It’s the first official day of Spring! And time for the Spring Cleaning Challenge! I hope you’re excited to Spring Clean all around your home!
For my Spring Cleaning this year, I’m going to be focusing on decluttering. No matter how much I feel like we try to limit the amount of stuff that comes into our home, and have decluttered and got rid of stuff in the past, I still sometimes feel like I am drowning under too much stuff, especially in certain categories/areas around our house.
Spring Cleaning: Declutter Around the House
Here are some of my decluttering tips, and the process I am going to follow, hopefully over the next two weeks, for decluttering all around my house.
Set Yourself Up for Success
Before you start decluttering, you need to have a place to put stuff that you are letting go. I love the system that I learned from watching TLC’s Clean Sweep:
· The Keep Pile – I probably won’t actually have a pile, but as I sort through stuff, I’ll just put whatever I’m keeping back where it goes, hopefully more organized that when I started.
· The Sell Pile – I will either start a big box in our basement, or designate a shelf, as our sell/garage sale pile. We like to sell as much stuff as we can, either on Craigslist, Ebay or at a garage sale, so this will hopefully be my largest pile.
· The Giveaway Pile – There are some things that you just know won’t sell well, so those things will go straight into the giveaway pile. I’ll either use a box or just trash bags to gather this stuff together to get ready to drop off at Goodwill or The Salvation Army.
· The Trash Pile – I’ll probably add a Recycle Pile, because I’ll plan to recycle whatever I can, and try to keep the amount of trash to a minimum. These will most likely be my regular trash can and recycling bin in my kitchen.
Tackle a Small Area at a Time
It can be easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff there is to sort through, declutter and organize. I plan to tackle just small areas at a time, choosing one shelf, one drawer, etc. and working through that until I’m finished.
Then if I have more time, I can move onto to another space, or I can just stop and call it good. This way I’ll hopefully be able to do some serious decluttering by only working in 15-20 minute chunks of time.
Get Serious About Getting Rid of Stuff
This one is important, especially for me, because I tend to hold on to more stuff than I should. I’m one of those who worry that I might need it “someday”. But I’ve decided that I would rather live free of the burden of extra stuff now, than realize a year or two down the road that I wished I would have kept something that I got rid of. Most stuff is pretty easily replaceable. It’s just stuff, after all.
So, be a little ruthless and get rid of stuff, even if it’s hard, or you think you’ll need it “someday”. Really only keep the things that you and your family are using now, or you are sure you will use in the (not too distant) future.
Organize What’s Left
This step should be easier after you have gone through your stuff and really gotten rid of the things that you don’t truly use or need. Organize the stuff that you are keeping in a way that works for you and your family. Invest in a few simple organizing materials in if you need to, but the best way I’ve found is to use things that you already have for organizing.
As you use these steps to move through your home, sorting, decluttering and organizing, I hope you will feel lighter and free from the burden of having too much stuff in your home. What a great way to start this Spring and Summer season! Having less stuff will free you up to spend time doing all the wonderful things you want to do – like starting a garden, redecorating a room, or just spending more time with your family!
Take the Spring Cleaning Challenge to Declutter Around Your House over the next few weeks, and share your progress and experience with us!
For even more Spring Cleaning Inspiration, be sure to check out all of the awesome posts from all of the ladies participating in the Spring Cleaning Challenge.
Spring Clean : The Why :: Home-EC 101
Spring Clean: Bathrooms :: i Dream of Clean
Spring Clean: The Kitchen :: Tidy Mom
Spring Clean: Home Office :: Untrained Housewife
Spring Clean: Floors and Windows :: The Finer Things in Life
Spring Clean : Main Living Area :: Biblical Homemaking
Spring Clean: Conquering the Kids’ Room :: Living Well Spending Less
Spring Clean: Outdoor Living Spaces :: The Greenbacks Gal
Spring Clean: Garage and Cars :: Organize365
And here are a few more Green Cleaning posts here on Live Renewed, to encourage you in your Spring Cleaning efforts.
- Non-Toxic Bathroom Cleaning and Homemade Soft Scrub Recipe
- Green Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen
- Simple Steps – Green Spring Cleaning
- Simple Steps – Decluttering
Link Up!
Now it’s your turn to share your Spring Cleaning accomplishments. If you are posting a link from your blog, please make sure to link to your Spring Cleaning post, not your homepage. Also, to spread the word about the Spring Cleaning Challenge to your readers, please make sure to include a link back to one of the hostesses! If you don’t have a blog, you can link to an online photo album.
Enter the Giveaway!
And, of course, we couldn’t forget our fabulous giveaway! Here’s a quick refresher of the prizes available:
One of two GE Washer/Dryer sets! This is a brand new set that hasn’t even been produced yet but we’ve been assured they have some very exciting new bells and whistles. The winners will be receiving the firsts off the line!
Do-it-Yourself Easy Track Deluxe Closet Organization Kit from The Stow Company
Professional Steam Pocket Mop from Shark
While anyone can enter their Spring Cleaning link above, the following promotion is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are at least 18 years of age and have a valid email address. You may view the official rules here. Giveaway closes Thursday, April 5.
To Enter: Leave a comment here on my blog, and then enter your information in the Rafflecopter form below.
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I too am doing some decluttering this week. I have a great and simple method for doing it too, check it out here: I can’t wait to get started on my own decluttering! Although I have not yet used the method that I posted, I plan to this week! It should be a simple and quick way to declutter room by room. Thanks for hosting! http://delicious-nutritious.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-cleaning-decluttering.html
My favorite place to clean is the kitchen.
Least favorite — shower
The stove and oven are by far my least favorite place to clean, the grease is ruthless!
I’m getting serious of getting rid of stuff because they clutter too much and occupy a lot of space. How many times do you clean your abode?
-Tonio
I dread cleaning the bathroom. With my husband and son, it gets a little dicey in there. 🙂
My least favorite chore is mopping. My favorite is laundry!
dreaaaaad cleaning the garage…i duno even kow whats in there….lol
I actually love de-cluttering – it makes me feel better about my own space, plus I love passing old things on to someone new.
Speaking of organization, I have a brand new closet with no fixtures – so that closet organization kit is looking good to me! 🙂
Oh – and my least favorite place to clean? The bathroom of course!
My least favorite place to clean is the oven! But I must admit that I do love the feeling of a clean and organized home! There is truly nothing better!
Great idea for de-cluttering! I will be doing alot of these this weekend! Thanks
cburki1111 at gmail dot com
I am so glad to see one of the host bloggers of the Spring Cleaning Challenge is focusing on clutter, that is my major problem too. I am devoting my next few Saturdays during the challenge time frame to eliminating some of our homes worst clutter spots. I made a huge dent in our messy attic this week. We too sell a lot of what we no longer need, but this time I jump started us off by donating a whole truck load of clothes to the local thrift store and it felt amazing to be lifted of such a load.
Great ideas! Anyway, we all know that DIY can be a big help to us here…Thanks!
I am jumping onboard the bandwagon. I think I should start with my desk, now that I am sitting here looking around. : )
this so nice ans I like it.
thanks that you sheared this.
My least favorite place to clean is the bathroom! Or the oven… I just don’t clean that (ever)!
least favorite place to clean = basement
Thank you for a your great ideas on helping us with our organization!
Favorite place to clean: bathrooms
Least favorite: floors
my least fav is the floors – mopping.
my fav place is the living room.
Really, I just prefer to tinker around and sometimes rearrange rooms, cleaning as I go.
I hate cleaning EVERYTHING, but my least favorite is probably the fridge. There is always some kind of nasty leftover in there that about makes me gag.
My least favorite place to clean is the bathroom.
My least favorite place to clean is the kitchen sink!!
I am a military wife and have had 3 moves in just the past year. Upside to that is, every time we move I not only get to sharpen my cleaning skills (baseboards, microblinds, ovens, oh joy!) but also have the opportunity to go through EVERYTHING we own and de-clutter. I totally do the pile thing, give away, keep and trash. So far we have managed to keep our home(s) clutter free, but it takes work, for sure!
My LEAST favorite thing to clean is the oven–I sure know how to make it a disaster mess, but haven’t yet mastered cleaning it!
Garage basement and attic- all full of stuff we could do without. Overwhelming to tackle
This will be the busy week I will clean all the places in our house.
De-cluttering is definitely my focus for Spring cleaning this year also. We seem to have accumulated a ton of stuff so each room is going to be getting the keep, donate, sell, toss treatment until I have my house back! lol
I’ve always dreaded cleaning the garage. Even though I’m probably more organized than most people when it comes to the garage, I have loads of tools, projects, and other things always trying to spread themselves about. The strategy that works for me is 10 minutes at a time each day and it’s done before the week is out.
My favorite place to clean is the kitchen (love using lemon) to freshen up. I also really enjoy mopping the floors…weird I know…
Great article!! My least favorite place to clean has to be the bathroom, with three boys in the house I need some heavy duty bleach to touch that toilet!