Declutter It!

Help for the Overwhelmed House - A Quick 11 Shot To Do List

by Jennifer on May 3rd, 2008

If your house is totally cluttered and unorganized, you’re not going to get it uncluttered and organized in one quick shot. If you have one of those overwhelmingly cluttered homes, here’s a quick list that will help you feel better during the here and now - you may feel so much better that you’ll be inspired to tackle some bigger clutter issues.

1. Clean out your fridge and freezer: Toss expired food, put all that cheese in one handy container, chop and freeze fruit that’s going to go bad soon (use for smoothies later), and wipe down. You look in your fridge every day; make it shine.

2. Stock pile junk in the main rooms: Forget about sorting for now. Grab a big fatty bin, snatch up some help from your kid, and fill the bin. Don’t stop and think, just swoop through the dining room, living room, and kitchen. If you need to, grab a second bin. Later you can sort said bins, but for now, having the clutter out of eyesight will help clear your mind so you can focus.

3. Dust and size sort the book shelves: Line up books in size order on the bookshelf. Anything that’s not a book, toss into a bin for later sorting. Dust books and the shelf as you go. You’ll be amazed at how nice it feels to walk by a streamlined bookshelf.

4. Clean the tub: Squeeze one lemon into a spray bottle of water. Spray the tub and shower down completely. Wait 30 minutes. Head back in, respray, and sprinkle baking powder all over the darn tub. Scrub. Rinse. Your arms get a good workout (exercise reduces stress) and you get a shiny tub.

5. Empty your email: I know, email does not reside in your home; but aren’t you stressing over it? Set aside a couple hours to answer, delete, and file email. Your head will thank you.

6. Commit to immediate wash and fold: Only wash your clothes when your home - dry, sort, fold, and put away right away. If you hang your clothes to dry them, ditch the clothesline and use hangers. Then simply transfer dry clothes to your closet. Those full laundry baskets of clean items all over the house aren’t helping anyone.

7. Keep mail in one place: Mail does not go all over the house. If you have no time to deal, mail goes into one designated box, until you do have time to deal. Toss mail in all week and sort and take care of on Sunday.

8. Sort utensils: You likely have a utensil drawer. Sort it. Put all silverware you use daily in one place. Put all tall utensils together - i.e. spatulas and whisks - I suggest a tall jar on the counter or one designated drawer. Make a junk silverware drawer (for the time being) for utensils you don’t often, or ever use. It’s silly to dig through utensil drawers for a spatula each time you need one.

9. Make a Tupperware lid container: Stack and nest all Tupperware bottoms together. Use one of your bigger Tupperware bins as a catch-all lid holder. place the lids in the container sideways, like little files, in size order, tall to small.

10. Clear out bathroom cupboards: Recycle empty Q-tip boxes and plastic bottles. Toss expired contact solution and sort out the old nail polish and make-up. Put any near empty bottles near the tub (like bubble bath) and then use them up. No one needs 15 almost bottles of body care items in the bathroom.

11. Fold your linen cabinet: Towels with towels, sheet sets together, pillowcases all stacked up. If it’s not a real linen item - toss it in a bin. Nothing makes you feel better than lovely stacks of folded linens. Each time you open the linen closet you’ll smile. Bonus points if you add a nice cedar block or sprig of lavender to make it smell nice.

These 10 steps are relatively easy to accomplish, but can make a huge difference. Your house, and mind will both be a bit less cluttered, and soon you’ll feel up to tackling bigger decluttering tasks.

Share This

Related Stories

Quick tip for summer vacation - gather memories not clutter
Start Moving Out Mental & Physical Clutter
Thankgiving countdown - get shopping
Quick tip: one way to motivate decluttering
Overcoming Procrastination by Making a List

POSTED IN: Organizing Basics