Declutter Your Life Series - Declutter Your Home

Welcome to the Declutter Your Life Series – for the next week or so I’m going to be sharing with you simple steps on how you can go from overwhelmed, can’t find anything and the house is always a mess to calm and everything has a spot.

I’ve spent the first part of 2018 in a panic, chaotic state. I was vigorously studying for the Certified Financial Planner™, which meant just about every other aspect of my life took a backseat. I made sure to be home for dinnertime and bedtime, but would find myself most weekends at my co-working space studying away. As the test got closer, the house seemed to fall apart and piles were everywhere.

Now that the test is behind me (and I passed) it’s time to declutter our home. I just feel so much better with a clean home and an organized work space. It’s like I can actually focus on playing with our son, working on my business or spending time with J when I’m not worried about the pile of clothes on the desk, the basket of dirty clothes on the floor and the dishes piled in the sink.

Declutter your life doesn’t mean getting rid of everything. It means simplifying what you do have so you can organize it better, utilize it more and have less chaos. I want to be able to walk in from a long day at the office to a clean house (not perfect, but straightened) where we can play as a family before dinnertime. I want a kitchen that’s easy to navigate and doesn’t requiring cleaning before cooking.

I made a quick video all about the upcoming Declutter Your Life series – take a look!

I’m not trying to be the pinterest-worthy mom on the block. Heck! I’m just trying to be the mom who’s house doesn’t smell like three dogs and day old milk.

Here’s how we’re declutter our home:

Set aside about an hour or two for today. You can break this down into a few days or knock it out all at once. I plan on spending a few hours tonight and then finishing up tomorrow if I don’t get done.
Grab some trash bags – you’ll need one for trash and one for donations and a plastic tote for anything you want to sell.
Go through every closet in your house – clothes closets, coat closet, linen closet and everything in between. If it doesn’t fit, but still in good condition toss it in the sell tote. If it’s seen better days then you have to decide if it’s donation worthy or needs to be trashed.
Clean out any old medicines, expired creams and lotions. Get rid of what you don’t use on a weekly basis.
Once you’ve gone through all your closets and cabinets, take care of the bags and tote. List what you have to sell immediately and if it doesn’t sell in a week take to your donation center. Grab your trash bag and toss it away as soon as your done. Take your donation bag and put it in your car so that you can swing by the donation drop-off this next week.

Check back Wednesday for our next post in our Declutter Your Life Series – we’re talking finances. On Friday, we’re going to talk about your to do list and on Monday, we’re talking about decluttering your schedule.