This post was originally published by our friends at Porch.com and I’m sharing it with you today because having a decluttered home and making home feel sweet can be tricky. But good advice like this will help you get past the mental clutter and actually get uncluttered. *release your tears of joy starting now*

Easier said than done, a busy life & bustling household can make it tough to declutter your house.

While some disorganization in your home is simply a sign of living a normal life, being surrounded by clutter can cause feelings of anxiety and crush productivity and creativity. If you want to transform your home — and your life — now is a great time to do it.

These tips and tricks will help you create a tidy home so you can enjoy your space stress-free.

If you want to learn the secrets to cleaning your entire house fast, you should check out my post: how to clean your entire house in 2 hours! It’s a game changer!

Benefits of Decluttering That’ll Get You Goin’

Decluttering and organizing make your home look and feel cleaner, and it helps you maximize your space and get those warm & fuzzy feelings when at home. But the benefits don’t end there. These are some of the far-reaching advantages of having an organized, decluttered home.

1. Reduce stress and anxiety

When your home is organized and free of clutter, you’ll feel a reduced sense of stress and anxiety. Being surrounded by too much “stuff” can feel overwhelming and get in the way of your ability to relax or stay productive.

2. Improve Focus and Creativity

Uncluttered surroundings make it easier to stay focused on the tasks at hand—you’re not getting distracted with having to look for things, and you don’t have that nagging feeling that you should be tidying up. Once you organize your home, you’ll probably start to feel more creative, and your productivity will improve.

3. Promote Better Sleep

The more cluttered your bedroom, the more likely you are to suffer from a sleep disorder, according to a recent study. When everything is in its place, it’s much easier to relax and unwind at the end of the day, and when you step into a clean, tidy bedroom, you’ll feel calm and content as you slip into bed.

4. Improve Energy Flow

Decluttering is an effective way to improve the flow of energy and foot traffic in your home. Unimpeded by clutter, your spaces will feel calmer, brighter, easier to navigate, and more pleasant to be in.

5. Rediscover Old Treasures

In the process of decluttering, you’ll probably find some treasures you haven’t seen for a while, like boxes of family photos or videos, packed-away baby keepsakes, or a pile of newspaper clippings or special art the kids made. Set these aside, and make a project out of turning them into albums, scrapbooks, edited videos, or other memorabilia.

But on the flip side, this type of clutter can send you down a rabbit hole. So sort ruthlessly and then reminisce about the good ol’ days later. After you’ve finished decluttering.

6. Make Someone’s Day

You’ll also probably find some things while you’re organizing that make you wonder why on earth you’ve been holding onto them all these years, like abandoned sports equipment, rarely-used kitchen gadgets that just take up space, and that huge collection of suitcases you don’t need. You’ll get a warm feeling when you give these items to someone who’s happy to take them off your hands.

The Bonafide Best Time to Declutter Your Home

Anytime is a good time to get organized! Many people use the changing of the seasons to carve out some time to declutter and deep-clean. Spring and fall are ideal times for washing the windows, steaming the carpets, and cleaning and turning the mattresses. But other circumstances may also present the opportunity to do a quick declutter — or a major overhaul of your belongings:

• During the holiday season, getting organized will help you keep your home tidy for visitors, highlight your festive decorations, and make hosting a breeze.
• Any time you move into a new place, take the opportunity to go through every single belonging you have and say goodbye to things you no longer want or need.
• If you’re in the mood to remodel a bedroom closet or clean out the pantry, do a deep dive into the stuff that you’re storing there, and pare it down.
• Parents of older children who are moving out can take advantage of the extra space by doing some decluttering — but don’t throw anything out until you run it by the offspring!

You may want to check out my very popular Daily, Weekly & Monthly Cleaning Schedule With A Simple Morning Routine (built into the schedule).

Home Detox aka Decluttering, Done Room–by-Room

To truly declutter your home, you’ll need to do a thorough “detox.” Most of us focus on the bathroom, bedroom, and closets when we think of organizing, but there are many other areas of your home that could probably use some extra organization. If you feel overwhelmed, start with small spaces first and work your way toward larger rooms as you go.

Hallway and Living Room: Store coats and shoes in a closet or storage bench, and tidy up the living room by putting away toys, stacks of clothes, books, and miscellaneous items that are in the way.

Yard Shed/Garage: Sort through your shed and garage, and decide what you no longer need. Use a pegboard to hang small tools, and install sturdy hooks on the walls and ceiling to hang bicycles, lawn and garden tools, and sporting equipment.

Laundry/Kitchen: Make it a habit to tidy up these two areas every day if possible. Put your clean laundry away, wipe down kitchen countertops, and keep your sink free of dirty dishes (as often as you can!).

Home Office/Important Documents: Go through all of your bills, receipts, tax and legal documents, and important items. Some records should be shredded, but you’ll want to keep some documents, like IRS filings and other tax-related paperwork, for approximately five years.

Playroom/Craft Room: Organize toys into bins, and keep craft items organized in storage boxes with a label. Determine what to donate and what to throw away every time you declutter these rooms to keep excess stuff to a minimum, which makes playing and crafting more enjoyable.

Storage Areas: Declutter closets and pantries often to make it easy to find the things you need. Tackle areas like the basement and attic, sort items into categories items by category, making sure that only the things you truly need are still there.

NEED A SIMPLE BUT COMPLETE CLEANING CHECKLIST FOR THE ENTIRE HOUSE? // You should check out my  Room-By-Room House Cleaning Checklist For Year Long Clean Vibes!  Realistic weekly cleaning, deep cleaning & spring cleaning checklists for every space makes it even easier to keep a clean house!

Create Sorting Categories To Declutter Smarter & Faster

A home detox starts by determining which items you plan to keep, and which items you don’t. You can make the process easier by creating specific sorting categories for every single item that moves through your hands. Label boxes, bags, or baskets with the category, and if an item in question doesn’t go back into the space you’re cleaning, put it in the appropriate receptacle.

Here are some helpful categories, but use what works for you and the space you’re organizing — you may need a pile for mending when you’re organizing clothes, or a pile for hazardous disposal when you’re organizing under the sink.

 Donate: These items can be anything that you feel a charity or nonprofit organization would benefit from. Think about where you plan to donate items first, and find out where to drop them off. Make sure the items are in good condition before you add them to your “donate” category.

Give Away: Whether it’s your child’s old bike that’s now the perfect size for his cousin, or you’re sorting through your clothes and have friends in mind who might like something, consider giving some of your items away to friends or family members who’d love to have them.

Toss/Junk Removal: Throw away smaller, worn-out items that can’t be upcycled or recycled. If you don’t have a way to haul larger items like furniture or appliances to the dump, contact a local junk removal company to haul them away.

Recycled/Upcycled: Some items, like old clothing or furniture, can be upcycled into something new. Give an old table some creative TLC, and use it on the porch. Turn a bag of old t-shirts or a bunch of old jeans into a quilt. If an item is irreparable and can’t be upcycled, see if it’s recyclable. If not, it’ll have to go in the trash.

Put in Storage: Some of your belongings — seasonal wardrobes, holiday decorations, or a crib you’re planning on using again — may simply need to be put into storage. Decide where they’ll go, and make an appropriate pile.

How to Declutter. Questions To Ask Yourself…

As you begin your decluttering adventure, it’s important to set some criteria for determining what’s worth keeping and what isn’t. Here are two major questions to consider:

#1. Do you (or someone in the household) use this item? If you’re deep inside a closet and find the ironing board you haven’t seen in seven years, get rid of it. If you have a complex, hulking food processor that you used once in college to make hummus ditch it. Only keep these types of items if you use them on a regular basis and nothing else will do.

#2. Do you (or someone in the household) love this item? Sentimental items are tricky things. If you’re keeping the ugliest placemats you’ve ever seen in your life just because your late aunt gave them to you, don’t feel bad getting rid of them. Someone out there will absolutely love them and give them the place of honor they deserve at the table. On the other hand, if your baby blanket is in complete tatters, but you love it with all your heart, that’s a no-brainer: You keep it.

Transform Your Space This Month With Some Serious Decluttering

You’ll enjoy a great feeling of accomplishment as you make a fresh, new start in an optimized, organized home, where you’ll feel better, sleep better, and find things more easily. Make your checklist today, and get started on a thorough home detox for a clutter-free life.

Originally Posted in Porch.com

Let’s finish this declutter party the right way! Learn how to declutter your house without making a mess in this post. Game-changer for those of you like me that hate making a mess to clean a mess!

The post Turn Over a New Leaf with an Organized, Decluttered Home appeared first on 🙌 House Cleaning Service In Columbia, SC | The Cleaning Club.

So you need a little help figuring out how to declutter your house without getting overwhelmed & guess what, you’re not alone!   Decluttering experts have made things really confusing with all the layers of joy and unicorn dust they’ve added to everything.  Luckily decluttering is a lot easier to do than you think.  Y

The trick to making it easy is to dial in on what your real issue is…

And for 9 out of 10 people, the reason decluttering is hard is either their emotions, not having a good plan, or some mix of the two.

Today, I won’t talk about the actual emotions that make decluttering hard. That’s a whole separate post. Instead, we’re going to focus on the planning side so you can actually take action. Make progress. And drop all the heaviness of feeling overwhelmed by your clutter now. I know you’re ready to get that crap out of there so let’s dive into this post.

My five-step process for decluttering your home is straight to the point, no fluff and kinda gets a little dark around step #4 – but hey, it gets the job done lol.  

How To Declutter Your House Without Getting Overwhelmed. Finally!

STEP 1 | Be realistic about how much time you can spend decluttering & when you’ll do it.    

You want to declutter the entire house in a day?

Sorry but that may not be possible.  If this is your first big decluttering mission in a while, you’re going to need a little more than a day to do it right.  To make sure you succeed, don’t start off by biting more than you can chew. That’s the fastest way to fail.  

Small decluttering projects are the key to decluttering your house.  They are a lot easier to manage – and you can typically start and finish in one sitting.  That’s super important for staying motivated. You can tackle one small decluttering project a day or do several on the weekend.  Just do what works for your schedule.  

Instead, plan your decluttering sessions 

Whether you want to spend a full day decluttering or declutter your home over 30-days, you need to plan for it.  If you want to have something to show for yourself at the end of your decluttering session(s). Start by checking your schedule. How much time do you want to spend decluttering & when do you want to block off time to do it? Be sure to set reminders – be serious about it.   

• How much time will you spend decluttering each time?  5 minutes, 30 minutes or all day?

• When do you want to declutter?   Every day, just a few days out of the week or weekends?

STEP 2 | Don’t go in half-cocked – get everything you need to declutter. 

Regardless of what areas or rooms you’re decluttering, the tools you’ll need to carry out the mission will stay the same for the most part. Luckily, you only need a few things and you’ve probably already got most of them!   

Things you need to declutter your house quickly /

• Something to write on.  You’re going to need labels. Paper or my favorite, sticky notes, will work perfectly for this.  

• Something to write with – a pen or sharpie! 

• Three big enough things to hold stuff in plus large trash bags.  The big enough things can be baskets, boxes, containers, or a mix of all the above. 

• Tape – any type is fine.  Except maybe wire or electric tape – only an overthinker would write that! 

Step 3 |  Be prepared to go all the way with your clutter

Sure, how you start decluttering is important but how you end your decluttering session is everything!   If you don’t get the clutter out of your house – or to wherever it’s supposed to be – all you’ve done is move clutter around. So did you really accomplish anything? Nope. Sometimes people undertake the challenge of decluttering, create monstrous piles of clutter, and then fizzle out because it’s soo much stuff and they don’t know what to do with it.

The trick to making sure you don’t just move stuff around, is to use a very simple sorting system so that you know exactly where the clutter needs to go as you sort.  Then set aside a block of time to make sure all the clutter gets where it needs to be. It’s the absolute best way to prevent your house from turning into a disaster while you’re decluttering.  Not to mention,

For example, while sorting, when you pick up an item that you think is trash, you put it in the trash pile.  And can you guess where you should take the trash pile once you’re done sorting everything? You guessed it – to the trash bin!  That old mickey sweatshirt can go into the *Goodwill* pile. But smell the armpits first. If they stink, it goes in the trash as well. Told ya decluttering is easy.  

Below are the five sorting categories you should use to sort your clutter: 

• Trash or Recycle (Will not be of value or service to anyone, not in good condition, is broken, or outdated)

• Donate  (Is in good condition and can be useful to someone now)

• Sell (Is in good condition, worth my time to sell and can be sold quickly)

• Keep & Relocate (I currently use this, without it, my day-to-day would be affected and it’s just in the wrong place) 

• 30 Days From Today – If you can’t make a decision on an item immediately, put it in this very special box and write “Throw Away On (the date that is 30 days later)”.  You can sort through the box whenever up until that date you wrote. When the day comes, toss it!

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ // The Smart Girls Guide To A Clean And Organized Houe | 10 Actionable Tips for more ideas on how to create and keep your house clean and organized!

Step 4 | Hit stubborn clutter with stone cold logic

Ok so I said I wouldn’t be talking about the impact emotions have on decluttering but, this step is all about getting your emotions out of the way. Think of a friend or a celebrity that’s known for getting straight to business. Let’s do what we came to do. No small talk. You have cancer. Here are your options. Please hurry, I go to lunch in 5-minutes.

Yes, that’s a little (extraordinarily) cold. Clinical. Heartless. And sometimes, when you find yourself being led by your emotions and you’re doing things that don’t align with your goals, you gotta get a little tough with yourself. Being practical & logical is the best antidote to that long list of colorful reasons you come up with to keep stuff around.

Heck, think about relationships where you saw plenty of red flags – or flashing stop signs – along the way but you let your emotions talk into going forward with that relationship that was doomed before it even started. The logical side in your head tried to tell you this wasn’t going to be good lol. And now you need your logical angel to help you get out of the mess you’re in. Am I talking about my life right now? I don’t know maybe lol.

But I say all that to say it’s ok to lead with your heart but let logic win sometimes.

ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTIONS BELOW WHEN GETTING RID OF SOMETHING STARTS TO FEEL HARD /

1 |  Have I used this in the past 365 days? 

If the answer is no, toss it. If it’s yes, keep going. 

2 | If I get rid of this, will it negatively impact my day-to-day life or my life in the next 365 days?

If the answer is no, toss it. If it’s yes, keep going.

3 | If I toss it now but need it later, is it something I can replace?  Buy, rent or download?  

If the answer is yes, toss it. If it’s no, keep going.

4 | If the house caught on fire, would I fight the flames to get this out safely?  

If the answer is yes, keep it. If it’s no, let it go!

SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT TIP / Make this process short & sweet! Give yourself one minute to make a decision on each item you sort.  If you still can’t make a decision after one-minute, put the item into the 30-Day Box mentioned above. Do it like this so that you can make a lot of progress in a short amount of time & not let indecisiveness slow you down! 

Step 5 | Declutter with turbo speed by letting the bigger picture keep you motivated.

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed or lose focus when decluttering your house.  Especially if you have a lot of stuff. Clearing one surface after another, sorting everything, going back and forth to goodwill – the whole process can take quite a bit of time and energy.  

Thinking about what you want your house to look when you finish or how it got cluttered in the first place can help guide your decision-making process and keep you motivated.  It’ll also inspire you to develop habits that’ll keep your house clutter-free in the future.  

Here are a few practical questions to ask yourself to help create your big-picture goal.  

• Is there any particular reason why the house is cluttered?

• Why do you want to declutter your house now? 

• When you walk through the door, what do you want your house to look like?

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ // How To Get A Clean House For Life!  71 Super Actionable Ideas for tips and tricks to keep your house clean without pulling your hair out!

Where to start decluttering your house when you’re clueless

And finally, the million-dollar question – where should you start?  Honestly, that’s a great question that you’ve probably been overthinking so I am happy to point you in the right direction.  For the record, there is no wrong place to start – not getting started is the wrong answer!  

Below are three options you can choose from if you don’t know where to start decluttering your house: 

1 | The Touch Rule

Don’t start with a decluttering project at all!. If you don’t really have the time or motivation to plan a big decluttering overhaul, don’t.  Instead, use the Touch Rule which allows you to get into the habit of decluttering without going out of your way to do it. Consider it a minor lifestyle change.

Here’s how the Touch Rule works – whatever you touch, you declutter immediately. When you take off your clothes, you put them in the right place – on a hanger or in the hamper – not the floor.  Grab the mail out the mailbox and Instead of putting it with the pile of old mail, you read it, file it, scan it, toss it or shred it. You get it right?    

2  | Declutter Something Else Entirely

Choose something like your purse or your car. I know it sounds like we are getting off task but hear me out! The items you have to sort out of your purse will naturally lead you to other areas of the house. For instance, a lot of the items in your purse may belong in your bathroom or your office. One of those rooms can be your next decluttering project.

This will allow you to get into the hang of managing small decluttering projects and build momentum with small wins so that by the time you get to the worst areas, you’ll be a decluttering pro! 

3 | Start In The Bathroom

Start in your bathroom.  Why not? You use it every day, it’s not a huge area and it should be fairly straightforward in regards to what to keep & what to toss. Once you finish that one, knock out the rest of the bathrooms.  

You may want to read these posts to help you tackle clutter /

• Help, my house is cluttered & I don’t know where to start!
• Why is it soo hard to declutter my house? THIS is how to make it unhard.

Declutter room-by-room with this epic list

So you’re ready to rock n’ roll but could use a little help on exactly what you should be clearing from each room.  No worries. Here’s a list of things you can declutter and it’s broken up by rooms so it’s super easy to follow!   

Anywhere In The House

trash or items to be recycled

anything that you don’t know what it is

anything you can’t use

duplicates that don’t get used (keep your favorite and ditch the rest!)

old electronics like phones, chargers and cords

product boxes like phone boxes

paper clutter like bills, transcripts, school work, etc. 

decor you do not like

Bedrooms 

clear furniture surfaces

Items on the floor

junk drawers

clothes you will never wear

clothes that don’t fit

damaged clothing

shoes you won’t wear again

shoes that are in bad condition

clothing you haven’t worn in over a year

old underwear

socks with holes or without mates

tarnished and broken jewelry

worn or damaged luggage, bags, purses or backpacks

Bedding

damaged or worn sheets and blankets

stained pillows

flat pillows 

excess blankets

outdated comforter sets

Bathrooms

old make-up

raggedy towels 

empty product bottles

old fingernail polish

expired beauty products

old cleaning supplies

raggedy towels

excess towels

Kitchen

paper

junk drawers

condiment packages

expired refrigerator food

old frozen foods

old food in the pantry

chipped glasses and mugs

outdated dishes

dishes without the rest of the set

plastic containers without lids or lids without containers

excess coffee mugs

raggedy dish towels

old appliances 

Living Room

books and old movies (for example, DVDs)

unnecessary furniture

outdated furniture

magazines or books you won’t read again

old remote controls

cords and wires

old electronics

unused gaming systems and electronics

personal items 

Office

unfiled papers

unnecessary paperwork like old bills (everything is online)

dried markers and pens

excess amounts of office supplies 

owners manuals for products

random electronics cords + cables

outdated phones and electronics

Garage

paint cans 

boxes you haven’t opened in over 1 year

excess products or things

broken equipment

Broken sports equipment

Anything broken

Let’s recap

Decluttering your house does not have to be complicated. Get started right now by simply choosing to start. You don’t need to spend your time reading one post after another. Use this brief outline & trust your instincts.

How to declutter your house without getting overwhelmed:

Step 1 | Plan when you will declutter and how much time you’ll spend doing it.

Step 2 | Get everything you need to declutter from start to finish.

Step 3 | Be prepared to get your clutter where it needs to go quickly by sorting into one of five categories.

Step 4 | Use the practical, highly effective clutter busting questions to quickly declutter tough areas.

Step 5 | Make sure you know why you’re decluttering and what the bigger picture is to help you stay motivated throughout the process.

Good things are meant to be shared! Save this to your Pinterest account so you can actually find it later and so others can see you’ve got all the good stuff!

The post THIS is how you declutter your house WITHOUT getting overwhelmed! appeared first on 🙌 House Cleaning Service In Columbia, SC | The Cleaning Club.