10 Ways to Declutter Your House
The less you need, the freer you become. That’s why we’re at it again at our house, brainstorming the tips and tricks we’ve found for getting the clutter out and keeping our 480 square foot home under control. We’ll be talking a lot more about these ideas and more in the upcoming year.
To get started, here are 10 tips we think you might find useful for a refreshing start in your home, especially if things are feeling a little like this:
1. Part with sentimental objects (here’s a trick my dad taught me).
2. Organize your stationery so it gets used, not collected.
3. Purchase fewer holiday decorations.
4. Declutter your bookshelf. Donate books to your local library. Or give them to the local schools.
5. Go digital: Download your cds & start buying digital music instead of cds. Scan in paperwork. Try audiobooks & digital movies like we do.
6. Get rid of items in your kitchen that don’t serve more than one purpose unless you use them on a very regular basis. Or come up with other uses for them.
7. Pick one souvenir to keep from each place you have been if you tend to collect multiple items. Then buy fewer vacation souvenirs and mementos or none at all on your next trip. Just snap photos or buy a few postcards, a magnet, or something small. (We got one very ridiculous honeymoon souvenir.)
8. Seriously purge the excess towels and linens that are seldom if ever used at your house.
9. Donate chemical cleaners that you aren’t using either because they’re in excess or you’re going greener.
10. Think carefully about each item that you bring into your house. If it adds to your happiness or the function of your house, by all means, don’t let us stop you. But if it doesn’t? Well… you know.
Is there an area of your home where you battle most with clutter or parting with things? Is your desk overflowing? How about the closet. Is it okay? Or do you feel like things are pretty well under control? Please – share those frustrations and tips alike.
January 25th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Great tips! I could really use these right now…trying to clean out the basement and well, the whole house!
January 25th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
These are all good tips. Fighting clutter is a constant battle in my house. I am not sentimental but my husband is, so that is a bit of a struggle. Our attic is full of sentimental stuff. Recently I cleaned out my linen closet and realized there were many towels in there we never used and it felt good to get rid of those. I also cleaned under my kitchen sink and that was a good feeling, too.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I –love— de-cluttering! Especially in my limited storage german-size home! Thanks for the tips and inspiration! Laura in Ludwigsburg
January 25th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Clothes aren’t really a problem in our house, because luckily none of us are fashionistas. ;-) For us, the problem seems to always be PAPER. School papers, work papers, papers to be filed, coupons, recipes. UGH. I am guilty of being a “pile-maker”, which doesn’t help. This year, however, I am definitely on a mission to FINALLY make sense of all of it and simplify. Your blog is a great inspiration! Thank you! :-)
January 30th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Those are some fabulous suggestions! I have used the ‘picture taking’ therapy and it works wonders.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
These are good tips, although I don’t hold with throwing books away…My tip is : move to a house that is, like ours, half way up a mountainside with no vehicle access. That way you THINK about every single item you consider bringing into the house, because to bring it IN you have to bring it UP. On your own back…
June 25th, 2011 at 9:53 am
i am thankful for this list because i seriously need to declutter my household and i have five very young children…
January 19th, 2012 at 2:33 am
my husband and i love throwing out clutter. We do it atleast twice a year so everything stays sorted. We have a rule, if we havnt used it since we last decluttered, it goes. We sell all the stuff that are still in good condition to our local second hand store :)