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To declutter your home and your life is something I always wondered. With the New Year in full swing, many of us are busy carrying out all of our new resolutions – one of which is to become more organized! Many are looking for new ways to do more with less space meaning we need to find ways to maximize the use of the spaces we do have, including our closets. When it comes to organization, there are no one size fits.
For instance, maybe your primary focus isn’t aesthetics but function, she said. Maybe you need a system that helps you get out the door quicker. Or you need an organized kitchen because you love to cook. Or you need organizational systems that are easy enough for your kids and spouse to maintain.
Paper Is Not Your Friend – Digitize Your Endless Piles of Paper
A huge clutter culprit is paper. While many of you are likely going paperless with many of your bills and possibly even your newspaper, our everyday lives still generate a fair amount of paper by-products: receipts, invoices, junk mail, magazines, how-to guides, and warranties, to name but a few. A paper shredder is a great and fast way to get rid of a ton of paper.
When It Comes to Storage, More is Not Better
Whether you’re re-organizing or custom finishing your closet, your wardrobe or your refrigerator and pantry, the key is to remove everything from whatever area you are going through in order to declutter FIRST and THEN decide what storage solutions you’re going to need for what you’re keeping and you will be one step closer to your goal to declutter your home.
Otherwise, you could end up buying boxes and bins, shelves and baskets that you don’t need, tossing everything in and not really going through the effort of sorting and removing what can realistically be recycled or donated. Result? You’ll never find anything again and won’t be any further ahead in staying decluttered and tidy!
Donate Unused Items
You might be able to give to those in need while also paring down your belongings for better organization. If you have children, donating unwanted toys is a wonderful way to not only share the love during the holiday season but also clear out some room for any new toys they might get for Christmas or Hanukkah. It’s the perfect time to declutter your home.
If you can guiltlessly box up items and drop them off weekly at your thrift shop or charity of choice, then do that. If you hesitate and are worried that you might need something, tape up the boxes and store them in your attic, basement, or garage for now.
Date the boxes When six months have passed, take any boxes that you haven’t opened and dropped them off without any worries (and without opening them!). You haven’t needed the items in this long and it’s unlikely you’ll need them again. If you have needed items, then keep those specific things and get rid of the rest.
Put Away Anything You Don’t Use on the Daily
How many things do you actually use every day? Probably not a whole lot — which is why it makes no sense that there’s always so much clutter in every area of your home.
To keep things clean and organized, put away anything you don’t use daily, whether that’s in storage bins in your closet or in drawers under your bed, it’s a great way to declutter your home. Your space will instantly feel refreshed and you’ll realize how little you really need to be happy.
Why toss out used-up plastic wet wipe containers when they’re so handy for other things? To organize an out-of-control plastic bag situation – you know, the one that often occurs in your pantry or beneath the kitchen sink – stick them all in the wipe container so you can easily pull one out every time you need it.
Rethink Your Clothes-Folding Method – Marie Kondo?
Instead of folding your clothes as quickly as you can, start folding them with a purpose to better organize your wardrobe. Marie Kondo has a different method of folding each type of clothing, but shirts tend to get more unruly than most things in your drawers. By folding them in smaller squares, you can set them up in vertical lines and see exactly what you have when you’re deciding what to wear.
Don’t Wait to Put Things Away
Remember all the many times have you said you’ll “put it away later” only to end up with a messy room full of things you never actually put away? If it’s a lot, you’re not alone. To keep your life more organized, stop procrastinating and put things back where they go the instant you’re done using them. Your future self will thank you.
Get it out of your house
A critical part of the organizing process is dispersing whatever you don’t want, Wilska said. When you’re sorting and decide to get rid of something, get it out of the house, whether it’s into the recycling bin or to Goodwill, she said.
That’s because when you put it in the hall closet, you just watch “it get reabsorbed into that space [and] it can start to feel like why did I even bother?” Try dedicating 15 minutes a month for dropping things off.
This post couldn’t have come at a perfect time. I’m in need of some serious decluttering at home and will use these tips for sure!
Awesome!
Gret tips for declutter . Sometimes we are too busy to Have common sense on that is funny, but it’s true.
We look for excuses.
Great tips. De cluttering your home is de cluttering your soul and your LIFE. The sensation of relaxation is amazing when you get rid of useless things.
Exactly! That’s how I feel every time I declutter.
Thanks for the tips on declutter your home. Sometimes it’s not an easy task for me because I have so many things that I refuse to give away, but I understand the importance of organization at home (and everywhere).
I know, it is hard to get rid of certain things.
¡Declutter my home! That´s exactly what I need to do. Thank you so much for all the tips! I just make a promise: I will organize and recycle my clossets this weekend.
Ihear you! Been there, done that Rosanna.
I really need to declutter my home. Sometimes I get attached to stuff I haven’t used in months or even years, and getting rid of them is hard. But I have to apply some of your tips. Thank you!
Same! I keep thinking I will use it someday and then never do.
Totally needed this! I’m doing a major declutter as we speak. Thank you for the tips ♡
You are welcome, Sara!
Thanks for the tips for declutter my home, I loved all the tips and I’m just looking for places to donate like every year, also my phrase is to throw away the old, dirty and broken hehe … 😉
That’s a good and quick way to declutter.
Good read on how to declutter. I actually need these tips 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
You are welcome Dan!
These are excellent tips. I recently did a purge of my office, getting rid of unused trays, digitizing my system, and several other organizational things, and I’ve had a much easier time with my work.
Glad you thought so, Brianne!
I love decluttering! We are planning a big one next week. I love to purge and donate!
That is awesome!
My mom’s tip (since she moved often) was to act like you are moving!! If you can really wrap your head around the mindset you’ll ditch lots of stuff you’re not using.
That’s a good method, Janel.
Wow, these are some great tips! I always try to donate my unused outfits ☺ I will have to work on your first point of digitizing paper work soon!
Thee you go!
I decluttered my kitchen recently. It is easier to find things in the pantry
I bet it is!
It is funny because that office picture looks like my accountants office. What a mess lol!! My life could use a really good cleanout. I need to make time to declutter it all!
OMG it must be awful to walk in there.
I know I have a lot of decluttering I need to do soon. I have a lot of items that I need to get rid of. I know my computer desk area needs a good cleaning too.
The computer desk is a constant thing.
I really do not like it when my home gets cluttered. It can really overwhelm me quickly.
Me too, all the clutter gives me anxiety.
I so need to declutter my home, especially my office. I know I have old paper bills from services we no longer have. I am the queen of procrastination.
Oh the office! It’s a non-stop battle.
You have a very important point, Myrah! In this day and age, no one still needs paper around them. We have the capacity of carrying a small device that is housing all our material and for a long time. Also, I need to up my donation-drives. There is so much here I don’t really need any more.
Isn’t technology great, Edgar? It’s made our life so simple.
These are really great tips to declutter one’s home. Especially acknowledging that more storage is not better. Great post!
Correct, more storage is NOT better! I keep saying that to myself.
I have a friend who is focused on decluttering this year, but after reading this, I’m afraid she’s just reshuffling things. So I’ll need to send her this post and tell her that “more storage is not better” and to “get it out of the house”.
Oh wonderful, Nicole. She will thank you.
These are great tips! I’m in the process of decluttering my condo. We moved from a 3800 sq ft house to an 1100 sq ft condo and we have soooo much stuff!!!
OMG I can totally relate. It is not easy at all.
I always need help to find ways to declutter. No matter how hard I try it seems to sneak up on me.
Don’t we all. It’s so time consuming.
Those are all great ideas on how to declutter your home. I am guilty of leaving things out haha.
Oh me too, Matt. YOU are NOT alone.
I am anti clutter and my husband after years is still getting used to it. I love everything clean and in its place. I am constantly getting rid of things.
That’s a great way to avoid it.
I really need to get rid of so many things we do not use, I just keep postponing the moment, but I know I have to work on it. I have so much mess on my desk
Same here. I just to wait for the winter.
Thanks for this! I am such an organizing freak and need to reorganize a couple rooms in our house, these are some great tips!
Glad they were useful.
This is standard in our home. Several times of year we always have a de clutter
Several times a year? YOU are my hero.
great tips. i really need to de clutter. my house is crazy. can someone come help me????
Haha, you and I both!
Those are some wonderful tips to keep in mind. I’ve seen Marie Kondo before and it inspired me a lot. Definitely need to declutter soon since my stuff are piling up.
Yes, Marie Kondo inspired me tons.
It is so satisfying to me to get rid of paper! That’s my favorite tip to de clutter.
And it is so easy to do right, Elisha?
Thank you for all these great tips! I do need to declutter the house soonest! I still haven’t folded my laundry from last week. oops!
OMG, you are worse than me, Ruth!
I love this because my home can so easily become cluttered. Paper is the biggest culprit
Paper, for me was also the worse part. Thanks to technology, I’ve gone digital and it has helped tremendously.