Every six months or so, I like to declutter my house. Although I love organizing, life gets busy and I tend to throw things into a drawer thinking I’ll take care of it later. That never ends up happening and the drawer just becomes a massive pile of junk. Same goes for my kids toys. They get gifts, lose pieces, misplace things, and just create a big fat mess all around the house. Seriously, how can such little creatures create so much mess?
Anyways, I recently wanted to declutter my home. Why? The less you have, the less mess the rugrats can make. For some people, decluttering can be a chore. For me, it brings me so much happiness. I have no problem letting go of things, even though there may be a memory associated with it.
So how do you get started? Start with one corner of your home and move out. Below you will find my battle plan 🙂
- Master bedroom: So I had clothes that I will never fit into again. Although I would love to be a 0P again, reality is, thats probably never going to happen. Look through all your clothes and ask yourself, “Have I worn this in the last 2-4 months?” If the answer is no, then it’s gotta go. This rule applies for all clothing including hijabs and jewelry. Put away clothes that are out of season towards the back of your closet. If you want to be super awesome, get different colored hangers for your shirts and pants. Also, organize your shirts by color or sleeve length 🙂
- Bathroom: I also went through my linen closet and under my sink cabinet. If you have space in your linen closet, get bins from Dollar Tree and organize them by item type. Keeping things in order and in the right place helps when your looking for something and also helps keep things clean in the long run IF you put it back in the right place right away. Don’t forget to go through your makeup as well. If you have things that are old, throw it away. It’s not worth the pimple on your face or the eye infection you will get because you paid so much money for that mascara. And you know half the things you have are probably samples you got for free anyways
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- Bedroom: I had a pile of papers and junk under my bed. All of this came out and was put back in the right place. Most of it was garbage. Luckily, the only thing I have in my bedroom is a bed (that’s a different story for another day). So I didn’t have to sort much here. If you do have nightstands, open up the drawers and go through every single thing.
- Kitchen: This was the biggest pain. I went through every single cabinet and took out things I’ve never used. The worst section was my plastic storage cabinet. It was a mess in there! Whatever did not have a cap was thrown away. Plastic containers in bad condition was thrown away. Things that were not BPA free were thrown away.
- Pantry: If you have a nice size pantry, I would recommend lining the shelves and getting cool baskets and things to store your items in. I organized my pantry based on food type. Make sure you look at the expiration dates and throw away things that are expired. If there are food items you’ve never used, donate it to your local food pantry. My rule of thumb is to not take out ALL the snacks at once. Keep some in a corner hidden. That way, you don’t end up with 10 bags of open chips and cookies that never finish.
- Kids rooms: Make sure your kids are not around when you are doing this. My daughter loves keeping every single thing, even if it’s a small piece of paper. I like to rotate my kids toys and books. That way, they don’t get bored with having the same ones out and you don’t have to deal with a big mess. Find a place to store extra toys. I keep all their extra toys in bins by type in my linen closet. They are not allowed to touch these and need to ask permission before taking anything out. Your probably thinking, yeah right. My kids would never follow this rule! That’s why I need to get a lock on that door lol. You can also use a big plastic box and store it in your attic. Don’t forget to do whatever you did for your master bedroom closet in their closets as well.
What to do with unwanted items:
- Resale shops: If you have name brand clothes that are in good condition, you can try selling them at places like Plato’s Closet and Clothes Mentor. You won’t get a lot for them, but it’s better than nothing. For kids clothes, books, and toys try selling them at Once Upon a Child.
- Garage sale: Most neighborhoods have garage sales twice a year. If you have items you feel like will sell at a garage sale, put them in a box and into a big box. Label the box and leave it in your garage.
- Sell online: if you have furniture, decor items, and kitchen items you can try selling online on Craigslist, OfferUp, or garage sale groups on Facebook. Whats your junk can be treasure for some one else!
- Charity: You can also find a local charity that works with Refugees. There are so many families arriving with NOTHING every week. If you don’t have this resource, try your local ICNA or schedule a day for the Salvation Army to come and pick up all your items.
Other tips.
- Buy all your supplies ahead of time. Check out stores like Container Store and Home Goods for cool organizing items. Use Amazon for things like baskets and labels. Also, don’t forget the Dollar Store! They have really nice bins in different colors. Seriously, don’t you just love chalkboard stickers?
- If your spouse is not helping you declutter, make a pile of their stuff and throw it in a bag. Have them go through it later and take care of their belongings. If your spouse is not willing to comply, throw the bag in the garage. If you don’t have a garage, find a place to get it out of sight like the attic!
- Do not take on this project when your kids are at home. They will come in the way and remove items from the JUNK pile back into KEEP pile.
- You have to be willing to let go of items. It may be hard, but when you see how much you got rid of and how much better your rooms look, you will be happy.
- When your all done, have a family meeting and show your family what you’ve done. Talk to them about the importance of keeping things in their place. More than likely, your kids will walk away from this meeting and continue making messes. Keep trying again and again and again until it finally sinks in to their heads lol.
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