One thing people say to me almost everyday is how they don’t understand how I can work full-time, run a business, parent two children, and be a good wife. While I can’t take all the credit, because I do have some help with the blog, I do feel that I am able to declutter like a Boss, and I’d love to help you organize your life and declutter your life with these great tips. We also have our 35 Days to an Organized Home Series, which is very in depth, and our ebook 25 Days to an Organized Home.
While I wish I could have you follow me around for a couple of days to see what I do, I am sharing with you the tips I feel are the most important behaviors and strategies that are part of my life and how I am able to stay on top of my clutter game. Also, please don’t confuse clutter/decluttering with cleaning. Deep cleaning is an entirely separate set of skills from organizing. These are the Ten Commandments to staying organized, and some of these principles are really simple and don’t take a lot of time.
Organize Your Life
- Don’t block doors or doorways. This is one of the worst clutter creating behaviors. When you block doors to closets you are heading toward an episode of Hoarders, and I’m not kidding. Stop this behavior immediately, and write in on a post-it and keep it on your bathroom mirror and memorize this line everyday, “I will not block doors or doorways.” With all joking aside, this really is one of the worst things you can do if you want to live a clutter free lifestyle. I would guess that probably 95% of people who live a clutter free life practice the habit of keeping doors and doorways clear.
- Open your mail everyday. I never let mail pile up. I open my mail everyday as soon as we walk in the house after school, but before we start dinner. I immediately put bills back in the envelopes so they are ready to be paid, I throw out the outer envelopes, and put the rest of the paperwork from the bill or item in my file box. I also put the bills that need to be paid directly into my pocketbook so I can mail them on my way to work the next morning.
- Set aside time to declutter. You have to devote some time to getting rid of clutter each day. We became a Minimalist Family in the last year, and we devoted even more time to getting rid of extra clutter. This summer I donated seven contractor bags full of clothing that I no longer wore. Our family takes about twenty minutes each day to clear the clutter in our home. Our ten year old helps by watching his brother (he doesn’t get any tech time until we get this time), and my husband and I move quickly and swiftly through the house to work on laundry, dishes, and decluttering the main living rooms in our home (kitchen, bathrooms, and living area).
- Have a donation box. Always have a donation box available somewhere in your home, so that you can add items as you declutter. The problem that most hoarders and people with clutter struggle with is thinking that they are going to sell the items someday, or have a yard sale, or somehow get money for their possessions. However, this rarely becomes a reality for those who truly struggle with clutter. This is why our recommendation is to give these items away when possible. If you have read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo she supports this idea as well.
- Keep work surfaces clear. This includes your kitchen countertops, your bathroom countertops, desktops, and any other area where you will be performing daily tasks. I also include the top of my washer and dryer in this category so I can sort laundry on top of the washer. Keeping work spaces clear allows you to do more work, which helps clear clutter, and the cycle goes on and on.
- Maintain your systems. I have a system for my son’s lunch. I keep his school lunch menus on the back of his School Binder (print yours for free). He knows that this is always kept on the top of a stand near the kitchen counter. He looks the night before to see if he wants to buy or pack, and then we know how to prepare for the next morning. This is just one system in our intricate lives. We also have a Family Binder set of printables (these are also free) where you can keep all of your pertinent household information. Our Financial Freedom Plan is another system we used to eliminate over $50,000 in debt as part of our Debt Free Journey. You probably work in many systems everyday, and you don’t even know you have or use. Take time to examine your systems and see if they are working for you.
- Have a filing system. Because we have a home based business, we actually have an industrial metal filing cabinet that contains all of our files. However, depending on your needs, find an appropriate sized filing system for where you live and make sure it can hold hanging file folders. This is extremely important because hanging files are the most easy to access, and the more difficult it is to file, the less you will want to file.
- Keep declutter supplies on hand. I always have a spare box of trash bags and contractor bags in addition to the box that is open and I’m currently using. Plastic zipper baggies of every size are also found in our home. I also feel it is extremely important to have a three hole punch. This is utilized on a daily basis in our home to maintain my son’s schoolwork in his binder, and other materials that go in our family binder.
- Purge. We discussed this in our Minimalist blog post on Purging. Learn to love getting rid of material items. If you find comfort in being surrounded by material items, ask yourself what you are lacking in your life that is causing you to need this security. Many times our attachment to items are rooted in our emotions and memories. We have many tips for you in our purging post on how to let go of items.
- Use technology to your advantage. I help manage bills for my mother and grandmother as well as our own household. We also manage multiple schedules in taking care of my grandmother and her visits to the doctor, hair dresser, plus our own family’s appointments. We have chosen to use a Calendar app that everyone in our family can access from our phones. This is a huge help in managing our time and schedules. Check out our post on our Top Free Health & Fitness Apps or our post on Money Saving Apps for Your Phone.
Bonus tips:Check out the following blog posts to help organize your life beyond the tips in this article:
- 35 Days to an Organized Home (scroll the whole way to the bottom of the post to see all 35 articles)
- How to Organize Your Time
- Organize your finances with our Financial Freedom Plan
- Check out all of our “Organize” posts here.
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