- Declutter 2 5th Grade
- Declutter 2 5th Avenue
- Declutter 2 5th Step
- Declutter 2 5th Wheel
- Declutter 2 5th Ave
- Declutter 2 5th House
- Declutter 2 5th Edition
Step 5: Have grace on yourself. You may or may not completely declutter your home in 5 minutes, so be sure to have grace on yourself and embrace the journey to a simple, healthy home! Tips for making this 5-Minute Daily Decluttering Routine even better. Do this every day! Related: Declutter Your Bedroom in 5 Steps. Set mini decluttering goals. Don’t try to declutter your home all in one go! You’re likely to become overwhelmed and stop halfway through. Related Post: 4 Thoughtful Questions to Ask When Decluttering. 5 Quick + Easy Ways To Start Decluttering Your Home. Once you’ve done the mindset work, the next step is to decide where to start decluttering in your home. I recommend choosing a small project from the following list.
This year started the way all new years do — with resolutions, goals, and lots of good intentions. One big difference, though? A great many of us have started asking whether our stuff “sparks joy” or not and stayed strong in our resolution to FINALLY DECLUTTER the house.
While Marie Kondo has certainly captured our collective attention, hers is not the only way to organize and simplify your spaces. Read on for five easy approaches to decluttering, find the one that sparks joy in you, and get to work!
1. KonMari MethodTM
Photo credit: Konmari.com Templates for pages 4 0 download free.
If you’ve been living under a rock (or a pile of personal possessions), you might not be familiar with the tidying up craze. In addition to keeping your house neat, this strategy also promotes mindfulness and respect. Unlike other organizing approaches, Marie Kondo suggests you declutter by category, rather than by room, so things don’t continue to float from space to space, forever (how’d she know?!). Her signature instruction, however, is to physically touch each item, ask yourself if it sparks joy, and if not, to thank it for its service and send it on its way. In addition to a simpler, more organized space, Marie Kondo’s lessons might just change how you look at life!
2. Trash Bag Tango
If the thought of respectfully evicting years’ worth of clutter panics you, the baby steps of this strategy might be a little easier to tackle. Simply set aside 10 minutes each day, grab one bag for trash and one bag for donations, and find items around the house to put in each bag (dancing optional). The more days in a row you can commit to the “tango,” the faster your clutter will disappear. Bonus: Get the kids in on the action by handing them each smaller plastic bags for their rooms and buy yourself a 10-minute parenting vacation!
3. Detrashing
Decluttering can be tough, especially when you get lost in the nostalgia of old photos, tchotchkes, and other memorabilia. If you’re worried about getting lost on a trip down memory lane, start by detrashing your home instead. Removing obvious trash from your spaces — think dried-up markers, old receipts, and random food in your fridge — can help you see feel a sense of accomplishment at getting started, and also let you see the bigger tasks more clearly. Pro tip: start in the junk drawer.
4. Think F.A.S.T.
Break down your decluttering tasks using this simple acronym.
F: Fix a time. Schedule your organization session and make sure it’s a family affair. Be sure to give yourself and your helpers enough time to get the job done.
A: Anything not used in 12 months. In all likelihood, if you haven’t used something in the last year, you won’t need it in the next. When looking at each item, ask yourself how long it’s been since you’ve used it and if there is an immediate need for it in the future. If the answer is no, it’s time to go.
S: Someone else's stuff. Nerf guns from that epic sleepover, an ex-boyfriend’s old jacket you used to think was *so* cool, Tupperware your mom lent you (and now she keeps telling everyone who’ll listen that you haven’t given it back) — when you start looking, you’ll find there’s actually quite a bit of stuff in your house that’s not yours. Make a plan to get it back to its rightful owner or, in the case of that not-as-cool-as-you-thought jacket, take it straight to the Goodwill.
T: Trash. Are we sensing a theme here? Much of our clutter is actually trash. There is so much to throw away in every room of the house, and twice that amount in the garage. Gamify this part and compete with your family to see who can fill their trash can first. Whoever wins, so do you!
5. Four Boxes
Photo credit: Celebquote.com
This tried-and-true decluttering method is likely the one you’re most familiar with. Here are the details, just in case. In each room or space, start with four labeled boxes or bins:
- Keep
- Toss
- Donate/Sell
- Storage
Ideally, everything from that space will go into one of the four bins, depending on how you feel about the item. Your frame of mind is important here, as it’s easy to move things you don’t want to deal with into the storage bin, only to never be used/worn/seen again. If necessary, invite over some good friends who’ll make it more fun and — most importantly — be honest about that outfit from college you’re trying to keep.
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1Net card purchases (purchases minus returns and adjustments) less than $299 made with the Synchrony HOME Credit Card will earn 2% cash back rewards paid as a statement credit. Statement credits will be issued within 1-2 billing cycles after qualifying purchase is made. Fees and interest charges do not qualify for rewards. Account must remain open, in good standing, and not become delinquent. Subject to credit approval. We reserve the right to discontinue or alter the terms of this offer at any time.
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Inside: I started thinking about what I’m keeping in a more intentional way and these 3 questions are so good for decluttering!
When I was a kid I used to have a lot of collections. A sticker collection, a collection of those cheap little plastic charms for my charm bracelet, and even a candy collection.
I know crazy right? I was the kid who would save my candy in the bottom drawer of my desk. Not sure what I was saving it for –but it was out of hand.
Now in my adult life I realized that I still have this saving mentality and I’m not sure it’s a good thing. So I changed the way I think about what I’m keeping and it has me on a purging spree and was the start to my complete Declutter Method!
The kind that even had me creating a checklist of places to clean out that I’m sharing and you can download too!
Recognizing my clutter problem
We recently opened a nice bottle of wine that we’d been “saving for a special occasion.” Problem is, when the special occasion finally came and we remembered to open the dang thing, it had turned. Ain’t nothing special about that!
I hit my breaking point when I was recently going through all of the boxes of “stuff” that had been stored in our office for years.
Boxes of stuff that had moved with us over 3 times, but had never left the box.
Instead these things just sat in a box in an empty room until those rooms had to become bedrooms for our kiddos and finally ended up in the office, which as you know had become a crap dumping ground that I finally overhauled.
It started out being really overwhelming, but my decluttering method broke up the tasks into short chunks of time and made it all less overwhelming and in the end, it turned out better than I could have imagined.
I know I’m not the only one with this problem.
Declutter 2 5th Grade
I go on a lot of walks through my neighborhood and almost no one parks their car in their garage cause it’s so filled with stuff that it’s impossible! I’m one of those people! (UPDATE: See how my new decluttering habits got my monster of a garage under control!)
And frankly I’m sick of it!
My home means so much to me. I put a lot of time and energy into making it a really nice place to be and yet I have these dumping grounds that secretly drive me nuts!
Sometimes they’re big (like my office or the garage) and sometimes they’re small, like the closet in the guest bedroom, but they’re cluttered up with often unnecessary things that are also cluttering my mind!
So I’ve changed the way I think about these things and it’s allowed me to declutter like I’ve never decluttered before!
And the result is amazing!
My old mentality of holding onto something cause I might need it someday is so bogus! How can I expect the things that I really do love or that are useful or important to shine (or be found in a timely manner) if they are hidden by a bunch of crap?
And why were we so concerned with price per square foot when we were buying our home if we were just going to fill some of those square feet with junk that we don’t need or use?
I know I’m a bit fired up, but seriously people, my new way of decluttering is life changing and if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you have, follow these same steps one little space at a time.
First ask yourself these three questions…Is it beautiful? Is it useful? Or is it sentimental?
Now here’s where the key mental shift comes in…
If you hold onto everything (or too many things) because everything is special in some way, then really nothing is very special.
Think about that for a minute.
In order for the things that truly hold meaning or that are your best of the best to really shine and be appreciated, they can’t be crowded by the less important.
With that thought in mind I went through my things and limited what I kept down to the most beautiful, most useful, or the most meaningful things and let go of the rest.
So…
By beautiful I mean if you saw it today in a store would you fall in love with it and have to have it in your home? If the answer is yes, then by all means, keep it!
By useful, I mean it actually gets used regularly or it makes your life easier in some way.
A perfect example of this is leftover project supplies. If it is something that can be used on many different projects, by all means keep it. But if it was leftover from a very unique project and will most likely never be used again, get rid of it!
For something to be sentimental it’s got to tell your story in some way.
Now I know that this is the hardest category and if you are anything like me you are going to sit and ponder certain items so you may have to go through a space more than once so that you are left with the best of the best.
There is no freedom in holding on to every single thing, memory, or story. So pick your favorites and let the rest go!
I know it ain’t easy. Just yesterday I had to be firm with myself when I was going through my fabric (and you know I love me some fabric).
I told myself that from now on I was going to store my fabric in the bottom drawer of my new built in. What that meant is that I had to get rid of a lot of fabric because I had way more than would fit in the drawer.
I had to be real with myself. Yes I love to sew, but do I really need enough fabric on hand to be able to create more projects than I even have planned? Nope.
And do I really need to keep small scraps of fabric, just because I love the print, and I might come up with a way to use them one day? Nope.
After making some tuff decisions, I ended up with a drawer full of fabric that I absolutely love and have plans for. The rest went to a local program for at risk teen girls and I love the idea that they are going to be able to use it for crafts and sewing projects.
I want you to try this.
Pick a spot in your home and ask yourself the 3 questions above for each item. Download jixipix premium pack 1 6 1 for mac free.
Start somewhere small and easy (without a lot of sentimental things.)
Like maybe under your bathroom sink. Lord knows you have hair and makeup products under there that you want to use or want to like, but the truth is you don’t. And they would be of better use at a women’s shelter.
And can you imagine the next time you have somewhere special to go, not having to dig through all of that crap to find the product that actually does work.
Declutter 2 5th Avenue
Donate or throw away what you are not keeping right away.
Ready?
Declutter 2 5th Step
Pick 2 small spots in your home that could use a good decrapifying session over the next week and tell me what they are in the comments below.
Your home and your mind will be all the better for it, and it’s going to pave the way for you to really showcase your home decor style!
Declutter 2 5th Wheel
Ok. Time to go get your decluttering on! Grab your checklist and get ready to hit all of the tuff spots in your house!
Declutter 2 5th Ave
If you found this helpful, and are really ready to change the way you feel in your home and want a step-by-step plan check out my class The Declutter Method.