Declutter Backpacks and Totes

Backpacks and totes are essential for carrying our daily essentials, but they can quickly become cluttered and disorganized. This can not only make it difficult to find what you need, but it can also add unnecessary weight to your bag. To help you keep your backpacks and totes organized, we’ve put together a step-by-step guide on how to declutter them. In this blog post we will cover how to declutter your backpacks and totes in order to reduce the number of bags you have. We will also cover how to declutter the inside of those backpacks and totes.

Welcome to my Year Long Thorough Declutter Series. We declutter 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Each day we do a daily task based on the room we are working on. Today, our task is to declutter backpacks and totes.

The best way to develop a new habit is by slowly and daily application. We will begin a new daily declutter habit starting with the Entryway, Foyer, and Mudroom. In the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series, we will declutter 30 minutes a day, five days a week on weekdays. Sign up to receive daily encouragement and motivation.

Plus, you’ll learn your specific daily task to work toward completing the goal of a Year Long Thorough Declutter where you will declutter every space and learn how to start to purge your house. Are you ready to finally get organized? If so, will you join us? Leave a comment below to subscribe.

If you are new to the blog, welcome! I blog about cleaning, decluttering, and organizing. You can find my free printables to help you get organized in the drop down menu under the Printables category.

Currently we are working on decluttering the Entryway, Foyer, and Mudroom. The daily task for today, Feb. 3, 2023, is to declutter backpacks and totes. Remember, we are focusing on just the Entryway, Foyer, and Mudroom, so don’t declutter your whole house. We will cover each room separately.

Decluttering Inside Your Backpacks and Totes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Empty out your backpack or tote. Before you can declutter your backpack or tote, you need to empty it out completely. This will give you a better idea of what’s inside and how much stuff you actually have.

Step 2: Sort through your items. Once your backpack or tote is empty, sort through the items you took out. Divide them into categories such as school supplies, electronics, personal care items, and miscellaneous. This will make it easier to see what you have and what you can get rid of.

Step 3: Get rid of unnecessary items. As you sort through your items, be ruthless in getting rid of anything you no longer need. This can include old notes, broken pens, or expired personal care products. If you’re unsure whether to keep something, ask yourself if you’ve used it in the last month. If the answer is no, it’s likely you don’t need it.

Step 4: Organize the remaining items. Once you’ve gotten rid of unnecessary items, it’s time to organize the remaining ones. You can use small pouches or organizers to keep similar items together, such as school supplies or electronics. This will make it easier to find what you need and will also keep your backpack or tote looking neat and tidy.

Step 5: Keep it up. Decluttering your backpack or tote is not a one-time task. To keep it organized, make it a habit to go through it regularly and get rid of anything you no longer need. You can also consider using packing cubes or compression bags to maximize space and keep everything in its place.

By following these steps, you’ll be able to declutter your backpacks and totes, making them more organized and easier to use. Not only that, but you’ll also be able to find what you need quickly, without having to dig through a cluttered bag.

I personally have a bad habit of placing items that need to be donated in the laundry room behind the door. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong. Delaying decisions means we still need to declutter.

Maybe you have a habit of delaying decisions, too. Let’s decide today where your decluttered items need to go. Do they need to be donated? Disposed of? Don’t delay that decision any longer. If they need to be donated, sort and put them in your vehicle. Then, make a note in your calendar to drop them off at your favorite charity.

As you are decluttering your items, I want you to try not to just move them to another room. You may be tempted to do that. However, resist the urge to keep everything. Decluttering means we actually part with these items. Otherwise, assign those items a permanent home where you can best utilize them.

Step By Step Decluttering guidelines for How to Declutter Backpacks and Totes

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. The goal is to purge the dead weight. 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.

How to Declutter Backpacks and Totes

Supplies Needed:

1. boxes -preferably ones you can donate (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

Decluttering Tip: 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.

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.

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.

How to Declutter Backpacks and Totes:

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 items that don’t work or that work poorly, expired items, anything you don’t love, anything that 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

How Do You Declutter Your Entire House (and get it deep clean?): Need to deep clean?

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.

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. Check out the link above to see a sample page of what you’ll get in my printable set designed to help you create your personal Homemaking Checklist.

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.

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.

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: How do you remove clutter? How Do You Declutter Your Home?.…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.