Is clutter taking over your home? Here are some fresh ideas to help you cut back on clutter and organize everything in your home today!
Weʼve all heard the idiom of the straw that broke the camelʼs back, when something relatively minor happens it can cause an unpredictable upheaval in life. Of course, itʼs not the minor happening thatʼs to blame, but all of the little things that start to add up until one day you find yourself slumped and sobbing on the kitchen floor surrounded by lasagna and glass shards from the casserole dish that slipped out of your hands (and probably, for some reason, youʼre only wearing one sock). Thereʼs something to be said for minimizing or managing the load on the camelʼs back, so that one straw wonʼt break it. This seemed even more important when we learned that we were expecting our second child, and on the heels of our first. It definitely wasnʼt just my husband and I who had to deal with the aftermath of a mental meltdown, but our little ones too.
Our first order of business was to de-clutter and get organized. That meant a lot of purging and cleaning. Below are some of the things we did:
– Donated any clothes or items that we hadnʼt worn in over a year. This may have taken a margarita or two.
– Uploaded CDs onto our computer and a backup drive, and got rid of the hard copies. If you donʼt have enough storage capacity on your computer for this, I would recommend compiling your CDs/DVDs and video games into a disc binder to cut down on bulky cases.
– Filed old hardcopy photos in recipe card boxes with label dividers. Better yet, scanning your pics for e-storage…but who has time for that?
– Binned and labelled whatever we could. Our local dollar store was my best friend for this.
– After cleaning out our fridge and pantry, made a weekly menu so that we wouldnʼt have any food spoil. Itʼs also shocking how much money this saved us, and how much more motivating it is to get a balanced meal on the table.
– Beyond de-cluttering our living spaces, we really tried to be balanced in our personal schedules as well. For us, that meant reducing our social schedule to one event per weekend, or meeting friends for an afternoon coffee instead of organizing a big dinner party.
De-cluttering our home, car and workspaces has had such a positive impact in our lives. Itʼs refreshing to come home to a clean and organized space, and weʼre generally less stressed and more productive.
Almost equally challenging, though, is maintenance. Below are some of the key suggestions that we implemented to stay on top of keeping things organized:
– If a task only takes a few minutes to do, we try to do it right away. For example, filing paperwork or paying a bill (or schedule a bill to be paid) as soon as the mail comes in.
– Make our bed each morning, as soon as we wake up. Itʼs almost annoying how satisfying this is, and how it sets the tone for the day.
– Putting things back where they belong. Small things like hanging our keys and coat as soon as we get in, or return the book to itʼs shelf when weʼre finished reading helps to keep our home neat.
– Hereʼs the toughest one for me: for each new item/garment that I bring home, I try to sell/donate what it is replacing. This helps me check myself before making a purchase, and helps keep clutter to a minimum.
– Evaluate when saving time is more valuable than saving money. I realize this isnʼt an option for all families, and it certainly isnʼt always in ours. But when we do have some flexibility in our budget and our schedules are extra busy, we might order in for dinner or bring shirts to the dry cleaner for washing and pressing.
– We have a weekly family meeting (which is much more informal than it sounds), to discuss the weekʼs schedule, plan menus, and see how we can support each other. Our kids are both toddlers, so we wait till theyʼre asleep for this, but we do plan on including them in our weekly meeting as they get older.
Of course, no amount of personal organization will make us immune to the challenges or hardships that life throws our way. And we definitely have our weeks (and sometimes months), where simple living seems to go by the wayside. But there is definitely a peace of mind in trying our best to keep the number of straws that are piling up on the camelʼs back to a minimum.
Last, if you want even more tips, we HIGHLY recommend this amazing ebook {affiliate links} Freed from clutter. She truly takes you room-by-room to help you get your house in order! It’s so helpful! Click the image below to buy your own copy!
Thank you so much for reading! If this post interested you, head on over to our blog This Life Illustrated for more ideas on simple living or our youtube channel Silviesmiles!
Prerna says
This is the most difficult task ever specially if you are doing after a long but I make sure I do it step by step and not all at once to avoid the over load.