes to children’s toys and clothes. Consider creating a designated space for each item or category, such as a toy bin, bookshelf, or dresser drawer. Label each space or bin so that it’s easy for everyone to know where things belong. Having a system in place will make it easier to find and put things away, reducing the likelihood of clutter accumulating.
- Donate or sell items
When decluttering, it’s essential to get rid of things you no longer need or use. Instead of throwing items away, consider donating or selling them. This is a great way to teach your children about the importance of giving back and can be a fun family activity. Take your children with you to donate items or have a family yard sale. Knowing that their items are going to a good cause can also help make the process of letting go of items easier for children.
- Regularly assess items
As a family, it’s essential to regularly assess your belongings to see what items you no longer need. Set aside time each month or season to go through clothes, toys, and other items to see what needs to be decluttered. By doing this regularly, it will be easier to keep your home tidy and avoid clutter from building up.
- Make decluttering a habit
Decluttering shouldn’t be a one-time activity but a regular habit. Encourage your children to put things away after use and make it a part of your family’s routine. For example, you might have a “tidy time” each day, where everyone spends ten minutes tidying up the house. Making decluttering a habit will make it easier to maintain a tidy home and reduce stress in the long run.
I hope you have enjoyed this post on: Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home. Decluttering as a family can be a fun and rewarding activity that helps you create a more functional and peaceful home. By involving everyone in the process, creating a system, donating or selling items, regularly assessing items, and making decluttering a habit, you can keep your home tidy and organized. Remember that decluttering is an ongoing process and takes time, so be patient and persistent. With these tips and tricks, you can create a home that’s clutter-free and enjoyable for your entire family.
Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can find that here.
You can get your printable Daily Housekeeping Routine and Deep Cleaning Your House Schedule here. This 15 page printable kit is delivered digitally to your email for you to print and personalize. What Does a Deep Clean Include? It includes a daily schedule, calendar pages, and deep cleaning checklists for every room and area of your home. Below is a sample page of what you’ll get in my printable set designed to help you create your personal Housekeeping Schedule Printable.
Struggling with the daily housekeeping chores and wondering: What Housework Should Be Done Daily? Grab my free ebook to walk you through the process. What Does a Deep Clean Include? One of my best Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to use a House Cleaning Planner. Check out my ebook on this topic, entitled Make Over Your Homemaking. Use this link to get it at a discounted price. Better yet… get it FREE when you subscribe to my site. Also, you can find my room by room Declutter Guide at the end of this post designed to help you learn tips and Decluttering Ideas For Your Home.
Maybe your house is clean but cluttered. If so, you need to know a few Declutter Tips and Ideas before you start using the Step By Step Decluttering plan I use. Does a Cluttered House Cause Stress? You Bet! Let’s look at a reputable, mental health site to answer that question and see exactly How Clutter Affects You. Then you can learn Why and How To Start to Purge Your Entire Home.They have given us 8 ways mess leads to stress and exactly How Clutter Affects You. According to Psychology Today:
How Clutter Affects You: Clutter can play a significant role in how we feel about our homes, our workplaces, and ourselves. Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood? You bet! How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? Messy homes and work spaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a significant source of stress in our lives. (source) But, unnecessary stress is one aspect of How Clutter Affects You.
How Clutter Affects You Mentally can help provide the motivation you need to know How to Clear Clutter and Get Organized. Why does mess lead to so much stress? (source)Getting rid of all of that stress can be one of the best declutter motivation tips you need for some instant Declutter Inspiration.
- Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t necessary or important. (source)
- Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. (source)
- Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.(source)
- Clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done.(source)
- Clutter makes us anxious because we’re never sure what it’s going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile. (source)
- Clutter creates feelings of guilt (“I should be more organized”) and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces. (source)
- Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brainstorm, and problem solve.(source)
- Clutter frustrates us by preventing us from locating what we need quickly (e.g. files and paperwork lost in the “pile” or keys swallowed up by the clutter). (source) So, experiencing constant frustration is another aspect to How Clutter Affects You.
Overwhelmed by a Messy House? It can really affect you negatively. How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? One way is to have a plan, set aside a specific time, and learn the steps to declutter your home. What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? I have a room by room specific Printable House Cleaning Checklist linked above. Also, you can find my room by room Declutter Guide at the end of this post.
For a clean, simplistic look, one of the best Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to declutter a room before cleaning and then use an Easy House Cleaning Schedule to maintain it. Declutter Checklists can help you learn How to begin to Purge Your Entire Home.
How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? As you can already see, there are at least 8 ways we become negatively affected by clutter. Also, I though it might be thought provoking to look at some statistics on clutter to learn more about How Clutter Affects You.
- US consumers buy 40% of the world’s toys, but bear only 3% of the world’s children.
- Most people wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. (source )
- 9.4% of U.S. households rent a storage unit. (source)
- People do not look at 80% of the papers and information they keep.(source)
- The average American house is double the size it was in the 1950s–and getting bigger. (source.)
- The U.S. Department of Energy reports that one-quarter of people with two-car garages have so much stuff in there that they can’t park a car. (https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/)
- According to the National Soap and Detergent Association, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.(https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/) Wouldn’t eliminating a lot of housework provide some declutter inspiration? Read on for more Decluttering Ideas For Your Home.
Today, we’ll lay out the solutions for the steps to declutter using my tips on Why and How to Declutter a House. Plus, we’ll look at a few ways to answer the concern of How Clutter Affects You and what you can do about it.
Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home: A few special declutter series guidelines to keep you on task:
1.Only spend time on your specific daily task.
2.Do not get side-tracked or distracted.
3.Work within a time of day that you have the most energy and stamina.
4.Avoid thinking too long about whether to keep or discard an item. Recruit help if you are stuck in the decision process.
5.Avoid cleaning during your declutter. Getting rid of the clutter is your priority. Cleaning can be accomplished later.
Declutter Series daily task:
We are currently working in the kitchen. Your task today for August 12th is to: Declutter your refrigerator and freezer.
Here is my BEFORE photo:
Here is my AFTER photo:
How do I organize and declutter my house? Read more below.
For my refrigerator and freezer, I decluttered all of the leftovers we don’t plan to eat. I also decluttered expired foods and open bottles/jugs.
Next, I organized all the the “like foods” together: Salad dressings, jams and jellies, meat sauces, etc.
A few tips:
- Look at the expiration dates and declutter expired foods.
- Look at your fresh produce and make a mental note to use all of it before it expires. Plan your menu around it.
- Sort similar items together.
- Push everything to the front. Anything that isn’t visible can get lost in the back and you’ll end up throwing it out.
- Make a routine of this task. I did mine in under 10 minutes! Doing this before grocery shopping can be helpful and money-saving. You will know what you have on hand and won’t buy duplicates. Plus, you can plan your meals and shopping around what you already have.
Bonus Tip: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Use a timer like the Fly lady recommends. You can check her out in the link at the bottom of this post. She suggests using a kitchen timer to speed you along as you clean and declutter. Brilliant!
You can use a kitchen timer or even your smart phone. This tip really does motivate you to move faster. It’s amazing how much you can do in just 10 minutes. Use my cleaning checklists as you clean, so you are sure to not waste time thinking about what to clean next.
Honestly, if you’re like me, you hold onto boxes of some of your more expensive purchases, such as a TV or computer, just in case you need to return them within the store’s return policy time. If so, make a note to discard these boxes routinely(once a month is fine), so they don’t pile up. If you live in an area that does recycling or “oversize item pick-up”, note the date of the regular pick-up and schedule your box declutter around that same time each month.
Need to deep clean? I have lists for you to guide you along.
You can find my How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen list here.
Plus, My How to Deep Clean Your Bathroom list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Kids’ Rooms list can be found here.
Also, My How to Deep Clean Your Living Room list can be found here.
Finally, My How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom list can be found here.
Also, of great importance to maintain a clean home and to keep up with the general housework, you may need to create a daily housekeeping schedule that suits your specific needs. Need some tips? To decide what should be in your housework schedule, I have created a helpful series you can read here.
Since we are working in the kitchen in this month of the Declutter Series, here are a few more cleaning and organizing tips for you. You can learn how to clean stainless steel appliances here. Also, most kitchens have a junk drawer. Mine has two. You can read about how to clean a junk drawer here.
Wondering how to organize a refrigerator? You can see how I organize a refrigerator here.
I also have my medicine cabinet in the kitchen. This area is a constant battle to keep organized. See how to organize a medicine cabinet here.
Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home
Need to Declutter Every room? I have declutter checklists for every room and every space in your home to guide you along below.
Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can find that here.
How to Declutter the Guest Room or Your Kid’s Room checklist can be found here.
Struggling to decide if an item is clutter? Use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item.
How to Declutter Your Laundry Room and Patio checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Coat Closet/Hall Closet/Linen Closet checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Home Office checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Attic checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Garage checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Living Room checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Kitchen Checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Entry/Foyer/Mudroom checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Clothing checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Bedroom checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom checklist can be found here.
Happy Decluttering!
To Subscribe to this Declutter Series, drop me a comment below. Your email will be sent to me but will not be posted publicly. You’ll receive a daily declutter task via email for the daily task we are working on. You can unsubscribe at any time.
New to deemiddleton.com and don’t know where to start? I recommend going in this order:
Step 1: Check out this post on the 1st step you should take to get organized. Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can sign up here.
Step 2: Create a daily Housekeeping Schedule. You can use this series to start to set up your own schedule. You can also use this simplified weekly schedule.If you often ask: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Or, if you struggle to get organized and have tried and failed time and again, you can likely find out which of these 11 reasons cause you to fail to get organized.
Step 3: Get decluttering strategies here.…Sign up for the Declutter Series and get your entire home decluttered in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.”Declutter Your Home” checklists are provided in each email.
Step 4: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Use a timer and use the Deep Cleaning Checklists above. They will help you get your home sparkling after you’ve decluttered.
Interested in becoming a full-time blogger like me? Check out my blogging series. At the top of every page on my blog, you’ll find a drop down menu. Just select the BLOGGING category.
Enjoyed this post on Decluttering for Families: Tips and Tricks for a Tidier Home? Check out the most popular posts on deemiddleton.com:
14 Things That Make Your Home Look Cluttered
How to Create a Daily Housekeeping Schedule
How to Clean House When You Are Completely Overwhelmed By Clutter
What is Preventing You From Getting Organized?
Also, check out a great post on decluttering over here from becomingminimalist.com. Joshua Becker has some great tips on decluttering and minimalism.
For further reading, check out the fly lady here. She has some great cleaning and decluttering ideas plus excellent organization tips to get you started.
Need some Inspiration to Declutter? Join us for the Year Long Through Declutter Series by subscribing by email below. To subscribe, just leave a comment below.
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