You’ve decided to declutter and organize the hardest room in your house. Maybe it’s your basement, maybe it’s your storage closet. For me, it’s the office. This is the room in the house where paperwork goes to die — I mean be filed. Sometimes it feels like the challenges to decluttering outweigh the benefits, but I have solutions.

It’s no secret I love to organize, but that doesn’t mean that everything I have is organized or that all of my spaces are organized. It simply means I love the process of organizing and even more so I LOVE the feeling of being organized.

Ever since I made the move to work from home I knew that our office needed to be organized so that I could be more productive. Hence my 2018 SMART goal.

Now the time has come to begin and I am overwhelmed just like so many of you. In fact, I am having complete paralysis of where to start. I want to help all of us overcome this paralysis and get started on our biggest clutter challenges.

If you, like me, are struggling with where and how to start, it’s okay. You are not alone, even lovers of organization struggle sometimes.

How to Overcome the Challenges to Decluttering:

Challenge: I don’t have enough time to devote to complete the project.

Solution: You are not alone. Most of us cannot dedicate an entire weekend to one organization project, and even if you could, you may not want to. The solution is to devote just 15 minutes a day to the project. I know it doesn’t seem like you can get much done in 15 minutes, but you’ll be surprised. Set a timer, turn on some music, and get to work. Stop after 15 minutes and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Challenge: I don’t have the space to empty everything out of the room to get started.

Solution: You don’t have to. Yes, it does seem ideal to empty out the room and slowly put only the items that you need and/or want back in. However, that’s just not feasible for most of us. Instead, you need to declutter first, which will make it look much messier at first. Then, reassemble the room in sections. Be sure you have your donation station set-up to make this process even easier.

Read More »5 Biggest Challenges to Decluttering and How to Solve Them

Why do you have clutter?

The million dollar question, right?

No, not really.  There is a simple answer.

You have clutter because you put off making decisions and you don’t have good systems in place.

I bet it’s not because you actually like clutter, and if it is then stop reading. You don’t need my help.

Think about it.

That pile of papers and miscellaneous items in your kitchen, what is all that?

I bet it is all papers that you put there because you didn’t know what to do with them.

Maybe some require action be taken, and you didn’t have time to do the action right away. Maybe some you weren’t sure if you should keep and others, well, you simply got distracted. You set them down and never returned to figure out what they were or where they were going.

If you are not a successful minimalist – and I argue some of them still struggle too – you will always have clutter.

It is what and how you deal with the clutter that will determine how messy and unorganized your home is.

Read More »Three Simple Solutions for Clutter

Every home should have a donation and possibly resale station.

Why?

Because every home has excess stuff that needs to be dealt with.

No matter how often we declutter our homes and donate items, it is a never-ending process.

There will always be things your family “outgrows,” whether it is clothes, toys or items around the house. Our tastes and needs change over time.

The sooner you recognize and accept this, the sooner you deal with your household clutter.

You need to set up a donation/resale station in your home.

This is a spot where all items that you are donating or selling (varage sale, Craigslist, LetGo, eBay, etc.) are stored.

Technically, it is probably two separate areas: one for donations and one for items you are selling.

Some of you may decide that it is not worth it for you to sell items and you just want them out of your house as fast as you can. Another factor in determining whether you should have a resale station is the amount of free space you have in your home.

Read More »Set Up a Donation and Resale Station

Just because you have space, doesn’t mean you need to fill it. Don’t wait until your closet looks like it could be on the next… Read More »Closet Clean-up

YOU DID IT!

You have made it 46 days, decluttered 460 items (or more) and spent 460 minutes give or take reclaiming your home.

How are you feeling?

I know I am feeling rejuvenated from all this purging. It’s like a huge weight off my shoulders.

However, whenever I complete some sort of challenge or training program I always feel a little lost when it’s over. There is no longer someone or something telling me what to do and when to do it. I know this feeling well (it happens after every single half marathon I train for) and it becomes all too easy to lose the momentum we had going.

The pictures above show one of our drawers that we decluttered. I was able to eliminate and move enough things to turn this drawer into a kid friendly drawer. It now holds the kid size cups, bowls, etc. The best part about it is that it’s a bottom drawer so now even Amelia can get the items for herself.

Utensil drawer before. It was hard to find anything in there.

After decluttering (we eliminated at least 2 dozen utensils and gadgets) we moved items into two separate drawers. It is so much easier to find things now.

I don’t want you to slip into your old ways.

You have come too far to go back now, and 46 days later you have developed a great habit that takes just 10 minutes out of your busy day. Capitalize on this momentum and keep going.

Read More »Declutter Challenge Recap