It’s much easier to organize your space if you aren’t simply shifting clutter from one room to another. Purging excess items, you no longer need or want will help free up space for the things you want in your space.
Plus, it cuts down on time spent cleaning by a lot!
It’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed and think of reasons to give up on your decluttering mission.
Find some easy decluttering motivation by listing your reasons for getting rid of the clutter. If you’re struggling to think of specific reasons to declutter, imagine your dream house.
When visualizing your ideal space, think about all the things that aren’t there.
Voila! Instant decluttering motivation.
Use these quick decluttering tips to help you get closer to your dream of a stress-free, organized home. The best part is that these tips just take 5 minutes (or less!), so they won’t eat up your precious time yet will still deliver powerful results.
1. Make Your Bed Every Day
If you don’t currently make your bed every morning, start doing that now. Have the kids make theirs too. It just takes a couple of minutes and makes a huge impact.
2. Clean Off A Counter
Pick one. A section of your kitchen counter, a bathroom counter, a craft workspace. It doesn’t take long and it feels freeing to see the countertop again once it’s clean.
3. Create a System for Incoming Paper
Mail, school papers and projects, flyers on your door, etc. We receive mountains of paperwork every day and where do they end up? In piles on the counter or the dining table.
Create a paper organization system (recycling, filing, adding to your command center, etc.) quickly and easily so you avoid piles and losing important papers.
4. Clean a Drawer
It sounds small, but cleaning out just one drawer a day hardly takes any time and covers good ground against clutter. Tomorrow (or next week), clean out another drawer. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, clean out a junk drawer!
5. Break the Shopping Habit
You can declutter your house all you want, but if you buy as much or more than you declutter, you will never get a grip on the problem. When you want to buy something non-essential, pause and wait at least a week while you evaluate if you really need it.
Most of the time, that simple pause will keep you from spending unnecessary money and adding to your clutter problem.
6. Ditch Expired Food
Do a quick sweep of your pantry and your refrigerator to throw out any expired, rancid, or moldy food.
7. Empty the Trash
When our eyes see trash, our brains see clutter, and stress increases. One simple decluttering tip is to take a few minutes to empty out the trash cans.
8. Tackle the Dishes
If you tend to have dishes in the sink for a full dishwasher, declutter by taking a few minutes to wash them, put them in the dishwasher, or clean out the dishwasher – whatever needs to be done.
9. Pick up for 5 Minutes
Do you have an area that always has stuff laying around? Blankets in the family room, toys on the floor, etc? Set a timer and dedicate 5 minutes to pick up the most bothersome items.
10. Clear off the surfaces in your laundry room
Clear off the tops of your washer and dryer, or wherever things start to accumulate. Having this open space to fold towels and clothes will make the space feel more open.
11. Declutter one hanging clothes rack in your closet.
Start on the left-hand side, and keep going. Pull out each piece, and decide if you want to keep it, throw it out, or make it part of your next donation to the local charity shop.
12. Declutter extra hangers
If you have old plastic or wire hangers that you’re not using, donate them! You’ll open up a lot of space in your closet.
13. Declutter your silverware drawer.
Go through all of your utensils, and find items to edit out.
14. Detrash.
Grab a trash bag, and walk around your house. Throw away anything that’s obviously garbage. This is the ultimate no-guilt decluttering activity!
15. Make a decluttering checklist.
Too tired to declutter today? You can still make progress by making a decluttering list. Plan out all of the areas you want to declutter, and then when you have energy, pick one area to work on.
16. Break down cardboard boxes and put them in the recycling.
You’ll be surprised to see how much space those empty cardboard can take up!
17. Corral like-items into baskets.
It makes things easier to find if they’re grouped into categories. Baskets are great décor items that also give you storage space.
18. Use hooks to store coats and towels.
Putting larger items on hooks is much easier than hanging them up with a hanger or towel rack.
19. Clear a surface
When your flat surfaces are clear, your whole space feels more open. So, if one particular part of your home feels cluttered, clear off a surface!
By using these quick 5-minute decluttering tips, you can quickly and effectively make a positive daily impact on your clutter problem!
By using these quick 5-minute decluttering tips, you can quickly and effectively make a positive daily impact on your clutter problem!
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