Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing

“Hack my life” is a phrase that typically refers to finding clever, unconventional, or efficient solutions to everyday problems or tasks. The word “hack” in this context comes from the world of computer programming, where it originally meant finding creative and often quicker ways to solve a problem. In recent years, the term “life hack” has gained popularity to describe any tip, trick, or technique that helps streamline or simplify daily activities. Today, I will cover a few ways I hack my life by decluttering and organizing my home.

What does Hack My Life mean? When someone says “hack my life,” they are usually seeking innovative approaches or suggestions to make their lives easier, more productive, or more enjoyable. These hacks can cover various aspects of life, including organization, time management, cleaning, cooking, finance, fitness, and more. They are often shared through articles, videos, or social media platforms to help others discover practical solutions to common challenges. I will give some of my thoughts and ideas for how I hack my life by decluttering and organizing to same time and make my home run more efficiently.

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 start decluttering your clutter in your 2nd bathroom. If you prefer watching videos, check out my youtube channel here. Today, we’ll look at how I Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing.

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 2nd bathroom. 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 2nd bathroom. The daily task for today, May 19, 2023, is to begin decluttering your skin care products. Remember, we are focusing on just the 2nd Bathroom area, so don’t declutter your whole house. We will cover each room separately.

10 Tips I Use to Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing

Here are some home organization ideas that can help you hack your life:

Decluttering: Start by decluttering your living space. Get rid of items you no longer need or use. Donate or sell items that are in good condition, and dispose of the rest responsibly. Decluttering creates a sense of calm and makes it easier to organize your belongings.
Categorize and Label: Categorize your belongings and use labels to identify what goes where. This makes it easier to find things and encourages everyone in the household to return items to their designated places. You can use labels on shelves, bins, drawers, or even inside cabinets. I have free printable food labels you can get here.
Utilize Storage Containers and Baskets: Invest in storage containers and baskets to keep items organized and visually appealing. Use them to store smaller items such as office supplies, toys, accessories, or bathroom essentials. Clear containers are especially useful as they allow you to see the contents at a glance.
Create Zones: Assign specific zones to different activities or purposes. For example, designate an area for a home office, a reading nook, or a crafting corner. Creating zones helps to establish order and makes it easier to maintain organization in different areas of your home.
Maximizing Vertical Space: Make use of vertical space to maximize storage. Install floating shelves, wall-mounted organizers, or hooks to store and display items. Vertical storage options can help free up floor space and keep frequently used items within easy reach.
Drawer Dividers and Organizers: Use drawer dividers and organizers to separate and compartmentalize items within drawers. This helps prevent clutter and makes it easier to locate specific items quickly.
Digital Organization: Extend your organizational efforts to your digital life. Organize files, photos, and documents on your computer or smartphone into folders and subfolders. Use apps or cloud storage services to keep track of important information and to minimize paper clutter.
Meal Planning and Pantry Organization: Plan your meals in advance and create a system for organizing your pantry. Use clear containers or labeled bins to store dry goods such as rice, pasta, or snacks. Keeping your pantry organized makes meal preparation more efficient and reduces food waste. Get my free printable weekly meal planner page here.
Create a Command Center: Establish a centralized area, such as a bulletin board or a whiteboard, to manage schedules, to-do lists, and important reminders for the household. This helps keep everyone informed and organized.
Regular Maintenance: Finally, establish a habit of regular maintenance. Spend a few minutes each day or set aside a specific time each week to tidy up and ensure that items are returned to their designated places. Consistency is key to maintaining an organized home.

I hope you can see how I hack my life by decluttering and organizing it. Remember, these ideas can be customized to fit your specific needs and preferences. Experiment with different organizational methods and find what works best for you and your household.

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.

Tips for How I Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing

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.

Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing Ideas:

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.

Decluttering Steps for How I Hack my Life by Decluttering and Organizing

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.