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Clutter & Declutter

Day 4: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Family Room

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Family Room

Hello, and welcome to the fourth day of the declutter and organizing challenge! 

How are you doing on the challenge so far? Do you love coming home and welcoming guests in your newly organized and refreshed entryway and formal living room? Great! Let’s keep going with the challenge.

Today’s challenge will focus on the family room. I know what you are thinking, yikes. If you think this is one of the messiest and most cluttered areas of your home, you are not alone.

Unlike the formal living room, the family room is a space we live in. Much clutter and may messes can gather here.

Our declutter and organize checklist will help you get rid of unnecessary things in this space so any messes that happen moving forward will be a breeze to get under control.

Feel free to alter the tasks on this checklist a bit to fit the age of your children and the kind of “stuff” they have in this space.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Family Room

Let’s get started with the family room declutter and organizing checklist!

  • Set up four totes or boxes and label them “Toss”, “Donate”, “Keep” and “Relocate”. Place items that will stay in the family room in the “keep”, items that need to be put away in other rooms go into “relocate”, the “Toss” bin is for items you no longer need, and Items you want to donate will go into the “Donate”.
  • Once your bins/boxes are set up, begin in one area or your room and work your way through it, emptying and sorting. As you do this, remember to be very strict with what you want to keep. Do you really still need those toys that your kids have pretty much outgrown and hardly ever play with? Do you even have a VCR anymore to warrant all of those movies in an outdated format? Is that board game still functional with so many pieces missing? You get the idea.
  • Once you have each area cleared and sorted, go through the family room and wipe and dust all the surfaces.
  • Vacuum and/or sweep the floor
  • Now you are ready to put the things you are going to keep in the family room back where they belong. Empty your “toss” tote and move your “donate” tote to your car trunk-better yet, go ahead and drop it off to the donation center today (we’ve all had that box or bag in the trunk for way too long, right?) Rehome the items in the “relocate” bin.

Family Room Organizing Checklist

Grab today’s Family Room Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram,Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge

Want more great tips on how to keep the most used rooms in your home decluttered and organized? 

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family room organizing checklist

 

 

 

 

Day 3: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Living Room

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Formal Living Room

Hello, and welcome to the third day of the declutter and organizing challenge!

Today’s declutter challenge will focus on the formal living room in your home. Now, this is not a room that is usually very cluttered, but this space will still benefit from your attention.

declutter and organizing challenge - the formal living room

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

How To Organize The Living Room

Let’s get started beautifying this special space!

  • If there is any clutter, tackle that. Remove anything that doesn’t belong in this room and put it where it belongs.
  • Wipe or dust all of the surfaces.
  • Vacuum and/or sweep the floors.
  • Next, consider if there is anything “undone” in this space. Are there pictures waiting to be hung? Have you been meaning to change the curtains but just haven’t had time? Now is the time! Go ahead and tend to those unfinished tasks in your formal living room.
  • To keep this space decluttered and organized, take a day each week to do a quick run through-remove unnecessary items, wipe surfaces, and sweep and/or vacuum the floors. If you add this to your routine, your formal living room will always be guest-ready!

Grab today’s Formal Living Room Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram,Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
click the image to join the challenge and access all checklists

Want more great tips on how to keep your formal living room looking beautiful? Read more here!

Day 2: Declutter And Organizing Challenge – The Front Closet

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Front Closet

Hello, and welcome to the second day of the declutter and organizing challenge!

Now that you have your entryway beautifully organized, let’s move to another area that can get loaded with unnecessary things- the front closet. This is an area that really benefits from a seasonal decluttering.

Throughout the year we need different things in the front closet depending on the weather and if we switch these out to be seasonally appropriate, the front closet will not only be more functional, with all of your items in easy to find places, it will also leave room for guests to place their things when they stop in for a visit.

declutter and organizing challenge - organizing the entrance

Let’s get started!

  • First, remove everything from the closet-coats, gear, shoes, scarves, gloves, bags –everything. When you are decluttering it is very important to completely clear your space so you can then be intentional with what you put back in there.
  • Sweep or vacuum the floor of the closet and wipe down any shelving. Tip: I like to keep my vacuum cleaner ready to use when I’m organizing.
  • Next, sort through that pile and see what belongs in here and what can be rehomed to another area. When you are sorting, think of how often each item is used. If the answer is not that often, maybe it doesn’t need to be taking up space in the front closet.
  • Once you have narrowed down the items that will need to go back into the front closet, think of the best way to utilize the space you have in there. Invest in some quality wooden hangers for coats, and see where you can use baskets or hooks for additional storage options.
  • Next, hang coats, or put small accessories in baskets on shelves or on the floor of the closet, and neatly hang bags from hooks.
  • Finally, to keep your front closet beautiful and functional, mark your calendar for a date when you will clear it out each season. If you do this a few times a year it will make a huge difference.
  • To finish off the part of the challenge that focuses on the front of your house, go ahead and sweep and neaten your front porch or entryway. Consider a fresh new entryway mat to finish off your newly beautified entryway.

Grab today’s Front Closet Declutter Checklist and let’s get started!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click on the image to join the challenge and access all checklists

Want more great tips on how to organize the entrance? Read more here!

 

decluttering and organizing checklist front closet

Day 1: Declutter And Organizing Challenge-with Free Printables!

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Filed Under: 30 Days Organizing Challenge, Clutter & Declutter, Organizing, Organizing Series

Decluttering And Organizing The Entrance

January is almost here and we are kicking off the New Year with a Declutter and Organizing Challenge! Each day of January there will be a new printable-one for each area we are going to tackle.

Are you ready to stop the cycle of organizing and re-organizing over and over again? Maybe you’ve tried something like this before, and it hasn’t really made a difference. One reason all your hard work may not be sticking for you is because you may be organizing clutter.

This New Year challenge will help you de-clutter your home first, and then organize-so you are putting away only those things you want to hold on to and those things will have space to be put away.

Ready to get started? Grab the free printable for our New Year Declutter and Organizing Challenge that will have every room in your home perfectly organized and help you to keep it that way.

declutter and organizing challenge - organizing the entrance
Organizing the entrance.

How To Organize The Entrance

First up, the entryway. We all know this is a hot spot for clutter and disorganization. It’s the first place you come to at the end of a long day and its where everyone dumps all of their things-coats, bags, keys, mail-you name it-it gets put in “the spot.”

  1. Start by clearing the area. Use a tote or large box to put everything into. If there are clothing items, place them where they belong.
  2. Dust and wipe down surface areas.
  3. Sort through the bin or box. Make a pile for (1) mail, (2) bills, (3) things that need responses, and a pile (4) to throw out, (5) recycle, or (6) rehome.
  4. If there is a table in your entryway choose an organizer like a mail caddy, where you can sort the mail piles you sorted. If there is no table, consider a hanging organizer.
  5. Create a space with hooks and baskets for coats and cold and inclement weather accessories. You may hang on the wall or use a standing coat tree.
  6. If there are drawers in your entryway table, and you don’t want hooks on the wall, designate one for small items and one for keys.
  7. To keep this area neat and organized, establish a day of the week to do a quick declutter and get everything back to where it belongs.

Grab today’s entryway de-clutter checklist and get ready to put an end to this clutter trap once and for all- Challenge starts January 1st!

After you grab the free printable each day, don’t forget to share your process and progress on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #APONewYearChallenge for a chance to win a free copy of the Life-Binder Purposeful Life Planner!

 

30 days decluttering and organizing challenge
Click on the image to sign up and download your checklist!

 

Shop organizing products on this post

How to Handle Decluttering Overwhelm

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Filed Under: Clutter & Declutter, Organizing

Feeling Stuck And Overwhelmed By Your Clutter?

The philosophy of minimalism is being embraced by people everywhere. It’s appealing to consider simplifying your life by decluttering and getting rid of unnecessary physical possessions and concentrating instead on the experiences that bring fulfillment. Except, for many, the actual process of lessening their load can be daunting, especially if you’ve accumulated years of stuff all in one place.  Let’s make things more manageable and take a look at some specific ideas on how to handle decluttering overwhelm.

Tips to make decluttering easy.

Know Your Why

In the field of multi-level marketing, the phrase, “Know your why,” is used as a motivator to remind associates of the reasons they went into business for themselves in the first place. This same concept is essential for keeping you on-task when the decluttering process becomes difficult. Understanding your reasons for wanting to live a minimalist lifestyle is crucial to success.

Set Aside Time

The first step to getting a handle on your feelings about decluttering is to understand that nothing needs to be accomplished overnight. Set aside a general amount of time for the project, knowing that your timeline can be extended slightly, if necessary. Having a time frame provides structure, but allowing wiggle room takes away the pressure.

Make a Plan

Having a plan is essential to the smooth completion of any goal you hope to accomplish. It only makes sense that mapping out your steps to decluttering would also be beneficial. Write down things like the order you wish to tackle your clutter, how many rooms or areas you would like to complete each week, the manner in which you want to sell valuable items and where you will donate the rest. Breaking down each step can go a long way toward making it all seem more manageable.

Visualize Your Ideal Space

One more thing to do before actually getting down to the business of decluttering is to form an idea in your head of how you’d like your finished space to look. It may even help to jot down some drawings and notes. Doing so will help you decide what to keep and what to discard because you will have a better idea of whether a particular item will complement your vision.

It’s true that the hardest part is often actually getting started. Now that you know some concrete ways to manage decluttering overwhelm, hopefully, you’re feeling energized to begin.

 

Tips to make decluttering easy.

 

Tips to make decluttering easy.

10 Tiny Decluttering Steps You Can Take Today

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Filed Under: Clutter & Declutter, Organizing

Start Decluttering With These Small Tasks

10 tiny decluttering steps you can take today.
If you’ve been procrastinating on a home decluttering project, consider one of these tiny decluttering steps you can take today.

If you’ve been procrastinating on a home decluttering project, chances are the reason behind your hesitation is feeling overwhelmed or just not knowing where to start. Those things can trip anyone up on the road to organization.

When you find yourself stuck in a pattern of avoidance, the best method to change that pattern is to start with small tasks. Even doing just one little thing is progress. To help you along your way, consider one of these dozen tiny decluttering steps you can take today.

#1. Clear Just One Surface

Clear your kitchen table. If that’s too overwhelming, choose a segment of your countertop. Make it a surface you see daily, and be sure to keep it spotless.

#2. Empty a Shelf

Now that you have a surface cleared that you will see every day to provide you motivation, you can move on to another small task. Empty just one shelf. Remember to continue to keep it neat.

#3. Designate a Paper Zone

Nothing accumulates and gets out of control like papers. Designate an area as a catchall for your paperwork, and always place new papers in that ray or box.

#4. Find Homes for 5 Things

We all have a few items that never seem to get put away. Carefully choose your five most commonly left-out items, and find special places to store them.

#5. Donate Three Pieces of Clothing

Clothes are often the worst to declutter. Choose just three pieces to give away each day while getting ready. Soon you’ll have a bag full.

#6. Dump One Drawer

Pick just one drawer in your home to declutter. Then dump it out. This lets you see everything at a glance and makes the sorting process easier.

#7. Organize Your Medicines

Medicine, bandages and other health supplies should be kept together. Tackle just your medicine cabinet, creating a neat and tidy place to keep the up-to-date items you use most regularly.

#8. Create a Simple File System

Remember that paper zone? Soon it will overflow. Designate just a few file folders to hold your most common categories of paperwork. Then sort through the documents in your tray to file them quickly in their place.

#9. Take That Bin to the Car

Once you have a few tiny tasks underway, you’ll likely end up with a sizeable amount of stuff to donate. Take the bag or box out to your car to deliver to the thrift shop. See how easy it is to get rid of stuff?

#10. Picture Your Finished Room

These small decluttering tasks are adding up. Take a look around and picture how your room might look when completely pared down and organized. Visualization is a powerful motivator.

Taking small decluttering steps is easy. Soon you’ll be on your way to big life changes.