This is the first of several installments on de-cluttering your life.
Clutter of all kinds is never good. It shows a life that is disorganized and chaotic. I know because I am still dealing with clutter in our own home. Clutter happens. I know that it does in most everyone’s life. So at the risk of sounding hypocritical, I’ve decided to share some ways on how to de-clutter your life. I need to do more de-cluttering in our own home so at least we can do it together. :)
It's hard to get excited about cleaning. I know that I don't lay awake at night, so excited for the day to come so I clean out a closet. I rather lay awake at night and........you know, I don't want anything to make me lay awake at night except maybe how to spend lottery winnings.
House cleaning is a job that no one notices unless you don't do it.
One rule of thumb is, if you don’t use it in six to twelve months – you don’t need it. Period. Always keep that rule in mind when trying to decide to keep an item or not. If you aren’t using it in that time, you don’t need it and selling it or giving it away to someone who does is a much better use for it.
This includes holiday and seasonal decorations. Trust me, you don't need those huge Christmas lights that are as old as you are anymore. You know the ones that your dad used on the tree when you were five and were told not to touch because they were so hot.
Remember to start small. As with any big task, breaking it down into smaller steps is key to not getting overwhelmed. If you try and de-clutter the whole house at once, you will get overwhelmed and burn out fast. Try picking just one room at a time or even break it down further to just a closet in one room. Start easy so you can feel the satisfaction of getting one thing done and build from there. I recommend only one de-cluttering task a week or even a month to avoid burnout.
Let’s start with a linen closet.
Pull everything out and lay it on the bed. (It's easier if you make the bed first. I know you are thinking, "Two tasks?!") Go through the towels and pull out towels that are raggedy. These are the ones that have strings hanging from them that are long enough to choke an elephant.
Put these old towels that are ragged in a garbage bag and use them as rags for drying off cars after washing; sopping up a spill on the floor that you don’t want to use a good towel for; for wiping dirty hands on while gardening; cut up into smaller rags for dusting and cleaning; drying the dog after a bath, choking an elephant, etc.
Then re-fold the towels you are going to keep and if you can, buy some new ones as a nice reward to yourself for accomplishing this task. I love big, fluffy, soft towels and I feel a good towel is worth the money as they last for years longer than cheap towels and they feel so much nicer. Just remember to look for sales!
Then attack the sheets. Keep only the sheets and pillow cases that make a set. If you have a top sheet that has no fitted sheet or pillow cases anymore, then put that in the bag for rags as well. You’ll get more use out of it as a sheet to throw on the ground at picnics or as a paint drop cloth. I usually will however, keep pillow cases even if I don’t have the sheet set anymore. Most of us have a few extra pillows on hand for company or when someone needs an extra pillow. These tend to rip first and I don’t care that all my pillow cases don’t match. Or you can just throw all your extra pillows and pillow cases away. That way if people want to come and stay and you don't want them to, you can always say you have no extra pillows for them to use.
Now, what’s left? Find proper homes for anything that doesn’t belong in the linen closet. Some things that do not belong in the linen closet, but you will find there occasionally:
toys (hey, that's where that missing toy went to); shoes; dog leashes; carburetors (who put that in there?!)
Here are a few things in my linen closet that normally don’t go, but I find it’s more convenient to store these items there:
Toilet paper – since I buy when it’s on sale, with a coupon of course, I tend to have a stock pile. I keep a few roles under the sink for refill emergencies. Though I seem to be the only one who remembers to re-fill the emergency stash under the sink when pulling the last roll out. Hmmm, I wonder why that is? The rest is in the nearby linen closet. Why? The many packs I have won’t fit in our cabinet in the bathroom.
I used to keep my stockpile of shampoo, shaving cream, soap, etc in there, but now that the munchkin is mobile and very nosy I have had to find alternative hiding places for it. If you don’t have little ones though, it’s a great place to have that stuff especially if you have limited cabinet space in the bathroom.
Some bathrooms have an extra closet in the bathroom, ahhh, that sounds nice. Maybe I’ll have one someday. Just remember, if you are starting to stockpile like I taught in other posts about money saving, then you need to rotate your stock by putting the latest items bought behind the older items. That way you make sure to use the oldest up first and you can see what you are running low on. Your stockpile of toiletries will also be a great topic of conversation with any nosy houseguests who ended up coming anyway and brought their own pillows. They will want to know where you got all that. Just say you have a toothpaste fetish. Don’t forget to fill up the medicine cabinet with marbles to catch the nosy guest.
Another item stored in the linen closet - light bulbs. Weird I know, but that’s where my husband stored them before we got together and the location works for us. There is a shelf we don’t use much for now and so that is where we store them. I may find a better place later as I de-clutter more myself. I may move them just to tick my husband off when I run out of other reasons.
On the floor of our closet is where I store the extra twelve packs of pop that I stockpile up on. Our linen closet is in the hallway right off of the kitchen so that works for us. It may not for you though depending on the layout of your house. I can see the closet floor now, so I guess it’s time stock up again on pop. You could store your rags for cleaning on the floor making it easy to grab for a spill so you don’t use those nice new towels you just bought. Especially when someone drops a can of pop while pulling it out of the linen closet and makes the messy mistake of opening it up right then and there. Sigh.
You may now have items you don’t want anymore, but are still good. Start some piles in the basement, garage, or wherever – one for selling at a yard sale or online, one for giving away to charity (keep your receipts for tax write offs) and one for garbage. Just remember to put the items not belonging in the linen closet away in their proper places to avoid shuffling piles around to different areas. Moving piles around from room to room does not count as de-cluttering.
There, you’re done! Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? A nice easy way to start and you get the satisfaction of accomplishing a task which is a great feeling that will carry over to the next time you are ready to tackle clutter. Open and close the linen closet door a few times and enjoy the neatness while you can. Make a rule that anyone who puts anything that does belong there, will be punished by helping to clean out the next closet.
Clutter of all kinds is never good. It shows a life that is disorganized and chaotic. I know because I am still dealing with clutter in our own home. Clutter happens. I know that it does in most everyone’s life. So at the risk of sounding hypocritical, I’ve decided to share some ways on how to de-clutter your life. I need to do more de-cluttering in our own home so at least we can do it together. :)
It's hard to get excited about cleaning. I know that I don't lay awake at night, so excited for the day to come so I clean out a closet. I rather lay awake at night and........you know, I don't want anything to make me lay awake at night except maybe how to spend lottery winnings.
House cleaning is a job that no one notices unless you don't do it.
One rule of thumb is, if you don’t use it in six to twelve months – you don’t need it. Period. Always keep that rule in mind when trying to decide to keep an item or not. If you aren’t using it in that time, you don’t need it and selling it or giving it away to someone who does is a much better use for it.
This includes holiday and seasonal decorations. Trust me, you don't need those huge Christmas lights that are as old as you are anymore. You know the ones that your dad used on the tree when you were five and were told not to touch because they were so hot.
Remember to start small. As with any big task, breaking it down into smaller steps is key to not getting overwhelmed. If you try and de-clutter the whole house at once, you will get overwhelmed and burn out fast. Try picking just one room at a time or even break it down further to just a closet in one room. Start easy so you can feel the satisfaction of getting one thing done and build from there. I recommend only one de-cluttering task a week or even a month to avoid burnout.
Let’s start with a linen closet.
Pull everything out and lay it on the bed. (It's easier if you make the bed first. I know you are thinking, "Two tasks?!") Go through the towels and pull out towels that are raggedy. These are the ones that have strings hanging from them that are long enough to choke an elephant.
Put these old towels that are ragged in a garbage bag and use them as rags for drying off cars after washing; sopping up a spill on the floor that you don’t want to use a good towel for; for wiping dirty hands on while gardening; cut up into smaller rags for dusting and cleaning; drying the dog after a bath, choking an elephant, etc.
Then re-fold the towels you are going to keep and if you can, buy some new ones as a nice reward to yourself for accomplishing this task. I love big, fluffy, soft towels and I feel a good towel is worth the money as they last for years longer than cheap towels and they feel so much nicer. Just remember to look for sales!
Then attack the sheets. Keep only the sheets and pillow cases that make a set. If you have a top sheet that has no fitted sheet or pillow cases anymore, then put that in the bag for rags as well. You’ll get more use out of it as a sheet to throw on the ground at picnics or as a paint drop cloth. I usually will however, keep pillow cases even if I don’t have the sheet set anymore. Most of us have a few extra pillows on hand for company or when someone needs an extra pillow. These tend to rip first and I don’t care that all my pillow cases don’t match. Or you can just throw all your extra pillows and pillow cases away. That way if people want to come and stay and you don't want them to, you can always say you have no extra pillows for them to use.
Now, what’s left? Find proper homes for anything that doesn’t belong in the linen closet. Some things that do not belong in the linen closet, but you will find there occasionally:
toys (hey, that's where that missing toy went to); shoes; dog leashes; carburetors (who put that in there?!)
Here are a few things in my linen closet that normally don’t go, but I find it’s more convenient to store these items there:
Toilet paper – since I buy when it’s on sale, with a coupon of course, I tend to have a stock pile. I keep a few roles under the sink for refill emergencies. Though I seem to be the only one who remembers to re-fill the emergency stash under the sink when pulling the last roll out. Hmmm, I wonder why that is? The rest is in the nearby linen closet. Why? The many packs I have won’t fit in our cabinet in the bathroom.
I used to keep my stockpile of shampoo, shaving cream, soap, etc in there, but now that the munchkin is mobile and very nosy I have had to find alternative hiding places for it. If you don’t have little ones though, it’s a great place to have that stuff especially if you have limited cabinet space in the bathroom.
Some bathrooms have an extra closet in the bathroom, ahhh, that sounds nice. Maybe I’ll have one someday. Just remember, if you are starting to stockpile like I taught in other posts about money saving, then you need to rotate your stock by putting the latest items bought behind the older items. That way you make sure to use the oldest up first and you can see what you are running low on. Your stockpile of toiletries will also be a great topic of conversation with any nosy houseguests who ended up coming anyway and brought their own pillows. They will want to know where you got all that. Just say you have a toothpaste fetish. Don’t forget to fill up the medicine cabinet with marbles to catch the nosy guest.
Another item stored in the linen closet - light bulbs. Weird I know, but that’s where my husband stored them before we got together and the location works for us. There is a shelf we don’t use much for now and so that is where we store them. I may find a better place later as I de-clutter more myself. I may move them just to tick my husband off when I run out of other reasons.
On the floor of our closet is where I store the extra twelve packs of pop that I stockpile up on. Our linen closet is in the hallway right off of the kitchen so that works for us. It may not for you though depending on the layout of your house. I can see the closet floor now, so I guess it’s time stock up again on pop. You could store your rags for cleaning on the floor making it easy to grab for a spill so you don’t use those nice new towels you just bought. Especially when someone drops a can of pop while pulling it out of the linen closet and makes the messy mistake of opening it up right then and there. Sigh.
You may now have items you don’t want anymore, but are still good. Start some piles in the basement, garage, or wherever – one for selling at a yard sale or online, one for giving away to charity (keep your receipts for tax write offs) and one for garbage. Just remember to put the items not belonging in the linen closet away in their proper places to avoid shuffling piles around to different areas. Moving piles around from room to room does not count as de-cluttering.
There, you’re done! Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? A nice easy way to start and you get the satisfaction of accomplishing a task which is a great feeling that will carry over to the next time you are ready to tackle clutter. Open and close the linen closet door a few times and enjoy the neatness while you can. Make a rule that anyone who puts anything that does belong there, will be punished by helping to clean out the next closet.
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