I think this overwhelming feeling is why January is the time that a lot of people get bit by the de-clutter bug! You see, if you're like me, you can be a little clutter blind.. We have lived in our house for seven years and I found that I got decent at re-organizing all of our stuff! That sounds great, doesn't it?! Sure, that sounds fantastic. But the fact remained that when I would do the task of organizing (surely when things got out of control and stressed me out) I was never really getting rid of anything!! I was looking at these items like wow I forgot about this, and filing it away in its new tidy little spot. Everything got organized and I could breath! I felt this sense of accomplishment! The unfortunate thing is I never did anything long term to keep that stress from creeping back in. Depending on the area and how highly trafficked it is by my family my organizational efforts didn't last long and to put it simply its because there was just too much stuff!
Gone are the days of me re organizing everything that in my house to look neater than before. I am now going through everything in my house and getting rid of items that no longer serve us, and by default having less things. Less things is less to organize and keep track of. Less to be out of place. Less to stress you out!! This is not a novel idea to some people but for me it was! Bare with me here... I am by no means what I would consider a minimalist, and I am not telling you to get rid of all of your worldly possessions, but what if we just got rid of what we didn't need? What if we just got your to your ability threshold, and in a place where your home can stay under control for more than a few hours even with kids! I'm telling you de-cluttering is the way to go, and truly such a relieved free feeling! If you're feeling like I was I want to help! Below you can find my top 4 de-cluttering tips in no particular order to get you started on your journey.
1. Start with the easy stuff first! De-clutter your bathroom, laundry room or linen closet first. There typically isn't anything in these areas that is going to be super sentimental and hard to get rid of. Is it expired toss it. Do you even have a toddler mattress in the house anymore? No? Donate the sheets!
2. De-clutter your main living areas. The ones that are highly used and trafficked by your family. When you do this and start to love walking into a room because it looks better than before and isn't visually stressful you will want that in more areas of your home. When you start to see that it doesn't take long to clean up that room any longer, you will want that in more areas of your home.
3. Take everything out of the area you are cleaning. Don't leave any one thing in the back corner. Take it out. This will do a couple of things it will help you realize how much you have, and nobody needs that much lotion Linda! It will also ensure you give every item your individual attention to assess if this item still meets your needs OR if you should toss or donate it.
4. Do one area at a time. Even if you are tackling the whole room do it in sections. One area at a time. It is hard to take every item out of every shelf/cabinet in a whole room at one time and still function. Not to mention it can be very overwhelming. So instead break it down one cabinet at a time. One shelf at a time. One little area soon becomes a whole room and then a whole house!
I hope these few tips help you in some way! This is my first post regarding de-cluttering but it wont be my last! Comment below if you have any questions or if you have tips of your own that you would like to share!
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