Clear the clutter and clear your mind. It's a new year; so what's a better way to start it off than by cleaning your home? I know it may not sound that fun but you might as well start now before spring. As we put 2018 behind us lets start this new year by cleaning out what doesn't bring us joy in life, keep what you love, and make room for ONLY things that bring joy and peace in your home. You don't want the clutter to stay and take away your peace. As some of you may start taking down your Christmas decorations, you can start sorting through your things and clear out the clutter. Keep what you WILL use next year and donate what you don't want or haven't used. Here are a few ways to start cleaning and clearing so you can re organize your home and your life....
**Some rules to keep in mind- don't take out more than you can handle in an hour. Clothes would be an exception for this, but when you are tacking the clutter in your home, take one area at a time from start to finish. Example: if you are working to clear out under your sink. Just work on that, don't distracted and move on to other things, take everything out, clean out the space, only put things back that you will use and want to keep, throw away what needs to go, and gather everything that does not belong and put it in its proper place. done! You don't need to take all day and clean your entire kitchen head to tie. Just take it one room and one step at a time. You got this!
1.) Start with your clothes. i have talked about this before, if you haven't worn it it 2 years- get rid of it!
Make sure you have time when you do this....
So I stumbled across a tidying show on Netfix, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. She shows people how to clear out what doesn't bring them joy and how to reorganize their homes so they can live in peace and order. When it come to clothing, she had everyone take out all their clothes and pile them up. You don't realize how much you have into you visually see it in front of you. With each item, decide if you want/need, give away or sell. Separate, bag and label (if your selling) and get them out of the house. Schedule a pickup for donation or drop off and sell within a week so you don't have everything taking up space in your home. Fold and put away all clothes by category and if you don't have a huge closet, store off season clothing under bed or in specific labels containers and neatly place in garage or basement. (Check out my fall refresh blog for more clothing organization tips). I only keep out what i will wear that season. My closet it not packed, and seeing everything helps me save time when picking out outfits and allows me to not buy things i already have. If you can't think it, you don't have it.
Smart shopping tip: After going through your clothes and giving away ones that don't fit, or make you happy etc. evaluate what you have. Look for what you need to complete outfits and what are items you wear the most often. Don't aimlessly go shopping and buy things that are on sale just 'because' and when you bring them home you can't find anything to wear with it. Evaluate all those things before you go shopping so you can purposely buy, love and wear what you buy, and NOT WASTE MONEY!
2.) Books and paper- Go through each room with a laundry basket and grab all your books and gather them in one room. have labeled boxes (keep, donate) and separate. Only keep what you are reading and love. If you haven't read it in years, donate it. With anything, if you think you might need, wear or read something in the future, you probably won't. And if the time comes, you can go to the library and borrow the book or re-buy it. Don't just keep things in your house and not utilize them. It takes up space and can leave your house chaotic.
Once a week you should go through old mail and papers, mag and whatever you don't need throw away. When it is time to tackle your paper clutter, the goal in mind is to throw it all away. If it is not being thrown away, it needs to be filed. If you keep up with this each week it won't be as overwhelming.
3.) Kitchen and bathroom- If you feel like your cabinets are busting at the seems- it's probably because you have things you DO NOT NEED or even use. If its a daunting job, just set a timer for twenty min, take a laundry basket and trash bag and start going through one cabinet/drawer at a time and get rid of what you don't use. And be honest with yourself; if you think you "might" use it, most likely you won't so just get rid of it and don't look back.
Every few weeks, or at least once a month i schedule a Veterans pick-up. Prior to arrival, I take a basket and go through the house and take at least one or two things out of each room and throw or give them away. This includes paper items as well.
4.) Misc,...garage/basement;
This may be overwhelming for almost everyone. But think of decluttering as a journey; it takes time. At one point my basement was a MESS! horrible, i hated going downstairs because it was overwhelming and stressed me out...
But i had to start somewhere. The first thing i did was categorize how i wanted to start organizing. I started with clothes and so on. I gave away and got rid of a lot. This was a long journey for me because i was working full time and didn't have the time. But i just took 20-30 min (sometimes a few hours) at a time and just pulled things i didn't need and got it out of the basement and out of the house. I bought storage containers because i had to find a neat and appealing way to organize. I evaluated what i had first and then bought the appropriate size storage. I labeled the containers and placed my items that I actually wanted to keep and stored them away neatly.
I used to have a TON of clothes stored in my basement as well, but you know if you can't see what you have, you forget what you have and waste time (looking for them) and money re-buying things. My ultimate goal for my clothes was to downsize and not keep anything in my basement. My husband and I invested in a nice bed frame with hug drawers. I was able to fit all of my off season clothing in zip-lock storage bags under our bed which freed up time and space for me.
---Invest in nice storage. You need to store your stuff, so you might as well do it and make it pleasing to the eye and organized by category. We bought two wardrobe cabinets to store big kitchen items ( my kitchen is small and i have limited cabinet space), another cabinet for my sons things and some other home decor etc. and some different cabinets to store some fine china, and a cubed organization unit to store mine and my husbands extra things we have. Everything has its place and looks good!
5.) Seasonal decorations- I live in a town home so i do not have a huge space. A couple years ago my sister and mom helped me organize my fall decor and I gave away what I didn't like and stored all fall decor in one big container and condensed my Christmas decor into two containers and that was it! Taking and putting down all decor was so much easier this year and took waaay less time. I also keep all my decor (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's, spring, summer etc.) all in one spot so i don't have to dig for it all when it is time to put up and take down. I also keep it in a very accessible place so its easy to find. Last, when you bring new decor in, get rid of the old. I stick with one or two boxes and if it doesn't fit when i store it away again, I reevaluate what i want and don't want and donate what i will not use. Less is more. When you have less things and actual love everything you have, you feel more at peace and control over what is in your home.
5.) Children's toys/clothing- One thing in, 2 things out. In order to gain control of what you have you need to give away or get rid of things.
I use cube organization for my son's things and place like items in each cube. I also use ottomans in my living room that match the furniture to store things as well so they are hidden, yet accessible.
Don't forget; decluttering/organization is a journey. Be patient and consistent and you will get to the point where you are just maintaining and controlling what's in your home everyday/week/month.
Be in control of your home, take care of what God has given you and allow God's peace to consume you each and everyday.