Top 10 Secrets for Organizing and Decluttering Your Home & A Free Printable

Organizing

Jan 14

One of the best ways to put more balance in your life is to get rid of all the clutter. I sincerely believe that a cluttered house or office just creates disorder in your mind, not to mention the guilt you feel about how you should be spending your time straightening up instead of doing what you really want.

When beginning a new cleaning routine it’s best to start with the messes and clutter that you see every day. Work in the kitchen, garage, and family room before your hallway closet.

If you have kids it’s okay to remind yourself that no matter what you do, some level of clutter is going to happen. Make cleaning up a game and they will want to do it every day.

As you work on the tasks below, make a list of things you can do every day to help keep the clutter to a minimum.

Tips for Organizing and decluttering

Start first with the mail you bring in as you come home at night. Spend a moment right in front of the trash can or recycle bin and sort it. Junk mail should be dumped right then. Pile all magazines in the same place, with the newest ones on the bottom. This way, when you have time to read them, you are looking at the oldest issue first.
Bills are next—who wants them staring at you in the hallway every time you come home? Open them up immediately, check the due date, and file them in some type of organizer that will remind you to pay them. Check this file weekly and pay them based on when you get paid. This way, you won’t pay them late and you won’t spend your hard-earned money on late fees.
If you spend just five minutes a day going through your mail, this will be one less chore that needs to be done on the weekend.
Use drawer dividers for socks, underwear, lingerie, and tiny items, to keep them separated and organized. Use this same principle to organize your silverware, with clearly defined places for every fork and knife.
Think in this same way for every aspect of your home. This will save many hours of searching for things. It will dramatically cut down on the clutter of items left out "for now" or "until I find a place for it." Develop a new mantra: everything has its place and a place for everything!
Allocate a place for everything in your house. This way your family will know exactly where to find it and where to put it away when they’re searching for something they need.
Keep items that are used frequently in places where you can reach them without stooping or bending, and store them close to the place they will be needed.
Use hooks for your keys and purse at the entry to your home, so each time you walk in, you can hang them up and you will know where to find them if you’re in a hurry.
Get rid of all junk drawers, or allow yourself just one that you clear out once a week or more. When you establish certain items are being used repeatedly, designate a drawer for those.
Enlist a new rule: throw out one old thing for every new purchase that enters your home.
Make a mental note to observe what things pile up in your house and where they tend to pile up. Then come up with a place nearby that becomes the official home where those things will reside.
For this purpose baskets, shelves, and folders will work well. Set aside one basket for you and your partner for incoming mail, bills, receipts, and letters.
Never go up or down empty-handed when using stairs. Always grab some items that belong to upstairs rooms and quickly put them away while you are there.
Create a number of brightly marked folders for discount coupons, invitations and directions, and other time-sensitive papers that just clutter your counters.

Here’s a short list of some things none of us need and that can be thrown away or donated right now:

Expired medications.
Clothes you no longer wear.
Extra paper or plastic grocery bags.
Makeup and samples you have never worn and all of the little bottles of shampoo from your last vacation.
Sunscreen that's expired or more than one year old.
Organize your coupons and throw out any that are expired.
Cookbooks you rarely use. Cut out your favorite recipes only.
Magazines you meant to read but have never taken the time for.

Use the Editable Cleaning and Decluttering Routine printable below to list your daily chores and track your progress. Getting rid of the clutter and organizing your home from top to bottom will also free up space in your mind so you can think about more important things and get on with your day.

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Free Printable Cleaning and decluttering routine | organizing. Organized.

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EDITABLE MEANS:

When you open the files there will be light blue boxes where you can type in your information (this will NOT remain light blue when printed).
You can still print and hand-write on the sheets (the blue boxes won’t appear on your printed copy).
The fillable font is 12 pt, Helvetica in black.
The actual layout of the printable including pattern, pattern color, font style, existing text etc. are not editable and cannot be changed.