How to Declutter Your Home Without Getting Overwhelmed

do you want to reduce stress are you tired of wasting time and money trying to find the things you need do you want to know how to declutter your life so you can simplify and organize your home and your mind I admit I'm a minimalist at heart I hate clutter I've been known to throw away my children's projects as they walk through the front door however occasionally life gets away from me and the Clutter starts to pile up I typically go into Purge mode and attempted to clutter my life for a weekend for some people it can be difficult to get rid of items even if they don't need a anymore here are some basic guidelines that I like to use when deciding whether to keep donate or toss first is it broken yes will I fix it in the next week no toss it do I love it no do I need it donate have I used it in the last three months no donate except for seasonal items does it fit no donate it do I even remember what it is or what it does no donate or toss not only are our homes filled with things we probably don't need we have clutter in our virtual space too our computer phones and even our minds are filled with distractions I'm going to share with you some tips and tricks I use to live a life with less clutter these tactics are especially important when working with your kids to declutter their spaces when my kids were younger I would ask them to pick up their rooms often their rooms were so messy they would get overwhelmed before even getting started using these techniques will help make it manageable for the kids and teach them how to declutter when they get older and have their own spaces step one take it room by room after moving 19 times in 27 years I can tell you that if you have a system in place getting rid of the clutter in the home is much easier personally I like to declutter room by room section by section for example if I'm starting in the kitchen I start with the fridge or Pantry then I move to the drawers and finally the cabinets not only do I throw or give away the things I don't need I take a few extra minutes to clean that space too cleaning and decluttering will make it seem like you have a brand new space make sure you use bins to stay organized and avoid overwhelm when cleaning and decluttering I recommend having three large clean bins available the first bin is your keep bin the second bin is the toss and the third bin is to donate if you know that the Donate bin is going to sit in your garage for a couple of years only use two bins one to keep and one to toss most people use two bins just donate and toss but every time I clean out a room I I find items in that room that belong somewhere else in my home by having a keep bin it allows you to gather up those misplaced items quickly and put them where they belong at the end of the day let's talk about the kitchen the kitchen can be a Haven for clutter since everyone in the house uses the kitchen it's easy for it to quickly get messy and full of items you don't need it's also the place where it's easy to hoard items you think you might need appliances utensils even food I recommend decluttering your fridge at least once a month and your pantry treat every other month personally I declutter my fridge every single week the night before trash day that way any spoiled food goes to the curb and doesn't stink up my house for the rest of the kitchen I recommend going through your cabinets and drawers at least twice a year here are some of the things you can declutter in your kitchen throw away expired food and get rid of containers with missing Lids throw away broken utensils and maybe even get rid of some cookbooks keep the sentimental ones but don't you usually get your recipes off the inter anyway um combine those half full containers I don't know about you but my kids always open something when there's another container half full and throw away those condiment packets from restaurants if you haven't used them already you're probably not going to use them throw away any expir coupons flyers or old mail that you've been saving and toss those cleaning supplies that have empty bottles or that you don't use anymore if you have duplicate things like dishes mugs measuring spoons donate them and donate those novelty containers the ones you collected from a theme park that now are collecting dust in the back of your pantry if you have items that are still in the boxes donate or regift those gadgets they make great gifts and get rid of those old lunch boxes thermoses and leaky cooler packs don't forget to throw away all those extra grocery bags and paper bags that you won't use let's move to the family room thankfully my family room stays pretty clean I do have to check under the couch cushions and couches occasionally for those hair band stray goldfish and batteries typically if you clean out and organize your spaces once or twice a year it's not hard to maintain them the rest of the time the living room is a great place to use your keep bucket as stray items tend to end up in the Living Spaces because the kids don't put them away recycle any old magazines you might have laying around donate or toss old DVDs videos or video games throw away that VCR you've been stored in the cabinet that hasn't worked since 2010 and get rid of Decor that you don't love properly dispose of any dead batteries throw away dead plants that are just hanging on and get rid of any stained or holy blankets or throw pillows also make sure you throw away those candles that have just burned their last bit let's go to the bathroom the bathroom is another spot of trouble for people I just cleaned out a drawer in my bathroom that I hadn't opened in over 10 months needless to say I threw everything in that drawer away I try to go through my bathroom drawers every couple of months or so so it's easy to keep them clean and organized this is a project you can complete on a Sunday afternoon or a Ry day to keep the bathroom organized I like to use clear plastic bins to keep all the small Cosmetics organized in my drawers when cleaning out your bathroom you can turn those old towels into Rags throw out those empty bottles of lotion sunscreen or bug spray toss old makeup why do we sa this I don't know make sure you get rid of expired medication and throw away those empty or hardened nail polish bottles and if there's productss you have in your bathroom that just don't work for you give them to somebody else make sure you toss old toothbrushes you should probably replace them about once every 6 months and toss hair accessories that you aren't using anymore if you have a lot of trial size items that you aren't using these are great to donate make sure you toss that random decor and clutter and your bathroom's done let's move on to the kids' rooms this is one thing I do not miss about my kids growing up their rooms are messy now but when they were little they were atrocious it didn't help that I used had multiple kids sharing a bedroom and they had limited storage space personally I love Ikea for inexpensive storage options and when they were little I organized everything in bins I had bins for underwear pajamas and shorts it was so much easier than trying to keep things folded in drawers to help kids keep the room organized I love the idea of taking a picture of the toys on the outside of the bin especially if they aren't old enough to read or writing the names of the items on the bin I still have those white plastic bins from the dollar store that say pajamas on them from when my kids were really little if your kids are helping you to clutter their room I highly recommend going section by section I can remember one time when I took everything in the room and dumped it in the middle of the floor my kids were totally overwhelmed it ended up being a complete disaster and both kids were in tears at the end of the day it is so much easier for them to stay motivated if you tackle a section at a time I recommend starting with the bed because it's usually a quick win usually under the bed you have dirty clothes and a little bit of garbage I then tackle the dresser bins and save the closet for last when decluttering a kids's room I remove all the garbage my kids have a hard time throwing anything away remove dishes food wrappers cans bottles don't act like your kids don't bring food into their rooms and donate or toss those stuffed animals and toys that they're not playing with anymore if you're not sure let them pick some of their favorites and pack the rest away for 6 months if they don't ask for those toys after 6 months it's time to donate them make sure you get rid of those broken toys and toss the old ripped or stained bedding if your kids have clothes they've outgrown donate them and store those out of season clothing in a bin on top of the closet I don't know about you but if my kids can access a bathing suit in the winter they will wear it make sure you donate games and puzzles that have all the pieces and toss old school supplies like papers and books and donate any reading books or craft supplies that your kids have outgrown let's do a master bedroom makeup over for many years my master bedroom was a storage zone for anything that didn't have a place I hated it in fact I didn't like spending anytime in my room at all it was always so messy and cluttered a few months ago I decided to make over my master first I completely decluttered the room I can't believe how just getting rid of the random things that were in the room like old rolls of Christmas wrapping paper and bins of kid stuff that we weren't using anymore made such a huge difference the next St was to clutter all the surfaces in the room like the dressers in the nightstands for some reason those become a magnet for clutter uh I got all the spare change and put it in a little container and I threw away most of the receipts finally I went through the drawers and got rid of clothes that I didn't wear or didn't like my room is now becoming my favorite place in the house thanks to a simple afternoon of decluttering also get rid of any Decor that you don't like in your room and if you don't wear the jewelry that you have uh toss it or donate it as long as it's not valuable here's another one ladies get rid of the bras and underwear that are ribbed or tattered or torn if you're not sure about the clothes that you wear and don't wear pack up a section of your clothes and see if you miss it put it at the top of your closet if not donate it at the end of the couple months and if you have clothes that don't fit get rid of them I promise you if you lose weight you're going to want new clothes anyway get rid of the shoes that are uncomfortable I have boxes of shoes in my closet that I never wear cuz they hurt but for some reason I can't bear to get rid of them and bags like purses and and tote bags get rid of them if you're not using it let's move on to the haul or storage closet this is actually one of my favorite things to clean because it's always so easy um typically haul closets are storage bags outerwear things that are easily uh gone through so you can determine what to keep toss or donate uh one of the things I always find in mind is empty wrapping paper rolls uh toss those we always say br broken umbrellas you're not going to fix them so get rid of them uh one thing I did one year was I got rid of all my wire hangers and switched to the plastic hangers they're so much better um and put away whatever the kids threw in there to keep from cleaning it up uh outerwear that you don't wear or doesn't fit donate that and any Decor that's shoved in there that you think you might bring back out if you don't like it get rid of it toss those old Christmas cards especially the ones without a photo let's move to the garage this is a trouble spot having a large family with bicycles skateboard scooters and athletic gear is overwhelming not to mention most of my kids like to fix build and explore using the tools in the garage and they don't always put them away properly the easiest way to clean the garage is to remove everything from the garage and actually clean out the garage first I use those large black garbage bags to collect all the trash and broken toys while emptying the garage if you are using your garage to store seasonal items baby gear Christmas decor or clothing I recommend installing shelving either along one of the walls are from the ceiling I also love using hooks to hang things like bike helmets skateboards cords and anything else with a handle throw away any garbage you find in the garage as well as things like broken or rusted tools old light bulbs batteries switches empty paint cans or almost empty paint cans just make sure you're following your city guidelines for throwing away things like paint and batteries if you have any unused or broken yard equipment or outdoor toys throw those away and especially throw away those broken bicep helmet your kids shouldn't be wearing them toss any flat sport balls that can't be inflated and get rid of those items that you've been storing that you will never use again it's time to get rid of your 18-year-old stroller they had when they were five donate things like unused gardening pots and old pet toys and products that you aren't using anymore one thing I'm guilty of is keeping bins that have cracks or without don't have a lid anymore get rid of them let's go to the home office the home office is another area that can get really cluttered so you need to keep important papers for S years or sometimes forever it's hard to keep that clutter to a minimum however I'm sure there are numerous items in your office you could throw away right now one rule I try to follow is to handle something as soon as it comes into my house or office if it's a bill I pay it if it's a bank statement I file it if it's something that requires a phone call I make the call right now the longer you wait to handle something the more often you will touch it think about it and take up and it takes up valuable space in your home and your brain I like you using the binder system for organizing papers and bills but do whatever works for you here are some things that you can toss in your home office receipts is long as they aren't attached to a warranty or a return prining from the printer you don't own anymore junk mail and magazines and don't forget to donate those books that you've already read or don't need to keep broken office supplies or broken Electronics dried up pins and random cores that you don't know what they go to anymore get rid of them computer programs that don't work on any of your current devices toss those and manuals for appliances you don't own anymore all those can go in the trash don't forget to also throw away address labels to a house that you don't live at anymore make sure you destroy things like checkbooks from closed bank accounts CD ROMs and old phones it is time to get rid of that Nokia from 1997 even though it probably still works then you can file the documents that you need to keep make sure you check out how long you should keep documents also file things like kids paper an artwork that's important now let's clean up the devices that we have in our office this is an area where I really need to improve however you can use Snippets of free time throughout your day to declutter your phone or tablet if you have to wait in Carline to pick up your kids use your time to go through the apps on your phone and delete the ones that you don't use you can also go through your phone and delete photos that are bad or blurry or screenshots of something that you texted someone and you don't need anymore clear out your old text messages and voicemails that you don't need so you free up storage space on your phone and turn off the notifications for a lot of your apps go to your subscriptions and make sure you aren't paying for apps that you don't use and go through downloads on your computer and delete anything you don't need make sure after you do this that you turn off your phone or computer and update the software I'm guilty of this I don't like turning off my phone or computer but it's something you really need to do finally let's talk about the most important thing and that's decluttering your mind this is quite possibly the most important area you need to declutter I have found when I'm weighted down by stress or anxiety everything else quickly falls apart when my mind is clear I'm able to manage everything else so much better while it's the most important it is also the hardest because it involves breaking some really bad habits like constantly checking social media or scrolling mindlessly on your phone before bed for the past several years I've maintained a pretty strict morning and evening routine when I stick to my routine my day is usually amazing no matter what happens when I Veer from my routine my day always ends up in the toilet I've had a pretty stressful life the last couple of years and I know one of the reasons I've been able to manage all the stress is that I stick to my morning routine so at least I start my day in a good place mentally if you don't declutter anything else that I'm talking about today I highly recommend decluttering your mind get into a morning routine this is a game changer take a break from social media remove Facebook Instagram Tik Tok Snapchat and email from your phone for just one week week commit to reading 10 pages in a book every night before you go to bed and don't touch your phone or device for the first 30 minutes after you wake up in the morning if you can exercise for 30 minutes each day preferably in the morning to get your mind clear and your blood flowing you can try journaling if you're not being on journaling just write down three things you are thankful for each morning or before you go to bed and try taking a break from TV or Netflix for just a week you should drink at least eight cups of water a day and consider praying or meditating for 5 minutes every morning or evening and here's a big one stop multitasking pick one task every day that you want to complete don't do anything else until that one task is finished also try getting rid of the little decisions in your life eat the same thing for breakfast every day simplify your wardrobe and be decisive when you do have to make a choice make it quickly so you don't think about it again you probably can't declutter your entire life in a week but you can do it in a month or two by tackling one project a day consistently instead of wasting that extra 15 minutes on social media find one area of your house and declutter it in just a few weeks you'll have a cleaner more organized home

Channel: Toni Herrbach

Views: 4,800

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Id: My-GK0HJq98

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 29 2024