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How to Declutter

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Struggling to figure out how to declutter? These tips will help you organize your home and your life, no matter how messy or disorganized you feel.

And, if you’re struggling to declutter your schedule, these tips to create better routines for moms are spot-on.

how to declutter

Where to Start Decluttering

Have you gotten into the Marie Kondo craze? She makes decluttering look so simple!

I’ve read both The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up AND Spark Joy, in addition to watching her show, but I’ve come to realize that decluttering, especially for moms, isn’t so cut and dry.

If you’re struggling to even start decluttering, read these tips:

Why Clutter Causes Stress (and 4 Ways to De-Stress by Decluttering)

7 Things to Do Before You Declutter

Why Clutter is Bad

Simple Tricks to Declutter the KonMari Way

Why Decluttering Isn’t Permanent

How to Declutter Your Home in 5 Easy Steps

The Most Important Marie Kondo Decluttering Tips You Need to Know Before You Start

Can You Declutter Too Much?

How to Declutter with Kids

7 Ways to Declutter

Easy Steps to Declutter

5 Easy Steps to Declutter a Room Quickly

How to Declutter Kitchen Counters

Challenges to Get You Inspired to Declutter Your Home

Feel like your house always looks like a bomb went off when the kids are home? Trust me, mama, I get it!

When you’re dealing with kids’ toys, clothes, outerwear, and more, it quickly gets overwhelming.

Whether you want to declutter your home in 30 days or get your house organized in a weekend, these workbooks and decluttering checklists can help.

Declutter Your House in a Weekend

Weekend Warrior: Decluttering Home Refresh

30 Day Decluttering Challenge

Conquer Your Chaos Decluttering Bundle

How to Declutter Your Home

Some of the toughest areas to declutter in a home are the closets, kitchen, kids’ toys and clothes, and paper clutter.

The biggest problem is knowing what to get rid of (and then actually organizing everything else). Not everything in your home will “spark joy,” but some things need to stay.

If you’ve been struggling to declutter, or if you find decluttering your entire home overwhelming, try decluttering your home room by room. These rooms are the most common clutter catchers, but once you declutter them (and stop clutter from entering your home), you’ll notice a huge difference!

Learn how to declutter and organize difficult areas in your home with these tips:

How to Declutter Really Fast

How to Declutter When Moving

How to Declutter Clothes

How to Declutter Your Closet

Too Many Accessories? Here’s How to Pare Down

How to Declutter the Kitchen

Simple Tips to Declutter With Kids

Declutter Christmas Decorations

Declutter and Organize Your Paper Clutter

Simple Solutions to Organize and Store Photographs

How Clutter Causes Stress

How to Declutter Your Life

Clutter can spill over into your entire life. Whether you have a cluttered phone, cluttered purse, or even a cluttered mind, decluttering your life can help you feel more in control of your time and every aspect of your mind.

These tips can help you declutter your life and feel more peaceful as you face your daily routine.

Simple Solutions to Declutter Your Schedule

7 Easy Ways to Declutter Your Mind

The Ultimate Guide to Doing a Brain Dump

Best books to declutter your home and life

How To Declutter When You Are Feeling Overwhelmed

Recommended resources to help you conquer your clutter

It’s human nature to take the easy route and leap at storage methods that promise quick and convenient ways to remove visible clutter. Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved. But sooner or later, all the storage units are full, and the room once again overflows with things.

Marie Kondo

Impactful Habits, Organized Home This course walks you through decluttering your entire home and life one room at a time with easy to implement habits. With weekly email reminders, printables, videos, and even a Facebook group to hold you accountable, this course will hold your hand as you get organized.

Impactful Habits, Organized Home

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The bestselling book will teach you the KonMari technique to look at your clutter in a new way. It’s a little wonky in parts (talking to your clothes and thanking your items), but it has a lot of really great decluttering ideas.

Spark Joy: The follow up to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Spark Joy will teach you how to look at each item in your house to determine if you really need it. It also includes diagrams to show you how to properly organize your clothes and treasures.

Marie Kondo's Spark Joy ebook

Unstuffed: More than just a manual to declutter, Unstuffed has tips to declutter everything in your life, from your home to your calendar. It also has a timeline to declutter your entire home in a weekend, including time for breaks and a corresponding meal plan.

ADORE Your Paperwork: Learn how to finally stop clutter from entering your home and get rid of your existing paper piles. The ADORE Your Paperwork is an ebook to teach you exactly which methods you need to use to finally reduce your paper clutter.

Tips to Clean After Decluttering

Now that your home is clutter-free, what do you do next???

Laundry is the bane of my existence, but by creating a cleaning routine that works for my family, I can maintain some semblance of a clean home.

7 ways a cleaning schedule will make you more productive

When and how to use a cleaning schedule

How to get started deep cleaning your home

How to Keep Your Home Clean During the Summer

100+ Things You’re Forgetting to Clean

The Best Cleaning Products Your Kids Need to Use

Organized Motherhood Home Binder

Kids chore chart

Whether you’re struggling to declutter and keep your home clean or get the kids to help around the house, decluttering your home and your life will help you keep your sanity as a mom.

When your home and your life are clutter-free, you’ll be able to spend less time cleaning and looking for things.

You’ll also feel so much more peaceful.

Organize your life and your home with these tips to declutter and finally create space in your mind for the important things!

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Edwina Rich

Friday 23rd of February 2018

Regarding photos...I started several years ago making scrapbook albums for all of our grandkids...Kind of like Grandma's story of you...my favorite pictures of each of them, in chronological order...that way if something happens to us, the pictures are already in order, mounted and ready for each of them...I did the same thing for our kids and when they left home, they each had an album of their childhood memories. I made up parallel albums of ancestors going back to the oldest on my husbands side through his childhood to the day we married (with family trees for both of us) then going backwards through my child hood to the oldest, (my great grandparents)...many of those relatives were born in the 1800's. I have them all in matching black albums and in order on a shelf in the study, by the front door so they can be grabbed in an emergency.

Crystal Green

Wednesday 2nd of August 2017

Like you, I do find many of these tips worth implementing. My husband does a pretty solid job of ensuring that we stay decluttered in our home. He is a stickler for going through the entire house at least twice a year with a fine tooth comb and getting rid of anything we haven't used or had plenty of. Like you, I don't feel I could part with pictures that 'may not' strike any emotions at the time of looking at them. A person's mood changes daily and what may strike an emotion today may not do it on another.

Sandy

Wednesday 12th of July 2017

This is great!! I am about to move so I have begun that decluttering process and will for sure use your tips! I'm bookmarking this post and will probably link up to it when I write about my big move!

Alison Lange

Saturday 15th of July 2017

Thanks, Sandy! Good luck with the move!

Gentle Joy Photography

Wednesday 12th of July 2017

Good practical advice... I like the "real" part of your evaluation of the book and method... and that you didn't just endorse everything. Thank you

Alison Lange

Saturday 15th of July 2017

Thanks ;)

Nina

Monday 10th of July 2017

Hi Allison - I've been a huge proponent of this type of clutter-reduction for many years, even long before it was a "new" concept in the book you are referring to. I agree, however, that different personalities or family lifestyles call for a bit of "hand-holding" to make it work for you. I continue to try to pull things out of each closet or cabinet on a yearly or semi-annual basis and get rid of the stuff that accumulates. It is tricky with kids and husbands who want to keep every little piece of junk that has ever come into their lives, and the piles of paper . . . well, that's another huge project. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with decluttering. You've inspired me to get back on task! Hope to catch up with you again at the #HomeMattersParty this week. Nina @ Vintage Mama's Cottage

Alison Lange

Saturday 15th of July 2017

Ugh, yes! The paper piles.... ;)