De-cluttering your Home

People have the tendency to set things aside with the intention of taking care of them later. As they get busy with their daily lives, small piles can accumulate. If unchecked, those piles can turn into daunting mountains of stuff.

If your house has too much clutter, spring is a great time to cut through it. Clutter is not just unsightly, it causes you to be less organized and efficient. It can also be hazardous. If you don’t know where things are in your home, you will be in trouble if disaster strikes and you need to evacuate quickly. If clutter gets out of hand, it can be a fall hazard as well as a fire hazard.

The task of de-cluttering a home is a big one. Start by going room by room. As you declutter, you will need several bins, one each for the following purposes.

• Put away – If items are in the wrong place, put them in a bin to be returned to the right spot later.
• Trash – Don’t need something? Toss it.
• Recycle – This bin is for items that could be reused in their current condition or repurposed.
• Donate – Before you haul something off to the trash, consider placing it in this bin for donation. Make sure that the item is clean and in good condition.
• Fix/mend – This bin is for things that could still be used as long as they are repaired. Schedule a time to fix these items in the near future.

When you are ready with your bins, start de-cluttering, moving from one room to the next until you are finished. If it’s too much for one day, try spreading the task out over a few days or a week.

Bathrooms

The bathroom is a good place to start. Begin with the medicine cabinet. Take everything out and sort the contents. Expired medications should be safely disposed of. Put the most-used items within easy reach. Next, move to the drawers, sorting and discarding as you go.

Bedrooms

Start with your bed. If you need to replace your bedding for cooler temperatures, now is the best time to do it. Move on to the nightstand, tackling each of the drawers. When finished, proceed to the closets. De-clutter by clothing type, moving from shoes to dresses to pants, etc. You’ll want your donation bin handy for closet cleaning.

Kitchen

People spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so it’s typically a place where stuff piles up. Move strategically through different parts of the kitchen, including the fridge, pantry, cabinets, and drawers.

The rest of the house

From the kitchen, you can proceed to the living room, the entryway, the storage shed, and other areas of the house where things tend to accumulate. It may be a laborious few days, but crank up the music or a good podcast to add entertainment value. When your house is “lean and mean” again, you’ll feel better than ever. You’ll also be more prepared in the event that disaster strikes.

Are you a kind of person who wants things to be in its proper location all the time but simply doesn’t have the luxury to arrange your stuff? In fact, a day could be enough to keep your house organized and arranged. This infographic shares some tips that will make your decluttering activity efficient and effective.