How many times have you looked around your house and thought “how in the world did we get all this stuff”? It is crazy how quickly the things in our life can add up. All between mindless shopping, generous family members, and the items you use once and never touch again. You desperately want to get rid of things, but the thought of taking time to declutter your home is so overwhelming that you never get started. Well, have no fear! Here is how to declutter your home using 3 of the easiest tips. These three tips will help you get some of the clutter out of your house without having to take a lot of time to do so.
1. Holidays and Change of Seasons
Let’s start with the holidays. When you decorate, do you ever have anything left in the box/tote? Why didn’t you put it out? This is a perfect opportunity to donate! If you didn’t put it out, most likely you either don’t have a place for it or you don’t like it. Only keep the things you are most excited about!
Ok now for changing of seasons. Do you rotate clothing? I have a tote for each season, so all my clothing is not out at once. Is there anything that is being left in the tote when you go to rotate the clothing to a new season? Why is that? Is it time to let go of it?
2. Make it Easy
Have a constant donation tote/box
There is a tote in our garage that is designated as the Goodwill tote. My husband and I both know where it is. When we realize there is something in our house that is no longer serving us, it goes straight into the Goodwill tote. Once the tote gets full, it gets loaded into the car to get taken and dumped into their lovely little bin. Decluttering doesn’t get any easier than this!
Put it on the calendar
Have a reminder to yourself a few times a year to walk around your house and look for things to donate or take to Goodwill. If you are following along with my cleaning schedule, we have this on our calendar quarterly. Designate a tote or box that you have to completely fill before you can be done finding things (you will be amazed how quickly this fills up!). Clothes, shoes, and accessories are a great place to start. If you are feeling extra ambitious you can also do storage areas such as attic, garage, closets, etc to declutter your home.
Include the kids
Having your kids buy in for this is important. First, they will ask for that specific toy in a couple weeks, and they will be upset when they find out you have given it away. They are much less likely to be upset if they chose to get rid of it themselves. Second, it will show them the importance of decluttering their houses when they move off to live on their own. Give them their own little tote or box to fill. Show them the things of yours that you are giving away. Give them some options out of their toys and clothes and let them know how many things you would like them to choose to give away.
3. Don’t Bring it in!
It never ceases to amaze me how many people take things just because they are free. This is anything from junk on the side of the road, to free ads on Marketplace, to all the free junk at the fair booths. Does your kid need a new sandbox? No? Then don’t pick it up off the side of the road! Are you in need of a new pen or notebook? No? Then don’t take the free one off that marketing booth.
Now that we have talked about free, let’s talk about cheap. There is no denying that places like Dollar Tree, Five Below, Dollar Store, etc. have some pretty great deals! There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking advantage of these awesome prices. That is to say, if it is something you or your kids actually need! As I mentioned in my article Flying with Children, these are great places to go when you want cheap new toys for flying or traveling. They are also great places to get party decorations, thank you cards, and many other necessary things. What I am advising against is going into these places and browsing/buying just because it is cheap. Look for things, especially for the kiddos, that will bring lasting enjoyment. Not things that will be exciting for a minute and then end up on the floor of your car.
Easy Peasy!
So, there are my 3 easiest tips on how to declutter your home. Do you have some awesome decluttering tips that you just need to share?! I would love to hear them. You can either email them to me or comment below.
Author
teetertotmomma@gmail.com
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