Welcome to the 7-Day Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Challenge. Each day this week, I’ll be blogging through the 7-Day Challenge. If you’ve not signed up yet, enter your name and email in the orange sign-up box at the top of the page here and you’ll get the daily emails and challenge in your inbox.
Clear Out the Clutter
As you probably already know, I’m not really into clutter. In fact, I’m positive that some people would come to my house and think it’s entirely too empty! But we love the uncluttered look. Here are four reasons we don’t have a lot of clutter:
1. It simplifies things because I have less to clean up. The less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to take care of.
2. It makes things easier to find. When you don’t have as much stuff, it’s easier to put things away.
3. It provides breathing room. I love wide open spaces — they allow my soul to breathe and make life feel calmer.
4. It saves money. The less you buy, the more you usually save. Plus, the less you have, the less you have to pay to maintain.
Here are some things that help me stay on top of clutter:
Ongoing Garage Sale Boxes
We have a designated spot in our home for garage sale boxes. In our current home, this is in the garage. As I find things we no longer need or use, I start filling up a box. When one box is full, I fill up another. And so on.
Instead of moving an item around from one room to the next when we aren’t using it anymore, I pitch it in the garage sale boxes and it’s out of our way. This method makes preparing for a garage sale quite simple since I already have a huge head start on collecting stuff to sell.
Thinking of having a garage sale? Check out my 10 tips for having a successful garage sale.
Annual Clutter Elimination
Once or twice a year, I go through my home from top to bottom and am ruthless about eliminating clutter. Every nook and cranny is cleaned out and every item is evaluated.
By doing this on a regular basis, no area of our home ever becomes unmanageable. Rooms or closets might be messy or unkempt at times, but they never get so overwhelming that I can’t deal with them.
The No-Pile Rule
Except for my husband’s dresser and our laundry basket, we try to strictly adhere to a no-pile rule. I’ve found that a small pile quickly grows–without any effort. So if you don’t start a pile in the first place, you can avoid a lot of disorganization.
{Confession time: I have a few small piles in my closet right now… I’m tackling those as part of today’s project. :)}
In the Door, In Its Place
Instead of piles of paper around from place to place until you have time to deal with them, take care of them immediately. When the mail or other papers come into our home, I go through it right then and there and throw out everything that we don’t have to keep.
Bills go on my husband’s dresser, magazines go in the magazine basket, coupons go in my coupon box, and junk mail goes in the trash. Within just a few minutes, the mail is completely dealt with!
Avoid Clutter-Collecting Furniture
I’ve found my utilitarian nature helps avoid heaps of clutter. How? Because we don’t have a lot of furniture that tends to be clutter hot-spots for others. I’ve found that when there’s no place to collect piles, you are much less apt to make them.
For more ideas and suggestions, check out these links:
Today’s Challenge
If you feel overwhelmed with clutter, don’t panic. Pick one space in your home to declutter as soon as you can today. This can be a drawer, cupboard, closet, medicine cabinet, your nightstand, or if you’re feeling overly ambitious, the pantry or refrigerator.
Ruthlessly clear out any and all clutter and unnecessary items you find. Consider passing on extra food and household items to friends or donating these to someone in need. Start with this one small space and I promise you will feel a sense of accomplishment right away.
Today’s Project
1. Read Day 5 of the 7-Day Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Challenge (type in your name and email address in the orange box at the top of the page here if you haven’t signed up yet).
2. Leave a comment telling us what area of your home you are planning to tackle today for at least 15 minutes and clear out the unnecessary clutter. Remember, keep it simple and don’t bite off more than you can chew!
My project: I’m planning to tackle our bedroom closet. It seems to be the space in our home that can always use a little TLC and it has a few piles of mine in it that need to be dealt with. 🙂
