How to Declutter your home for Spring

SPRING!

It's the time of year to clean,
clear out the clutter and
get your home free of junk!

That's really easy to say,

but not so easy to do!

Where does one start when faced with an area,

a room or even a house that needs decluttering?

If you want to declutter

and don't know where to begin,

let me tell you my process for
clearing out closets, drawers and everything else.

First of all,

Get 3 boxes, baskets or even blankets

and put a sign on each one.
Put the 3 baskets into the room that you are cleaning.

Start with one pile (or drawer),
in one corner, in one room.

Go through each and every item.

Make a quick decision and put it into

one of 3 baskets:

Keep, Donate or Toss.

Don't take too long to think about where

to put each item.

You can evaluate again later.

Keep

Items to keep:

items that you currently use, 

items that you have a plan for using,

or items that are sentimental.

All keep items MUST have a place to

go, or you cannot keep them.

Donate

Items to donate: 

items that are in decent condition

but are no longer useful in your home

such as:  toys, games,

clothes that no longer fit or that are no longer worn,

housewares, furniture, decor, dishes, etc.

A good rule of thumb is to donate
anything that you 

have not used in one year.

If the item in your donate pile is in 

great condition,

you could try selling it in on a Facebook sale page.

Toss

Throw away anything broken,

out of date or non repairable.

____________________

After the initial sort,

go through your keep pile again.  

It will most likely be the biggest

because we get emotionally attached to our possessions.

Go through the pile a few times 

and pare down the items you would like to keep 

and those you can part with.

Keep in mind the space 

that you will use to store the keep items.

If you have sentimental attachment to things,

but don't have the room to store them,

take a photo and then donate the actual item.

It's the memory of the item you want to hang

on to, not necessarily the stuff.

I am a fairly sentimental person,

so I have to be very intentional with the stuff I save!

My kids each have 2 totes.

One is full of sentimental baby/child items.

The other is filled with file folders for documents and papers.

That's it.

I am also working on paring down

the amount of home decor, holiday decor

and everything else that clogs up my house.

____________________

After you have finished going through the 

Keep pile, move to the donate pile.

It is important to 

take action on your donate pile

as soon as possible, or it will

become another pile, and you will 

have to go through this process again.

I bag my donate pile up immediately

and put it in my trunk.

Then I can go through the thrift store drop off

on my way to school pick up or other errands.

____________________

After you have taken care of your donate pile,

move to the trash pile.

Immediately bag all trash

and dispose of it.

____________________

Now you can move onto another area of your home.

Repeat this process over and over again

until you have cleaned everything!

For more cleaning ideas, you can check out:

6 housekeeping hacks to work smarter, not harder

Why you should have a Cleaning Schedule

My favorite Cleaning products