decluttering tips

When times are changing, it’s a sign to re-evaluate what’s really important to us.  You might be sitting in your comfy chair right now or sitting up in bed working from home and in the corner of your eye you can see those piles of stuff you’ve been meaning to deal with but never had the time until now.

We’ve spent years accumulating stuff that we don’t use, don’t need, and frankly, it’s just cluttering up space collecting dust.  Stuff can weigh heavy on us and leave us with feelings of guilt, shame, and unhappiness and that’s the last thing you want to feel at this time.

I believe a home is an oasis to wake up in and come home to at the end of the day.  A home is a place that is warm and inviting to have family and friends over. And if you work from home, you’re free to be creative and your space is inspiring to work in.

So for the next 10 days, let me help you transform your home with this mini decluttering challenge.

When you’re done this decluttering challenge, you’ll feel lighter, happier, and inspired!

Here’s three organizing steps to follow for fast, lasting results:

Step #1 – Start small with one drawer, one shelf, one cupboard or one area in ONE room at a time.  No zig-zag organizing from one room to another otherwise you won’t see fast results and you’ll create a bigger mess.

Step #2 – Set a timer for 30-45 minutes and make quick and fast decisions on what to keep and what’s no longer of use to you.  Touch each item on the shelf/drawer and decide if it’s staying or gotta go.  Have a recycling bin, trash bag, and donation box within arms reach for items that you don’t want, don’t use anymore, are broken, doesn’t bring you joy, or is expired.

Step #3 – Group like things together into themes.  You’ll see how much you have in each category and how much space you’ll need to contain it when you put it back.

After each 30-45 minute organizing sessions, take 10 minutes to deal with the recycling, trash, and donations items.  You’ll be amazed at how much stuff you can get rid of!!  Repeat the above three steps until you’re finished in the area you want decluttered.

If you get stuck or need a little extra help visit my Facebook or Instagram pages.  For personalized solutions for your decluttering and organizing projects, I’m offering 50% off Virtual Organizing services till March 31, 2020.  Check out details and bookings at simplyproductive.com/services

Day 1 Challenge – Declutter Your Kitchen Pantry

Start with one shelf, one cupboard, or one drawer.  Take out anything that is expired, doesn’t belong, or you don’t want.  Next, group like items together like breakfast foods, condiments, baking supplies, canned goods, spices, snacks, soups, drinks, and so on.  Once you see how much you have in a category, you can designate a space that makes sense.  If you have young kids, designate a breakfast zone, lunches zone, and snack zone that they can reach.  When possible, label the area inside the shelf, drawer or cupboard and make sure to let family members know where things are so that they can put them back.  The label becomes the organizing system for putting things back where they belong.

 Day 2 Challenge – Declutter Your Closet

Start with the piles on the floor, then a shelf or hanging section.  My best strategy for organizing anything is to organize your closet top to bottom, left to right (or reverse this if you can’t get to your top shelf yet)  Pull the clothes out of your closet and onto the bed, if possible.  If not, then make decisions by touching each item in your closet and sort into categories.  Suggest categories are, laundry, mending, dry cleaning, donate, try on, and keep.  Once you decided what you want to keep, put clothing back into your closet based on what you wear most during the week.  If you work, your work clothes get prime real estate and easy access.  Designate a place in your closet for each category of clothes.  Category ideas are:   work clothes, weekend clothes, party dresses, workout, comfy cozy clothes to lounge in, and so on.  Getting dressed in the morning will be a lot less stressful!

Day 3 Challenge – Organize Your Passwords

Do you constantly reset your passwords or let your browser remember your login details?  Hopefully you’re not using the same password over and over again 😉  Lastpass is a secure password manager that will remember all your passwords, travel point cards, vital information and login details so you don’t have to.  It works on any platform.  Install the app on all your devices.  Next, start entering in three to five login details to test it out for a week.  Inside the app you can add tags so it’s easier to find login details. You’ll be able to generate unique secure passwords on the fly.  Lastpass is the one app I can’t live without.

Day 4 Challenge – Declutter Your Desk

Day 5 Challenge – Organize Your Bathroom

Day 6 Challenge – Spring Clean Your Garage

Day 7 Challenge – Organize Your Jewellery and Shoes

Day 8 Challenge – Clean Out Your Inbox

Day 9 Challenge – Organize Your Wallet

Day 10 Challenge – Celebrate All Your Organizing Success!