6 Simple Secrets On How To Declutter Your Home

When women find out that I am a professional organizer inevitably they ask if my home is organized. When I simply say yes then they ask me if all of my cupboards are organized. When I say yes they ask if my closets are organized. Again I say yes.

My home doesn’t look like a page out of a magazine because we live in it. A home can have a homey feel and at the same time be organized. Think of someone who you think is totally organized. Here are 6 secrets on how they keep organized. It is simple to declutter your home when you know how.

1. I bug myself when I take out the garbage and then I decide to clean out the fridge and there are things that needed to go in the garbage. It saves time (and a bag) to take a quick peek in the fridge before going to the garbage. By doing this on a regular basis cleaning out the fridge isn’t such a chore. Another time saving tip is get someone else to take it out.

2. Buy a planner and use it. Getting in the habit of using a planner saves you time, energy and frustration. You don’t have to remember every appointment and if you are asked to do something you can look in your planner and that way you won’t double book appointments; which is so frustrating and can be embarrassing.

3. Are you pulled here and there with the demands of family and friends? I was organizing with a client and she got a phone call. It was her child at school who had forgotten his homework and asked her to bring it to him. Very calmly she explained that she was working with me and would not be able to leave. (I bet that child remembers the next time to take his homework to school). On the same day she got a call from another child saying she was sick. Again the mother calmly explained that she was busy and could not run to school and get her. She gave her several suggestions of what she could do which included asking the nurse if she could lie down on the cot in the sick room until she could come for her. She was a very savvy woman organizing her time instead of letting others organize it for her.

4. Everything in our home needs to have a home. When we aren’t using at item it needs to “live” in its home. The other day I was in a big hurry and as I was changing blouses I threw the one I had taken off on the bed thinking I would hang it up when I got home. But I didn’t want to create clutter and I knew it would only take a couple of seconds to hang it up. It was so nice to come home and not have a pile of stuff to put away. No matter what we have used when we are through, put it away. (Such as tools, cooking utensils, clothes, paper items. The list is endless.

5. We all have little pockets of time in our day that we can use to do little tasks that don’t take much time but nag at us to do. Make a list in your planner and when you have 5 to 10 minutes do something on your list. It may be reading an article from a magazine, dusting the furniture, folding one load of laundry, picking some flowers. You don’t have to make a list but it can be helpful so you don’t have to stop and think, “What should I do”? It feels so good to put a check mark when you’re finished. One thing I did the other day was slip a few photos into a photo album. These are little things we do, they aren’t major but they sure do add up to big things getting organized.

6. Every night review what you need to do the next day and plan ahead. Then in the morning review what you have to do that day. The day will definitely go smoother.

Declutter your home a little at a time by putting things away, planning time for yourself, and use little pockets of time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and de-cluttering your home doesn’t all have to be done in a day.