Advice On De-Cluttering Your Home

by Traci

posted on 07/08/2009

De-cluttering your house can be a liberating feeling! Over time it seems like a natural human behavior to collect "stuff." Extra stuff crowds our homes, offices, cars, etc. De-cluttering can make us feel more calm and in control of our lives. There are a few simple ideas that can help on the road to de-cluttering your house.

Clothes
Closets are usually the most common place to find clutter. A rule of thumb is that if you haven't worn something for a year, get rid of it. Next, decide what you really NEED. Do you really need four winter coats? Do you need twenty pairs of shorts? Get rid of excess. If it is stained, ripped or worn, get rid of it---this sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised. If it doesn't fit, get rid of it. Don't wait for the day when you're skinny enough to fit back in those jeans! If you get skinnier, then you deserve new jeans!!

Kitchen
Kitchens hide a lot of clutter. Start with the cupboards. If you have plastic cups, straws, bowls, plates, etc. from restaurants, get rid of them! Only keep your matching set of cups, plates, and bowls. Next, review your appliances. If you have gadgets that you haven't used in 6 months, get rid of them. I know it seems nice to have an egg cooker, but if you don't use it frequently it's not worth taking up your kitchen space. After you've made some space from clearing out appliances, move onto the pantry. Throw out old expired food. Give away food that you and your family won't eat. Organize food according to the contents of the cans and boxes. Finally, sort out the phone area. Usually in everyone's home there is a phone area in the kitchen. This area is prone to clutter. Is there a large jar of old pens, dried markers, and broken pencils in your kitchen? You're not alone. Throw out the old stuff and clear-out so that there are only a few writing utensils. Sort through that pile of mail on the counter and look into getting a mail organizer.

Linen Closet
The linen closet tends to collect things over the years too. Get rid of random old towels and wash clothes. If things are frayed, holey, or stained and can't be fixed, get rid of them! The same goes for old sheets and blankets.

Making these few changes will give you a great start on de-cluttering your house. The trick to de-cluttering is to choose one area to work on at a time. One afternoon work on one closet then wait until the next day to de-clutter something else. If you choose one small area a day, you'll have a clutter-free home in no time!! Enjoy the space!

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