6 tips for everyday de-cluttering
I read an article years ago that living or working in chaos was actually not a bad thing. That people with messy desks, usually were the most productive……
That lead to years of giving myself permission to live in chaos, telling myself I was really good at keeping track of all this mess and clutter.
As single mom I struggled with keeping up with doing it all….. life, kids, and the house. I was pretty happy if I had a chance to do a load of underwear once a week.
But the truth is that it is absolutely amazing what a clean, organized space does for mental clutter and well-being.
Am I perfect? Absolutely not, I am, as with most things a constant work in progress. I have however, found a few things that help me to stay on top of it all, and I am hoping they help you too!
Make your bed, and teach your kids to do this too. Even if I have laundry everywhere…. There is just something about going to bed at night and being able to get into a nice fresh bed.
Make purging a habit, don’t leave your purging to a once a year thing. When you come across something that you don’t want or like, get rid of it. I have box in my laundry room for items that can be donated and when it’s full, away it goes.
Create a demand center/ drop zone. My life involves a lot of stuff. Mail, papers, and books. I had to find a way to manage all of that or it ends up on my dining room table. I haven’t quite perfected it. I have a basket in my office to put new mail in until I can file it, hanging my jacket up in the closet when I walk in instead on the back of a chair. The little things make a big difference.
Load your dishwasher, this may seem silly but the dishes actually don’t need to air out on the counter before they are loaded into the dishwasher.
Put everything in its place now, don’t procrastinate. Procrastinating is just postponing a decision that you eventually have to make anyways. It takes up brain power that you could be using elsewhere.
Clean as you go. I think I am a pretty good cook, however I use every dish and fork in the house to make a good meal. Washing the dishes you are done with as dinner is cooking makes cleaning up dinner dishes mush faster and easier.
And finally, learn to live with some imperfection. If you are looking to live in a completely organized- constantly clean- nothing out of place – everything labelled home then you should probably read someone else post. The whole declutter your life is a process and a work in progress, reality is just finding happiness in the midst of doing it all.
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