Decluttering can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right mindset and a few simple tips, you can organize your home and simplify your life. In this blog post, we’ll provide you with some effective tips for decluttering, so you can take control of your space and live more comfortably.
Welcome to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series! We will be starting in the kitchen this month. Each day 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. Let me share with you by best Tips for Decluttering.
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 and subscribe via youtube.
Tips for Decluttering: How to Organize Your Home and Simplify Your Life
- Start Small: One of the best tips for decluttering is to start small. Begin with one room or area of your home and work your way through it before moving on to the next. This approach can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensure that you make progress.
- Use the 80/20 Rule: The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, suggests that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In the context of decluttering, this means that you can get rid of 80% of your belongings and still have everything you need. Use this rule to guide your decluttering efforts and focus on keeping only what you truly need and use.
- Ask Yourself Questions: When decluttering, it’s important to ask yourself questions about each item you’re considering keeping or getting rid of. Questions like “Do I love this?” and “When was the last time I used this?” can help you make decisions about what to keep and what to let go of.
- Use Three Boxes: One practical tip for decluttering is to use three boxes: one for items to keep, one for items to donate or sell, and one for items to throw away. As you sort through your belongings, place each item in the appropriate box. This approach can help you stay organized and make the decluttering process more manageable.
- Create a System: Creating a system for organizing your belongings can help you maintain a clutter-free home in the long run. For example, you could use a color-coded system for your clothes, or you could use bins or baskets to store items by category. Find a system that works for you and stick to it.
- Embrace Minimalism: Embracing minimalism is another effective tip for decluttering. Minimalism is a lifestyle that focuses on owning and using only what you need and value. By adopting a minimalist mindset, you can reduce your possessions and simplify your life.
Decluttering your home can be a liberating experience that frees you from the stress and clutter of a disorganized space. By starting small, using the 80/20 rule, asking yourself questions, using three boxes, creating a system, and embracing minimalism, you can organize your home and simplify your life. Follow these tips for decluttering and enjoy the benefits of a clutter-free home.
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.
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 my best Tips for Decluttering For Your Home.
Maybe your house is clean but cluttered. If so, you need to know a few Tips for Decluttering 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.
A few guidelines and Tips for Decluttering 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.
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.
Tips for Decluttering
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
Tips for Decluttering:
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
Your task today for August 27th is to:Declutter your silverware and knives.
Tips for Decluttering:
- Declutter anything you never use.
- Declutter anything damaged beyond repair.
- Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit your style.
Struggling to decide if an item is clutter? Use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item.
Just a quick recap from yesterday, August 26th. The August 26th task was to declutter your disposable plates, cups, and plasticware.
We had a large family visit this past Saturday, so I didn’t have anything to declutter in this department because we just used up most of it. Instead, I just organized and straightened this area.
Not a huge difference, of course, but it still looks more organized. Eliminating clutter is the goal, but I am already one to declutter frequently. I also tend to only buy what we’ll use. Then, I use it up until it’s mostly gone.
If you take this approach to purchases and possessions, you’ll not get yourself buried in clutter again. Going shopping just because you are bored is a recipe for disaster. While that may not be the case with you, it is helpful to look beneath the surface as to why you may be surrounding yourself with clutter.
Did you grow up in a home filled with clutter and now it comforts you? Are you afraid of losing it all because you experienced a house fire or natural disaster in your past? Do you associate many possessions with success?
If any of these sound like you, it is never too late to change and let go. Your possessions do not define you. They do not add value to you. You are already valuable the way God made you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Instead, fill your life with God and meaningful relationships. Fill your home with possessions that you both love and use routinely. Avoid shopping without a purpose in mind. Also, avoid shopping with your kids if you cannot say “no” to everything they ask you to buy.
If you plan to take the kids along, give them their own money/budget and let them learn to spend it within that limit. You’re teaching them to be responsible and thoughtful spenders. Plus, they may not spend anything if they know it will cost them personally.
I hope you are enjoying this Year Long Through Declutter Series and my Tips for Decluttering. If today is your first day to join us, I welcome you! We declutter 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It is a slow but very thorough process. We started on August 12th, so you can read my previous blog posts if you want to catch up.
We’ve started in the kitchen because that is usually the hub of the home and the daily launchpad. If you can manage to declutter your kitchen in our first month of this series, you can do anything! I scheduled the kitchen first for that very purpose.
If you haven’t already, subscribe below to receive your daily task and encouragement and motivation to keep you going strong. To subscribe and get more Tips for Decluttering, leave a comment below.
Need to deep clean? I have lists for you to guide you along.
My How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen list can be found here.
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.
My How to Deep Clean Your Living Room list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom list can be found here.
Also, to keep up the general housework, you may 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.
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. 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 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: 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.
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 plus excellent organization tips to get you started.
I hope you have benefitted from my Tips for Decluttering. Leave a comment below to subscribe to my daily declutter task email series.
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