If you read my article on your cleaning mindset here and you have embraced the benefits of a clean, orderly home and the value it brings to the quality of life for you and your family, let’s start the process of really cleaning your home by going through the not-so-glamorous but positively essential process of decluttering.
Now, decluttering can be a motivating process, or it can be a brick wall that you hit that stops you before you even begin.
Decluttering your home is essential before establishing or tweaking cleaning habits and systems because if you have too much stuff, or things are not in their proper place, cleaning becomes an overwhelming task.
Why Have an Orderly, Clean Home?
Let’s remember why we’re doing this. We want a clean, orderly, efficiently run home that gives our family a stress-free physical environment – a bright and cheerful home that serves us, rather than a home that enslaves us.
With a decluttered home we aren’t constantly assaulted with our perceived failures. Every time you walk into a room that is a mess, you emotionally take responsibility for it, and often see yourself as a failure for not keeping it clean.
The visual assault causes our bodies to experience stress and overwhelm. The more we see it and live with it, the more stressed and overwhelmed we become until we just give up on ever fixing the problem – which doesn’t make us happy, but rather confirms that we are a failure. (We’re not, we just need help.)
As we begin the process of taking back control of our home, it’s important to remember, as with pregnancy or weight gain, you didn’t grow a baby or put on 20 lbs in a day, you won’t get your home decluttered and clean in a day either. But by setting small, achievable goals each day you can have that home you long for and keep it that way!
Where to Begin Decluttering?
I always find that everyone else’s schedule of how to declutter doesn’t often fit with my way of doing things. Here are some options. Choose which is best for you but choose and stick with it. Procrastinating because you’re always looking to see if something better will work for you won’t get your house clean.
- Option #1 Begin with your pain point. Look at the list in the download and order the rooms from greatest need to least need.
Whichever room causes you the most stress from disorder or too much stuff could be the best place to begin. Usually, the kitchen is a great place to start because we are in it so much of the day.
After you’ve decluttered that 1st pain point room, then work down your list.
- Option #2 Begin with the entry closet and work your way clockwise or counterclockwise around home.
1st Rule for Success
Wherever you decide to begin, DO NOT begin with the pictures, memorabilia boxes, baby boxes, or whatever you use to keep the mementos from your kids. That is the most difficult place to declutter because there’s so much emotional attachment to those things. Save that space for after your orderly, decluttered house and cleaning schedule is humming.
Here is my laundry room that desperately needed to be organized and decluttered. 
Items put out of the way, but not in the best place.
How to Declutter
Don’t forget the goal here is to get rid of stuff – not just rearrange the stuff you have!
Don’t be Too Ambitious. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your home won’t be free of clutter in a day.
- Download the 2-week step by step guide “Decluttering the Easy Way” and make a schedule.
- Make a schedule of the room/area you’ll declutter each day. You can use the download to write down what you’ll do when. Writing down forces you to commit to yourself – it’s actually the first act of follow through. Or you can use Trello which is a great digital scheduling app if you’re more techy.
- There are days off built into the challenge schedule. Know yourself – if taking a day off will stop your momentum, then don’t take them off and you’ll be done in 12 days rather than 14. Sometimes, though, we need a break and those days are built in to renew and reenergize your mindset and your tired body.
- Limit your time – Suggested time options in the download. Remember, this is YOUR schedule – work it the way you need to, but work it! Without a deadline, we’ll extend the project and never really finish.
- Listen to a podcast or music to make the time go quickly – ONLY listen to the podcast or music when you’re decluttering.
- Quick tip: I hated exercise and I could always find something I felt was more important for me to do, so I tricked myself into going to the gym every day with the reward of watching “Fixer Upper” on the treadmill TV. We don’t have cable, so that’s how I followed through. It definitely worked! Now, I just don’t feel good if I haven’t walked 2+ miles each day. After watching all the seasons (!) I now watch different shows, or I listen to podcasts. The reward shifted to feeling better about my body. WIN! The same thing can happen with decluttering and housework. (I would suggest NOT using a show or anything visual, as you’ll certainly waste time looking at the phone instead of the task at hand. Our goal is to finish the scheduled project quickly!)
- Purchase or repurpose pretty baskets or bins. I purchased baskets at JoAnn’s at 50% off, then bought the inside plastic sorting containers at Dollar Tree.
- You’ll need large black garbage bags and a box.
- Bag to Donate,
- Bag to Pitch,
- Box to Relocate
Baskets from JoAnn at 50% Off! 
Cheap Containers from Dollar Tree to Organize the Inside of the Basket
- Empty out everything in the space – Be careful with this. If you’re decluttering your laundry room, empty everything out. To declutter the kitchen, I would empty a drawer at a time, (ie utensil drawer, dish cloth drawer) a group of cabinets at a time (ie, dishes, glassware, storage containers). If we empty too much at one time, we’ll easily get overwhelmed and have a mess that will actually be harder to sift through and put back.
- Wipe down the shelves that you just emptied.
- Ask yourself these questions about each of the items:
- Do I need this? If not, donate or pitch.
- Is it in good working condition? If not, pitch.
- How often do I use it? If you want to keep it, but don’t use it often, consider relocating it to a different area. I have an old file cabinet in the garage where I keep pans that I use but infrequently.
- Will I use it in the future? If not, donate or pitch.
- Don’t take too long asking yourself these questions – be ruthless and don’t overthink it. Put the item in the proper container and move on.
I removed all the items from the laundry room. Now to sort, purge, and organize. 
Organize by like things.
Sorted, Purge, Now What?
After you’ve gone through the items in the area, take the bags immediately out to the garage. Put the pitch bags in the trash can, and the donate bags in your car. It’s best to take those bags to the donation drop off asap. Otherwise, you’ll just have bags of stuff cluttering your home!
- Put like things together where you’ll use them. In this picture, I have a basket with entertaining items (plastic utensils, decorative napkins etc.), one with extra aprons/cleaning rags, and a large bin with extra kitchen/laundry supplies.
- Take the relocate box and put the items where you think they belong. Whatever you do, DON’T JUST RELOCATE EVERYTHING FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER!
Remember: The goal here is to get rid of stuff – not just rearrange the stuff you have!
Clean, neat, and organized. Now the napkins and forks don’t fall down on my head when the washer spins! 
These items I use a couple of times a year – so organized to not be in my way.
What to Do Daily to Keep Your Home Orderly
- Get into the habit of following through with anything you touch. If you take your shoes off, put them in the closet. If you brush your teeth, put the toothbrush back in the drawer. Here’s a post about cleaning as you go. Once you get into the habit, it makes keeping a home clean so much easier.
- Teach your children orderliness – follow through with items as described above.
- Choose pick up times in the day – help little children, but encourage them as you’re doing it together.
- Before lunch/naptimes
- Before dinner or before dad gets home
- As part of the bedtime routine – although I would do it before getting pj’s on.
- Mail/Schoolwork – Read, pitch or file for later – don’t let it pile up for days on your counter.
- Have a relocate basket in the general living area.
- During the day if something is in the wrong place, put it in the relocate basket and at the end of the day, put those items away.
Progress Not Perfection
As you begin or progress in keeping your home orderly, know that you won’t be perfect. Perfectionism is such a weight on us, and a seriously effective tool to discourage us! It will take time to develop a new skill. Be kind to yourself while challenging yourself to work with more focus and consistency.
I KNOW how hard it is to keep everyone in the family on the “declutter, orderly” train. Quite frankly, some days I looked forward to all seven children moving out because only then would I know that when I opened the drawer for the scissors, they would ACTUALLY BE THERE because they had been put back after being used!
All you can do is your best, although never underestimate your potential! Remember your goal: a bright, cheerful home that serves your family.
You can download the “Decluttering the Easy Way” here.
Have a great week!
Janet
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