Decluttering can be overwhelming. Start with these 5 things to declutter this week and before you know it your home will be clutter free.
I do a deep clean of my house twice a year; spring cleaning and fall cleaning.
Let me tell you, with busy kids and a husband who volunteers a lot, me having a full-time job and all of us crammed into a tiny apartment with a giant dog, we need those deep cleanings.
I enjoy the feeling of having a freshly cleaned house. The thing is, it lasts about ten minutes. Okay, more like a few weeks.
I do the fall cleaning a few weeks after school starts, and by Thanksgiving, we’re starting to get some good areas of clutter again.
Scarves and gloves get piled up by the door, books don’t get put away and we’ve been too busy or too lazy to put them away.
Growing areas of clutter doesn’t mean we need to do a deep clean. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, and everyone’s days being longer with sports practices and longer commutes and bad weather, we definitely don’t have time for that.
What we need to do is be a bit better about decluttering. I sat down this week and made a list of some things that can be decluttered right now to make the house look less messy, but without us needing to do a deep clean!
5 Things to Declutter This Week
1. Bookshelves
We have some avid readers, and I’m thankful for that. But that means our bookshelves are always in some kind of transition.
Right now, we have all teens in the house. Most of our bookshelves are filled with Young Adult fantasy, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.
The bookshelves themselves are a mess. We can definitely have everyone declutter and straighten their bookshelves. A good dusting will help alleviate some allergens, too.
2. Kitchen Counter
Our kitchen counters tend to turn into a dumping ground. Mail, homework papers, and the stuff out of my husband’s pockets when he gets home.
Take the time to go through the stuff on the counter and put it all where it belongs. Go through the mail, check the homework papers and then throw them away. Then get your husband to unload his pockets somewhere else.
Don’t forget to put those small appliances away when you aren’t using them to free up more space and help it to look less cluttered.
3. That Pile by the Door
You know the one. Maybe it’s on a table, or a bench, or a chair. The kids or the husband always drop coats or backpacks or lunch boxes there, and stuff falls out of pockets or folders and just kind of lives there.
You know it’s there, but you only really think about it when you’re walking by at 10:30 to lock the door before bed. Let’s get rid of that pile of stuff this week. It’s probably mostly trash anyway and that permission slip you couldn’t find last week.
4. The Pantry
When was the last time you cleaned out your pantry? For most of us, it gets cleaned out once a year, if that. I bet that you will be surprised when you go through there.
Throw away anything that’s expired; don’t donate it. If you have a very full pantry, spend thirty minutes on it and add it to your chore list for next week. Spend thirty minutes each week until it gets done.
5. Medicine Cabinet
The medicine cabinet is another area that’s usually not decluttered often enough. Again, throw away any expired medications. Add them to your grocery list if they are meds that you will need to replace. Be sure to check items like saline solution and lotions, too.
Decluttering often can save you from needing to deep clean more often. Take note of places in your home that often accumulate junk. They’ll need to be decluttered on a weekly basis.
Areas like pantries, junk drawers, linen closets, and bookshelves should be decluttered quarterly. You may have other areas in your home that get decluttered easily as well.
Keep your eye open for opportunities to help you manage cutter rather than become overwhelmed by it.
More organizing and decluttering ideas
- 3 Steps to Easily Declutter Any Room
- How Often You Should Clean Common Areas In Your Home
- 8 Ways To Keep Your Home In Order
Keisha K. Page is a freelance writer, mother of five, and a grandma. She’s trying to embrace the chaos of working full time, chasing a giant dog, living in the mountains of Colorado, and supporting her two youngest children through chronic illness.
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