Clear the Clutter with these Decluttering Your Home Tips
Ready to clear the clutter? These decluttering your home tips will help you get a fresh start with a clean house. Sounds amazing right?!
I’ve mentioned before that we recently downsized. We moved out of our huge 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2-floor house to a smaller 3 bedroom 1-floor house. It was quite an adjustment and moving made me realize just how much stuff we had.
We couldn’t possibly take all of it with us so it was time to make some adjustments and learn to clear the clutter. We also had to train ourselves to keep that clutter away. This way, we had a clean house that wasn’t crowded with stuff.
If you are working on spring cleaning, grab this free printable spring cleaning checklist to help!
How to Clear the Clutter
Decluttering may seem like a daunting task and something that you dread doing but trust me, it’s not THAT bad and it is well worth it. Once you do a major declutter session, you will not only feel better but you will be inspired and that is an amazing feeling.
Do a Once Over
To get started, do a once-over so that you can see and get a feel for what you are wanting to accomplish. As you do this, take a trash bag, or two, and walk around scanning each room to see things you want to throw away or store.
This will be our very first sweep and while it may not seem like much can be done on the first step, you might be surprised. We ended up filling almost 2 bags on our first go around because we saw some items that we knew just needed to go.
Start with One Room
Decluttering one room at a time will make the process a lot less overwhelming. Which room you want to tackle really depends on you. Some like to go after the biggest/most complicated room. Others like to start with a room that isn’t going to be too complicated.
One thing I’ve learned in all of my years of deep cleaning and decluttering is that you don’t leave the room until the job is finished! I will find myself wanting to go do something else around the house and the current job gets put on the backburner. As time goes by that job gets pushed further and further away from my priorities and the clutter still remains.
That certainly isn’t going to help us when we are trying to declutter and deep clean. I always recommend that when you start on one room, you do nothing else until it is finished.
Purge Purge Purge
When I start to declutter, I get into a mindset. That mindset is a little ruthless, but very effective. The goal has been set to keep only the things that we currently use. Not items that we MAY use or COULD use. It has to be something WE DO use. That’s important when it comes to decluttering.
As you are making your way through each room, there are a few questions you should ask when you come upon something you aren’t sure what to do with.
- Do you currently use it? If not, then it goes. If you use it, then it stays.
- Does it fit? If a piece of clothing no longer fits, it is time to get rid of it.
- Does it work? If it doesn’t work, there is no reason to keep it.
- Does it have any sentimental value? If it has REAL sentimental value and you can’t live without it, keep it.
The hardest part of this process is that you will come across some items that even though they don’t work, you don’t want to give them up. But you have to. You have to get into the mindset that it’s gotta go.
Clear the Clutter – Decide Where It Goes
As we are starting to declutter and get rid of items we no longer need, it’s important that we have somewhere to put everything. To do this, I make a pile or use a trash bag to make 4 different piles. Each pile has its use. The piles I make are:
- Items to donate.
- Things that go in the trash.
- Stuff that stays in this room.
- Items that need to be stored away.
Rinse & Repeat for Each Room to Clear the Clutter
Once you have that first room tackled and cleaned up, you are hopefully feeling inspired and excited. Now, it’s time to start on the other rooms. Just rinse and repeat the steps above for each room.
Tips for Keeping the Clutter Out
After your first initial deep clean and seeing how organized everything is and how much more room you now have, you want to keep it that way. So how do we do that?
Here are a few tips that can help you keep the clutter out.
- Don’t bring more stuff in. Learn to buy less or only items that you need.
- If you find something that should have been put in a different pile, move it, especially if it needs to be donated or thrown out. Do this when you see it so that it is not forgotten.
- Get everyone to work together. It can be impossible to do it on your own continuously so having everyone help out, can make things a lot easier.
Hopefully, these tips can help you clear the clutter and keep your home clutter-free!
If you have any other tips or something that may be helpful, I would love to hear them!
Books on decluttering you might find helpful:
- The Declutter Challenge: A Guided Journal for Getting your Home Organized
- Cluttered Mess to Organized Success Workbook
