Tips for Decluttering
I have been on a decluttering mission for years and I think I cracked the code for an easy way to declutter and reorganize. If you have been in the same boat about trying to organize but it seems like a never ending cycle I’m going to share my super easy tip for decluttering.
Start Small
If decluttering an entire room, break it down in sections. Let’s focus on the kitchen, each drawer and cupboard will be an individual project. Have a box on the counter and anything that you don’t need put in the box, don’t spend time wondering what to do with those items just yet. When you have completely reorganized your drawer you will feel so good and want to keep going. After I finish a drawer or cupboard, I put the box of unwanted items in my garage and when all done with the kitchen I go through that and decide if the items are worthy to donate or just trash them. It’s also a good idea to take a short break between sections for a small snack. I usually have trail mix or protein bars on hand since they’re quick and easy plus I don’t want to get too settled in for very long and lose my train of decluttering thought.
The other day I posted about my kitchen reorganizing again and now I’m loving my new arrangement. We have always had a “junk” drawer in the kitchen used for small tools that might come in handy for a project. Well the small tools became larger tools and before long it was filled with so much junk I didn’t even know what was in the drawer. I decided to tackle this drawer by taking everything out and put things in a plastic storage bin just to get the drawer empty. I had an old spare pistol case in the garage so I put the tools in there and tossed some things that weren’t even needed. See, I made use of something instead of having to buy new.
I put the pistol case turned tool box in the garage right next to the back door so I didn’t have far to go if I needed something. This gave me an extra kitchen drawer! See how easy and less stressful by just working on a small area at a time? FYI, my next major decluttering project will be this unit in the garage. It will be like opening Pandora’s box since the drawers are so disorganized. LOL But can’t go there now, need to stay on track.
Laundry Area
I am usually too embarrassed to show my before shots but I figured I’d bite the bullet and let you see what I’m up against. It was a bit more a challenge here because the two shelves had to be done together. But I went box by box until I removed the things that didn’t belong on the shelves. Don’t ask me how the pile on the dryer all fit in a blue bucket! As I sorted through everything, a lot went right in the trash. We had bottles of Lia’s paint, paint brushes and detergent caps for her little bouquet projects that ended up in the bucket instead of opening the garage door right next to the washer and putting them on her craft supply shelf.
This may be over whelming for some starting a declutter project but just take your time working one section at a time. I usually have three sections: NEED, SAVE, DISPOSE. The NEED gets put in the proper place immediately, the SAVE goes in the garage if it’s something I think I can repurpose and the DISPOSE is either donated or taken to the recycling center.
After all sorted and the junk tossed it’s looking so much better being clutter free. But I also feel better just having everything organized, knowing I will keep it this way. Notice the tool box on the bottom shelf. After storing it there, I realized it’s not the easiest place to get to so that’s why I moved it to the garage.
When I moved the tool box I had room for something else. I buy my kitchen trash bags in bulk and one roll fits neatly in a strawberry picking bucket! Again I’m trying to organize the everyday items used in areas that are easy to reach so I moved the laundry detergent over and put the bucket of bags on the shelf. Where the tool box was I store the mop pads. Everything is easy to reach except the things on the top shelf but those are things that aren’t used often. Also while I was decluttering these shelves, I found a box full of brand new dish towels. LOL
The laundry area declutter project took me about two hours which sounds long for just two small shelves but with so much sorting it took some time. I think it was well worth it to be organized. I was ready to take a break for a cup of hot chai tea!
As usual when I finish a project I step back and check it out, both the kitchen and laundry area reorganizing projects made me very happy to finally reduce so much unneeded clutter. But there always seems to be something I find that needs changing. This time it was the knobs on the doors to the washer and dryer. We originally painted them red when I had so much red in the kitchen but now they seemed to jump out at me.
When my daughter and son-in-law were down for Christmas, Bryon replaced some light fixtures. Two in the front hall and one in the laundry room were changed from 25 year old gold tone ones to sleek brushed nickel. Now it’s good to save some things for “just in case” and I happened to have four brushed nickel with white pearl knobs from a few years ago when we changed the closet ones. I like them much better. I still have two left and I’m sure I’ll find somewhere for those in due time.
See how easy and stress free it is by focusing on a small area instead of an entire room? Do you have a room or area you are trying to declutter but you keep hitting a road block? If you need a cheering squad when decluttering, I’ll be on your team!
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