Let’s declutter! There are a bunch of awesome programs to help you declutter your house. I wrote a few of them myself and love how well they work to get your home completely and totally clutter free.
But sometimes, you need quick.
You don’t want to get every single thing decluttered immaculately over the course of a month or two… at least not yet. You just want something to get things back in reasonable order. Something to help you breath again.
You might want to grab The Declutter Workbook, too!
So let’s get started!
To declutter your house in a weekend, we’re going to focus on the worst zones and the zones we see the most. So for now, we’re not digging deep into cabinets or the garage, etc.
1. Pick the spot in your house that is home to the paper/mail/homework mess.
You know what I mean. We all have the place where everything gathers up; the bills, the flyers, the drawings our kids brought home from school. Maybe it’s your kitchen table, maybe it’s your desk, maybe it’s the kitchen counter… wherever that is in your house, we’re tackling it first.
Make three piles: trash, things you need to deal with quickly (bills, etc.), things you need to save. Get two folders and put the two save piles in them and find a place in a drawer.
2. Take anything that is in a room it doesn’t belong in and put it back.
This is huge at my house. There are so many things strewn all over the house that don’t belong and they need to go in their right spot. You’d be surprised at how much this helps the clutter in your home.
3. Declutter the messiest spot in your living room.
This is the heart of the home and the place we are in the most. This room needs to feel calm and chaos-free. So, pick the spot that holds most of the mess. For me, this is the coffee table – it ends up being a hoarding ground for toys, books, movies, toys, trash, everything. When I clean that off, I instantly feel better. For you, it could be the TV stand, or heck, maybe even the floor.
Take a bin of some sort, maybe even a laundry basket, and dump everything from your messy spot in it. All of it goes in the the bin. Then, walk room to room putting things where they actually belong.
4. Declutter the messiest spot in your kitchen.
You may have already done that by going through your paper pile in task one. If so, skip this one! If not, go through the same thing we did for the living room clutter.
5. Laundry.
Ugh. The laundry. This one is the one I loathe the most but if we want to feel decluttered, this one has to be conquered.
All the clean laundry that hasn’t been put away yet, sitting in baskets, needs to get put up. No fun, but let’s put it in the drawers and closet where they belong.
Second, we need to conquer the dirty stuff. To do this, we’re just going to take it all to the laundry room and sort it into baskets. Even if that means you need 10 different baskets. Sort it out and get working. For now at least it will be organized in some way and out of your bedrooms, closets and bathrooms.
After these are done your house is going to feel SO much better. And if you’re up for tackling all the details once you’ve done this (which you are because you’re going to feel so motivated!) go check out the 30 Day Declutter Challenge.
Congrats!
Liz is a just a mom trying to keep it real about how little she sleeps, how often she gets puked on and how much she loves them. You can find her here every day writing about real-mom moments.
Love the ideas. I do this on a weekly basis, usually after the grands have all gone home. I have six regulars that range from 1 to 5 so the basket trick really works for a quick toy removal.