Out with the Old! 3 Clutter Busters You Can Do Right Now
Hey everyone – happy 2015! We are just now getting back into the routine of daily life after nearly two weeks of holiday traveling and merriment.
It was great – family fun, cousin togetherness which warms my heart – but coming back to reality last weekend was so overwhelming. The laundry, the mail, toys and junk just EVERYWHERE. I started to cry just looking around me. Where do I even START?
So the day after we got back, I decided to take matters into my own hands and just spent a few hours clutter-busting. It made me feel so much better!
I implemented some really simple, easy solutions. Are you ready?
#1. I cleaned out a drawer.
Okay, I never promised rocket science. But this was one really simple solution I came across over the holidays and it really resonated.
All you have to do is pick ONE DRAWER. Just one!
Empty it out. Throw out anything you don’t need and put everything else back in its rightful place.
I picked my kitchen desk drawer:
I had these small drawer containers just waiting to be used and they were perfect. You can find them here.
This took me less than 15 minutes and I felt like a hero afterwards. Why just one drawer? I think because it’s manageable. You can spend 20 minutes TONIGHT on one drawer. Then next week, try another drawer.
#2. I pre-sorted my “donate” clothing.
In the two weeks we were gone my 2-year-old and 4-year-old each went up a clothing size! Well, they were probably already on their way before that, but I was in denial.
For several months before this, every time I had to get rid of something I’d just stick it in the hall closet. I thought to myself “oh some day I’ll organize all of this and then I will donate it!” And instead, this crazy huge pile had grown in my hall closet and every time I glanced at it I wanted to scream.
(wince).
So I bought these plastic bins from Target.
And I just threw girl clothes in the “girl bin” and boy clothes in the “boy bin”. And the third bin is called “Other stuff”.
So from now on, everything will be pre-sorted. When I’m ready to send boy clothes to my friend Laura or girl clothes to my SIL Lindsay, I can do it quickly, and I won’t have to sort through 800 articles of clothing.
#3. I put “Like” with “Like”
I hired a wonderful organizer from a Living Social deal a while back, and one amazing piece of wisdom she shared with me was, “just put LIKE with LIKE”.
I decided to use our coat closet as my guinea pig, which is overrun with stuff and gives me a panic attack every time I open it.
I mean, there are no words.
So all I did was take the umbrella and put it with all the other umbrellas in ONE PLACE. I took that backpack and hung it on a hook with all the other backpacks. Even my scarves! I took each scarf and hung them on ONE HOOK. See? Like with Like.
What a relief to open that closet door and just KNOW where everything is. The scarves go on THIS hook. Period. Kids’ coats are on THIS hook. Bam!
So the moral of the story is…
Like goes with Like. You need to buy a few plastic bins. Pre-sorting will save you mucho time in the future!
But the real message is this. If you feel overwhelmed by your stuff and your home around you, don’t despair. Simple changes that take 20 minutes can totally transform the way you feel about your life. I’m living proof of that. 🙂
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