Do you feel like your home is bursting at the seams with clutter? Are you constantly tripping over piles of stuff or struggling to find the things you need? If so, it’s time to take action and purge your entire home. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the steps of decluttering and getting organized.
Welcome to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series, designed to provide Help for Cluttered Homes. Find organizing ideas, my Decluttering Your Home Checklist, and learn how to start to Purge Your Entire Home.
We will take a daily approach and move step by step through the process of learning How To Start to Purge Your House. Also, 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. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklists at the end of this post that will help you in the process of learning how to Purge Your Entire Home.
How to Purge Your Entire Home: A Comprehensive Guide to Decluttering
- Set Your Goals
Before you begin the process of purging your home, it’s important to set your goals. What do you hope to achieve by decluttering? Do you want to simplify your life, downsize your belongings, or create a clutter-free environment? Once you have a clear vision of your goals, you’ll be more motivated to stick with the process.
- Start Small
Decluttering your entire home can be a daunting task, so it’s important to start small. Begin with one room or even one drawer or closet. This will help you build momentum and gain confidence as you go.
- Use the KonMari Method
The KonMari method is a popular decluttering approach created by Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo. The method involves going through your belongings and keeping only the items that spark joy. This can be a helpful way to approach the process of purging your home.
- Be Ruthless
When it comes to purging your home, you need to be ruthless. Don’t hold onto things out of guilt, obligation, or sentimentality. Ask yourself if each item is truly necessary or if it brings you joy. If it doesn’t, it’s time to let it go.
- Sort Your Belongings
As you go through your belongings, sort them into categories such as keep, donate, sell, or recycle. This will help you stay organized and make the process more manageable.
- Create a System for Donations and Discards
Once you’ve sorted your belongings, create a system for getting rid of the items you no longer need. Schedule a donation pickup or drop-off, sell items online or at a yard sale, and recycle or dispose of anything that can’t be reused.
- Repeat the Process
Purging your entire home is not a one-time task. You’ll need to make decluttering and organizing a regular habit to maintain a clutter-free home. Set aside time each week or month to go through your belongings and get rid of anything you no longer need.
In conclusion, purging your entire home can be a challenging but rewarding process. By setting your goals, starting small, using the KonMari method, being ruthless, sorting your belongings, creating a system for donations and discards, and repeating the process regularly, you can achieve a clutter-free and organized home. Remember, the key to success is to stay motivated and committed to the process. Good luck!
Maybe you are asking… How Do You Declutter Without Being Overwhelmed? Why is Decluttering even necessary? And…How about some Decluttering Inspiration and Decluttering 101 info for How to Start Decluttering Your House : 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 Purge Your Entire Home. You can grab that here.
Or, Maybe You are wondering… How Do You Clean and Declutter a Room Step By Step? Are you stuck in the decluttering process and lacking declutter motivation? Knowing How Clutter Affects You can provide some motivation.
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 Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post designed to help you learn How to begin Decluttering and Purging 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 Decluttering 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 Step By Step Decluttering plan I use for helping others learn How To Start To Purge Your House. 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 Decluttering Your Home Checklist 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 motivation?
Today, we’ll lay out the solutions for How to begin to Purge Your Entire Home 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.
Adding extra stress is one of the main problems of How Clutter Affects You. So, let’s make a plan to rid ourselves of clutter and start cleaning it up. What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? A Printable House Cleaning Checklist will help you keep your home clean and maintained. I’ll even give you my Deep Clean Checklist and Declutter Tips and Ideas to help you get started.
Learn why you should declutter AND How to start to Purge Your Entire Home using my Decluttering Your Home Checklists. Let’s look at a few other ways for How Clutter Affects You:(source)
How Clutter Affects You: It can also make us less productive, triggering coping and avoidance strategies that make us more likely to snack on junk and watch TV shows (including ones about other people decluttering their lives).(source)
My own research shows our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions and subsequent behaviours, including our relationships with others.(source)
Why clutter is bad for your brain(source)
Bursting cupboards and piles of paper stacked around the house may seem harmless enough. But research shows disorganisation and clutter have a cumulative effect on our brains.
How Clutter Affects You Mentally: Our brains like order, and constant visual reminders of disorganization drain our cognitive resources, reducing our ability to focus.(source)
The visual distraction of clutter increases cognitive overload and can reduce our working memory.(source)
In 2011, neuroscience researchers using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and other physiological measurements found clearing clutter from the home and work environment resulted in a better ability to focus and process information, as well as increased productivity.(source)
How Clutter Affects You in your Body: And your physical and mental health(source)
Clutter can make us feel stressed, anxious and depressed. Research from the United States in 2009, for instance, found the levels of the stress hormone cortisol were higher in mothers whose home environment was cluttered.
A chronically cluttered home environment can lead to a constant low-grade fight or flight response, taxing our resources designed for survival.(source)
This response can trigger physical and psychological changes that affect how we fight bugs and digest food, as well as leaving us at greater risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.(source)
How Clutter Affects You in your Relationships: Clutter might also have implications for our relationships with those around us. A 2016 US study, for instance, found background clutter resulted in participants being less able to correctly interpret the emotional expressions on the faces of characters in a movie.(source)
And surprisingly, it doesn’t go away when we finally get to bed. People who sleep in cluttered rooms are more likely to have sleep problems, including difficulty falling asleep and being disturbed during the night.(source) So, Sleep issues can be one of the aspects of How Clutter Affects You.
People have been found to produce more stress hormones when they are surrounded by clutter.(source)
Could clutter really make us overweight?(source)
Multiple studies have found a link between clutter and poor eating choices.
Disorganized and messy environments led participants in one study to eat more snacks, eating twice as many cookies than participants in an organized kitchen environment.(source)
Other research has shown that being in a messy room will make you twice as likely to eat a chocolate bar than an apple.(source) So, gaining weight can be another aspect of How Clutter Affects You.
Finally, people with extremely cluttered homes are 77% more likely to be overweight.(source)
How Clutter Affects You in Your Physical Health: Tidy homes have been found to be a predictor of physical health. Participants whose houses were cleaner were more active and had better physical health, according to another study.(source)
Hoarding can cause physical pain(source)
Buying more and more things we think we need, and then not getting rid of them, is an actual disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM–V). According to DSM–V, those with hoarding disorder compulsively acquire possessions on an ongoing basis and experience anxiety and mental anguish when they are thrown away.
Maybe you are thinking: My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where to Start. How can I recognize clutter? Let’s address those questions. I have a visual below using some questions to help. Also, check out these 5 Important Guidelines I use to to keep me focused and motivated as I begin the process of How to start Decluttering and Purging your Home. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
Purge Your Entire Home: Step By Step Decluttering guidelines:
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. This is one of the most useful declutter motivation tips. Listen to your body and work at decluttering when you feel the most alert and energized.
4.Avoid thinking too long about whether to keep or discard an item. This is one specific way for How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering.
5.Avoid cleaning during your declutter. Getting rid of the clutter is your priority. Cleaning can be accomplished later. Read on for more declutter motivation tips and my room specific deep clean checklist, though, as you will begin cleaning after your declutter.
More Steps to Declutter and Organize Your Home and Decluttering Inspiration can be found below. Knowing How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering can certainly speed the process. Maybe you are wondering: Should I Clean or Declutter First? My opinion is to declutter, first. What is the Proper Way to Clean Your House? I always declutter a room first. Why? Often, a clean room doesn’t look clean if it’s filled with clutter. Let’s look at a few questions, below, to help you better understand what to keep or toss as you begin Clearing Out Clutter.
When overwhelmed by a Messy House, you need to know how How To Clean a Dirty House in the easiest way possible. How Do you Make an Easy House Cleaning Schedule? What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? My recommendation is once weekly on the areas I’ll outline in my House Cleaning Planner. Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress? It certainly does when you can’t find anything.
We’ve already looked at How Clutter Affects You mentally. So, How Do You begin Clearing Out Clutter? We’re going to work on creating a schedule and a “home” for everything, so you always know where to find your things. This is one important solution I provide to readers looking for specific steps for How to Organize Your Closet. Much of the clutter we create is because we have simply laid something down and not given it a proper home. If you do this repeatedly, your home will become a clutter magnet. Even worse, you won’t be able to find anything.
How to begin Decluttering and Purging your Home: What Should I Declutter First? Knowing this will show you How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering. I recommend you start with one small area, such as a shelf or drawer.This is a good solution for How To Tackle Clutter. Use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item. This is a helpful tip for how to declutter and organize any space in your home.Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
What is the Proper Way to Clean Your House? I suggest decluttering before cleaning. What Should I Declutter First? One of the simplest declutter motivation tips for Decluttering Inspiration is to start small, such as one shelf or one drawer. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
How to Begin to Purge Your Entire Home using my Decluttering Your Home Checklist: Start with these tasks below.
How to Declutter a House:
Supplies Needed:
1. boxes -preferably ones you can donate (Declutter Tips and Ideas: Avoid plastic storage bins because you may be tempted to just store the items and not part with them.)
2. sturdy trash bags
3. marker/pen to label boxes
How about some Decluttering Inspiration to get you moving?
Decluttering Inspiration to start to Purge Your Entire Home: I like to put on some upbeat music. You’ll also want to dress for cleaning. Don’t wear your nice clothes and shoes. Instead, grab some clothes you can bend and move in, and wear comfortable tennis shoes. How To Clean a Dirty House using an Easy House Cleaning Schedule can be done in simple weekly steps I’ll outline below. How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? A Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress. One way it causes stress is that it creates the feeling that your work is never done. To fix that, let’s start with a small project. Again, start with an easy project, so you can see instant progress. One shelf or one drawer is a good place to start. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
How to Declutter a House using my Decluttering Your Home Checklist: Avoid using storage bins to declutter. Storage bins tend to tell your brain to “store” the items for later. That is just delaying decisions. If you aren’t getting rid of items when you declutter, you are not truly decluttering. This is why I recommend a trash bag, also. A trash bag tells your brain to “trash” the item.
What Do You Throw Away When Decluttering? How Do You Know If Your House Is Cluttered? An honest outsider can help you see what you have become accustomed to. How Does Clutter Affect You? Finding Help With Decluttering My House is easier if you admit you need help, first. Invite an honest friend or family member to help you answer that question. Perhaps you are dealing with years of accumulated clutter. You may even be a hoarder.
Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress? Absolutely! This is one of the key problems of How Clutter Affects You. It certainly does cause undue stress when the mess is a large one. It can be very overwhelming. Often, we get stuck because we don’t know where to start or How to Organize Your Closet. The Steps to Declutter and Organize Your Home can be easy if we take it in small steps. I want to show you how to take a baby step approach to decluttering. I want to help you make it easier. If you lack time, I have a blog post providing a quick solution for Help for Cluttered Homes on the One Day Declutter process I use. You’ll find the link to that post at the end of this article. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
If You feel Overwhelmed by a Messy House, I want to help try to ease the overwhelm. How Do You Declutter Without Being Overwhelmed? With my Decluttering 101 plan we’re going to do it slowly and thoroughly in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. How Do You Get Rid of Clutter In Your Home? Obviously, recycle if you have that option. The boxes you use should be ones you are willing to part with, so I recommend sturdy cardboard boxes. As to donations, there are many charities that will come pick up your items for you at your home.
Another one of my best Declutter Tips and Ideas is to go ahead and schedule a donation pick-up from a local charity. I use one in particular where you can book an appointment for pick-up online. This is so convenient, as it saves you the hassle of hauling stuff away yourself. Scheduling that pick-up also motivates you to declutter by a certain date.
Bonus: Here is a video for How to begin to Purge Your Entire Home. For me, I can’t think clearly when surrounded by clutter and messes. Maybe this describes you, too. Check out this great video I found that will show you some decluttering tips. Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
If You’re Looking Decluttering Inspiration and for an Easy Decluttering 101 Plan… – Maybe you just need a simple, step- by- step process like this and my Decluttering List for each room. You can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post.
What Should I Declutter First? How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter Your Home: We’ve already stated that a small area is a good place to start. It can be done quickly and gives you instant gratification and Decluttering Inspiration. Think of one small area in your home that you use daily that could use a makeover.
How To Motivate Yourself to declutter using my Decluttering Your Home Checklist: Start small. Instantly, I think of my top bathroom drawer and my kitchen silverware drawer. Another idea would be to declutter one shelf. In my own kitchen, the shelf that needs the most attention right now is one of my pantry shelves.Overwhelmed by a Messy House? Feeling overwhelmed is one aspect of How Clutter Affects You. A Cluttered House Can Cause Stress. It is stressful for me to lose time searching for things because I don’t have a clear idea of where these items belong. Bonus tip: It helps to remove everything from that shelf or drawer as you get started. Then, you can see what is actually in there and only put back the items you use.
5 Steps for How To Begin Clearing Out Clutter
Purge Your Entire Home using my Decluttering Your Home Checklist:
1. Start by eliminating trash first- use a sturdy trash bag
2. Sort items by category if needed so you can see what you have
3.Get rid of duplicate items, broken items, outgrown clothes and shoes, anything you’ll never use again.
4. Box up the donations and trash/recycle the rest
5.Select a charity to donate your items and schedule the pick-up if that is an option
Also, you can find my room by room Decluttering Your Home Checklist at the end of this post. Enjoy some Decluttering Inspiration, Tips, and Ideas for How To Start to Purge Your Entire Home from becoming minimalist.com:
Purge Your Entire Home: 10 Creative Decluttering Tips(source)
If you’re struggling and need guidance on how to declutter, you’ll need to get creative with your plans. Here are several interesting decluttering tips to get you started on decluttering your home:(source)
- Start with 5 minutes at a time. If you’re new to decluttering, you can slowly build momentum with just five minutes a day.(source)
- Give one item away each day. This would remove 365 items every single year from your home. If you increased this to 2 per day, you would have given away 730 items you no longer needed. Increase this number once it gets too easy.(source)
- Fill an entire trash bag. Get a trash bag and fill it as fast as you can with things you can donate at Goodwill.(source)
- Donate clothes you never wear. To identify them, simply hang all your clothes with hangers in the reverse direction. After wearing an item, face the hanger in the correct direction. Discard the clothes you never touched after a few months.(source)
- Create a decluttering checklist. It’s a lot easier to declutter when you have a visual representation of where you need to get started. (source)
- Take the 12-12-12 challenge. Locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home.
- View your home as a first-time visitor. It’s easy to “forget” what your home looks like to a new visitor. Enter your home as if you’re visiting the home of a friend. Write down your first impression on how clean and organized the home is and make changes.(source)
- Take before and after photos of a small area. Choose one part of your home, like your kitchen counter, and take a photo of a small area. Quickly clean off the items in the photo and take an after photo. Once you see how your home could look, it becomes easier to start decluttering more of your home.(source)
- Get help from a friend. Have a friend or family member go through your home and suggest a handful of big items to throw away or give to someone else. If you defend the item and want to keep it, your friend has to agree with your reason. If they don’t agree, it’s time to get rid of it.(source)
- Use the Four-Box Method. Get four boxes and label them: trash, give away, keep, or re-locate. Enter any room in your home and place each item into one of the following boxes. Don’t skip a single item, no matter how insignificant you may think it is. This may take days, weeks, or months, but it will help you see how many items you really own and you’ll know exactly what to do with each item.(source)
Year Long Through Daily Declutter Series Task:
We are working in the Coat Closet/Hall/Closet/Linen Closet this week. Your daily declutter series task for today, May 20th, is to declutter any unwanted hats, gloves, and scarves.
Here are some great tips from simplelionheartlife.com:
1. Ask yourself when you last used it
This is such a simple way to check in with yourself as you’re decluttering. The things that are adding value to your life are the things you use, need and enjoy often.
If you come across something you forgot you even had, or haven’t used in the last 6 months to a year, it’s probably not something adding a lot of value to your life. And you could likely get rid of it.
If you can’t remember the last time you used something, again, it’s likely not something you use, need and enjoy often and you can probably let it go.(source)
2. Track how often you use things
If you’re not sure how often you use something. Or are still feeling hesitant to let something you rarely use go, try tracking how often you use it.
This could be as simple as turning your hangers in your closet to face backwards. Then hanging them the right way after you wear something. After a few months, look at whatever hasn’t been worn and let it go knowing you don’t wear or love it.
You can also try making a list of all your clothes and tracking each time you wear an item for a set period of time. Then, notice and get rid of what never or rarely gets worn.(source)
Here are some decluttering thoughts from www.getbellhops.com:
Tips for Decluttering and Purging your Home: As you declutter your home, eliminate doubles, triples and quadruples.(source)
How many pots and pans do you have? What about iPhone chargers? Old laptops? TV’s? Electronics? Can openers? Hair dryers? We will let you in on a little secret as you work to declutter your house… there is no reason for you to have three can openers and four hair dryers. Over the years, we tend to accumulate so much stuff that much of the stuff is the same stuff we already have. As you declutter your home and you come across doubles, triples and quadruples… don’t think twice just remove them.(source)
Here are some great Ideas and Thoughts on How to Clear Clutter and Get Organized from finallyfamilyhomes.org:
How to start Organizing and how to Purge Your Entire Home: 4 Steps To Be More Organized at Home
We’ve all spent a little extra time at home this past year and most of us have thought and rethought about the space we live in. When you’re getting organized, home is the best place to start!(source)
How to Declutter a House: Take a methodical in your approach to organizing. We recommend these four steps to help you as you organize.(source)
1. Take everything out.
Don’t skip this step. Using the example of cooking utensils, empty that drawer or canister completely. Wipe it clean while you have the chance.(source)
2. Select your favorites.
Start with what you use, what you like, and what supports you now. Don’t get wrapped up in what used to work, or what might help in the future. What “sparks joy”? Set those items aside.(source)
3. Express gratitude for what doesn’t make the cut.
If you have six wooden spoons and only choose three, keep those three and take a mindful moment of thanks for the others, setting them aside for donation.(source)
4. Store, keeping easy access in mind.
Store like with like, returning the items you keep and displaying them in a way that makes them easy to access.(source)
There are many negative aspects to How Clutter Affects You. Having a Step By Step Decluttering plan to know how to Purge Your Entire Home and a specific Decluttering Your Home Checklist helps me to stay on top of clutter before it gets even further out of control. One of my favorite Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to establish a cleaning schedule to maintain your home once it’s clean and decluttered using a House Cleaning Planner. Get my free ebook to show you how to set up your own housekeeping schedule. Keep reading and I’ll show you How to Start Decluttering Your House: Let’s aim for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week -Complete Room by Room Deep Clean and Declutter Checklists below
A Chart like the one below can show you What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily. I have the printable version for sale. It is my basic weekly cleaning schedule that you can find here. It is only $2 for the digital download and covers all of the basics of keeping your house clean. You can see what it looks like below.
Bonus Tip: What is the fastest way for How To Clean a Dirty House? Another favorite of my Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to use a cleaning checklist. A Printable House Cleaning Checklist helps you move faster. How Do You Declutter Without Being Overwhelmed? If you have a big task, such as how to help a hoarder get rid of clutter, try this House Cleaning Tips strategy. 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.
Decluttering Inspiration Tips I use to Help With Decluttering My House: 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 Declutter Tips and Ideas and 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 or recycle these boxes routinely(once a month is fine), so they don’t pile up.
How to Declutter a House: Set a specific date and time. It can cause great stress and a feeling of overwhelm when you overestimate the time it will take to address the clutter. Let’s start small. Small successes are very motivating. What Should I Declutter First? Let’s look at a few easy tasks (tasks you can do in 30 minutes) I have a DIY Declutter List for each room below.
Decluttering Inspiration tips: When dealing with sentimental items such as trophies and photos, consider how you might display them in your home if you plan to keep them. For photos, consider storing them in a box or an album in your home. If they are damaged beyond repair, take a photo of the item and keep the photo as your keepsake to preserve the memory. Browse Pinterest for some great ideas.
How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? What Should I Declutter First? For Hoarders, I wouldn’t even touch anything sentimental when decluttering, as this is a very sensitive and difficult place to start decluttering. Instead, try utilizing the timer approach mentioned above and tackle those “easy to part with” items first. Choose a small place that you can declutter in 5-10 minutes for an easy win. A bathroom is a good room to start in.
Does a Cluttered House Cause Stress? You may be stressed because you lack a clear strategy to address the mess. When you’re thinking: My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where to Start. I have already mentioned asking a trusted friend for support. Also, I provided you a visual of questions to ask yourself to decide for yourself if an item is clutter. You can also rely on some checklists to start Clearing Out Clutter. Use my room by room Declutter Tips and Ideas and my Checklist below to determine where to start.
How to Clear Clutter and Get Organized and Motivation Tips: You can even use a camera to stay motivated. To do this, take a “before” photo each day before you start cleaning and decluttering. Then, take an “after”photo when you finish that space. Even if it’s just a small dent in the huge project, it can still be very motivating and encouraging.
How Do I Know How To Tackle Clutter? My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where to Start. So far, we’ve looked at a few areas of concern such as hoarding, years of accumulated stuff, and sentimental items. We have also looked at some solutions to make decluttering easier. How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter and gain some momentum can also be done with a camera and some photos. You can use before and after photos as motivation and Decluttering Inspiration.
What are some good Deep Cleaning Home Tips? How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? You can use a timer, and you can use my checklists and work at only 1 category a day for thirty minutes a day. How to Fix Cluttered House Issues can be easier if you invite help. A good option is to invite a trusted friend or family member to help. Seeing items through someone else’s eyes can help if you are struggling with whether to keep or toss something. Other people have no sentimental attachment to your stuff. This can make the task seem much more manageable.
What is the First Step to Decluttering? Try using my Homemaking Checklist below : How to Declutter a House (and get it deep clean) I have checklists for cleaning, as well.
How Do you Make an Easy House Cleaning Schedule? My free homemaking ebook will help you establish one for yourself. What Does a Deep Clean Include? I do many areas once a week. Use my Deep Cleaning Your House Schedule below for each room.
Emergency Clean: Overwhelmed by a Messy House? Need to work fast? If you have company coming over and you have been given little notice, you are going to want to just do an emergency sweep (a quick solution for How to quickly start Decluttering and Purging your Home). You won’t use a DIY Declutter List at this time. You’ll just try and grab visual clutter quickly. This is just a surface clean, and it will make your home “guest ready” in a short time.
How To Start To Purge Your House fast for some instant Decluttering Inspiration: To do that quick sweep, grab an empty laundry basket or a large box and go throughout the living area grabbing anything that is out of place and tossing that into you basket. This is just a temporary fix I use to Help With Decluttering My House, but it is intended to give you some immediate satisfaction just by clearing the room of clutter. When you have time to deep clean, I have a Homemaking Checklist for each room below.
Next, grab some multi-surface spray and wipe every counter top and toilet seat from the kitchen to the bathrooms. Then, make each bed. Don’t have time to make beds? Just close the bedroom doors. If you have time, focus on the floors. If you have guests coming over for a visit, just focus on the main living area floors. Don’t do a “full sweep, vacuum, and mop job” if you are in a time crunch. Instead, just sweep and spot clean. Again, this is just a quick fix. When you have the time, I have my Deep Clean Checklist below.
Deep Cleaning Your House Checklists for an Easy House Cleaning Schedule:
First, My How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen list can be found here.
Second, My How to Deep Clean Your Bathroom list can be found here.
Third, My How to Deep Clean Your Kids’ Rooms list can be found here.
Fourth, My How to Deep Clean Your Living Room list can be found here.
Fifth, My How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom list can be found here.
Decluttering 101:How Clutter Affects You: If you work from home, like me, clutter can be robbing your creativity. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Let’s tackle the clutter head on. Maybe you need a Clean House Checklist. Looking for more Easy Steps to Declutter and Organize Your Home? Read more below. How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter Your Home can also be easier when using checklists. Checking things off a list can be very satisfying and motivating and can give you that much needed Decluttering Inspiration.
Some of you are thinking: My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where to Start. How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? I recommend starting small, such as one shelf or one drawer for your DIY Declutter. It can even be a shower shelf. I can think of a few shampoo bottles or broken bits of soap I could get rid of quickly. Also, start in an area that has been causing you the most stress.
What is the Proper Way to Clean Your House? Sometimes, you need to just stop reading about it, and take action. Don’t let perfectionism and worry stop you from taking action. Perfectionism may have you stuck thinking about the “proper” way to clean. Done is better than perfect. After all, we’re talking about cleaning your home, not a major project you’re worried you may mess up.
We’ve already outlined How To Clean a Messy Room using the room by room checklists above. What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? A Housekeeping Schedule Printable will help you maintain your home and keep it clean. When I think of daily tasks, I immediately think of dishes and laundry. You need a basic routine to maintain it once it’s deep cleaned. Specifically, to keep up the general housework, you need to create a daily housekeeping schedule that suits your specific needs. To do so, I have created a helpful series you can read here. Get the free ebook when you subscribe that will walk you through the steps to create your personal house cleaning routine.
So, how do you get rid of the clutter? We have already addressed a few Declutter Tips and Ideas such as dressing yourself to clean, using music, a timer, and using an Easy House Cleaning Schedule and my Decluttering Your Home Checklist I use to know How to Purge Your Entire Home. Another cleaning tip is to start high and work down. Also, start from your left and work your way to the right around the room. If your messy home has you feeling stressed, start with my cleaning and decluttering checklists. I also recommend starting with an area that is causing you the most stress.
What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? Try using a Housekeeping Schedule Printable. How to Fix Cluttered House Issues: Use my Decluttering Tips for Home –How to Start Decluttering Your House is easy using my checklists:
Follow each room-by-room DIY Declutter List below
How Do You Know If Your House Is Cluttered? What is Considered Clutter? Anything you don’t love or use can be cluttering up your home. Read more below. I have a specific checklist you can use for the entire home, room by room.
Also, you can get some Help for Cluttered Homes in my complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Decluttering Your Home Checklist 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 grab that here.
Easy steps to Decluttering and Purging your Home: Use my Steps to Declutter and Organize Your Home below:
How to Purge Your Entire Home and Get Organized using Decluttering Your Home Checklists
How to Declutter the Guest Room or Your Kid’s Room checklist can be found here.
Also, my How to Declutter Your Laundry Room and Patio checklist is found here.
My How to Declutter Your Coat Closet/Hall Closet/Linen Closet checklist can be found here.
Next, you can find my How to Declutter Your Home Office checklist here.
Find my How to Declutter Your Attic checklist by clicking here.
The How to Declutter Your Garage checklist can be found here.
My How to Declutter Your Living Room checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Kitchen Checklist can be found here.
The How to Declutter Your Entry/Foyer/Mudroom checklist can be found here.
My How to Declutter Your Clothing checklist can be found here.
Also, a How to Declutter Your Bedroom checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom checklist can be found here.
Ready to get daily motivation for Help for Cluttered Homes? Let me help by sending you some daily Declutter Motivation Tips and Decluttering Inspiration to Purge Your Entire Home! To Subscribe to this Daily Decluttering 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. If you don’t have a calendar, you can grab my free weekly printable calendar page here. It is in my shopify store, but it is totally free, so you won’t be prompted to put in any payment information. It is a free download and will be delivered straight to your email.
Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and DIY Home Declutter Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email and will help you learn How to Start Decluttering Your House. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can find that here.
Step 2: Create a Housekeeping Daily Assignment Sheet. What Housework Should Be Done Daily?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? Why Can’t I Throw Anything Away? 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: How do you remove clutter? How Long Does It Take To Declutter a House?.…Sign up for the Declutter Series for some Decluttering Inspiration 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 each Deep Cleaning Your House Checklist 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.
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 kitchen decluttering ideas, decluttering inspiration, plus excellent organization tips to get you started.
I hope you have benefitted from this information on how to successfully Purge Your Entire Home. And, I hope you found the answers to all your cleaning and decluttering concerns. Leave a comment below to subscribe to my daily declutter email series.
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