I'm in a scary "if it's not been worn, used or turned on in the last 90 days, I'm finding a new home for it" phase.
Lately, I've just craved simplicity.
I'm sure this has something to do with it.
I want order in my home. I want purpose for my things. I want to get rid of what I don't need or use. I want less stuff.
Tips to organize your life:
- If you don't use it-toss it. No exceptions. Let's be honest, if you haven't tackled it yet, you probably won't.
- If it doesn't work (and it can't be fixed), throw it out.
- If you can't wear it, don't keep it.
- Group like items together: books, magazines, toys, etc. Create a space (baskets are awesome) for similar items and keep them together.
- If your things don't have a purpose, find a new home for them. (This one is tough for me, but I'm working on it). Fill your home with sentimental memories, photos and items that mean something to you.
- Refuse to fill up the empty, uncluttered spaces with more stuff.
Got any more that work for you?
Thank you for joining me for WFMW! {You can read the guidelines here.}Have a Works-For-Me Wednesday tip you'd like to share? I'd love for you to join us!
30 comments:
Oh how I love those phases! They are awesome for getting things done and accomplished.
I've been doing a lot of cleaning and donating and reusing/recycling items around my home lately too. I go through spurts where I'm like that, sometimes it's when spring hits, sometimes it was when I had another baby on the way, sometimes it was when another move was coming up. Right now I just feel like we have too much stuff and it's time to clear some of it out. I think my feelings stem from my daughter going to Togo, West Africa, right before your Kenya trip.
I am with you on the de-clutter, toss, get rid of it plan. I am working room by room and my parameters are much more strict this time around. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I've always liked that saying....never have anything in your house that you don't find beautiful, useful or sentimental. (I think I find too much sentimental, though...I'm working on that.)
take a picture of the sentimental things... you'll have the memory but not the clutter!
It feels so good to get rid of clutter!!!
Oh, I love your tips! I need to print them, and tape them to my bathroom mirror, as a reminder.
De-cluttering just feels so freeing!
I need to declutter. I have been doing better at it lately though and am even having a garage sale and getting rid of the boys baby clothes :)
I admit it -- I am a clutterbug... but I married a purger... So I am learning to let go of some things!
Thank you for hosting this lovely meme - there are always lovely ideas!
I believe after my WFMW post from last week, this will be a PERPETUAL phase for me. God made it VERY clear that I need to give stuff - a LOT of stuff - away.
I'm with you... declutter and I'm much happier. Thanks for hosting!
Blessings,
e-Mom @ Susannah's {Kitchen} Aprons & Chrysalis
I wrote my post this morning before I saw your WFMW topic and it couldn't be more fitting. I'm going crazy with a desire right now to purge, organize, simplify, and add more freshness!! I see I'm not the only one!
I am doing a huge decluttering this month! It feels so good to get rid of stuff. I tend to throw things away anyway, but it feels good to be purposeful about it.
Toni
http://thehappyhousewife.com
I have been doing some major decluttering this year and I have been giving away so much. I still feel like I need to get rid of more. I want my life to be simpler. So, I know exactly how you feel. I think that having less stuff is so freeing. Have fun simplifying.
Great tips! I know we have been working together as a family to get decluttered. Dh is a pack rat and has a hard time giving things up. I helped him see that he didn't need all thing things that he was hanging on to, so there was a LOT we were finally able to get rid of. :D
Thank you so much for hosting this each week! :D I look forward to reading your tips and so many of the others each week. :D
I am in that phase too. I really wish that I would have more time for it. I keep looking around and dying to jump in and be brutal and declutter. I really need to wait until we're on summer break though so that I don't get sidetracked from our schoolwork! Thanks for this post!
I feel ya'! I do the same thing... I go through phases in my home. In Fact, my current phase is carpet cleaning. I have been dragging out my Bissel Little Green every day for the past few days and cleaning a spot until I run out of cleaner. I am almost done with every carpeted room in my home. Now, I am looking at that couch. LOL!
I am going through the same phase! I wonder if it's a spring thing? Anyway, my link is about swapping our nice junk with others at a party. (Number 152) The good thing is, I don't have to bring anything home. (But if I find something cute, it won't cost anything!) Happy cleaning.
I'm really in the mood to do this too! The one thing I am having a hard time with is books.
I was looking at my "badly needs to be dusted" bookshelf last night and thinking of how many books I don't read and won't read but could not bear to part with them. Somehow it feels like I will be throwing away an opportunity to gain knowledge if I give them up and that seems so wasteful. Obviously I've got some mental work to do on that. Maybe I can get myself some organizing books : )
I don't feel like I have the time to go through each tote in my attic...so instead each season, as clothes get moved from one boy to the other or I unpack a new tote of clothes, I'll be doing this!!!
GREAT advice. I go through phases, too. My husband and my kids just stare as I start clearing stuff out. =P
I love organizing!! Good thoughts!
I have been working on simplifying for the last year and a half. After I finish each closet and room I start over again. It is so refreshing and renewing. I love simplifying and what it is teaching our four boys.
great tips!
We usually try to abide by the rule one toy in - another out especially around birthday/christmas time. That helps so much on cutting down clutter and not accumulating so much. AND, it's good for kids to have a giving spirit when donating toys.
Having trouble linking my blog post for some reason...sorry :D
http://con-tain-it.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/04/worksformewednesday-trader-joes-pizza-crust.html#tp
I have two I just came across that I love - one is "if your house burned down and this was lost in a fire - would you miss it"? And the second is just the statement that "clutter represents unmade decisions".
This one is so hard for me! I've gone through spurts of decorating and redecorating...and the cycle goes on. Haven't been doing much of it lately due to finances but I've been feeling discontent about it. I hate seeing that in me! I could stand to get ride of some "stuff", for sure.
Thanks for the encouragement!
I started yardsaling tubs of kids clothes off last week. A friend and I got together and we had 9 totes of kids clothes between us! We sold 3 1/2 totes of clothes and now I can buy my kids clothes that they are going to need this summer. I also got rid of old furniture that's been sitting on the front porch for a while. I'm slowly going through our house because we live in a teeny tiny 118 year old house and we don't use all the stuff we have. Out with the unused!!!
Great post, Kristen. It seems like it's a constant battle to keep the clutter from moving in permanently. I'm currently going through the food in my pantry and chucking stuff I know I don't use regularly. Found a package of lemon jello yesterday that I just don't think I need ;)
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