This is your sign to get your home clutter under control! Winter has officially left and so should the dust bunnies. Having a clean and tidy home is proven to decrease stress so let’s dive in.
It may seem overwhelming and intimidating to clean your entire home. But let’s not look at it as one big project, we’re going to divide it up. Choose one room or section of your home to tackle each weekend (I’m going to use the bathroom as an example in this article). Next, we will take care of each room in three steps:
Declutter
Deep Clean
Organize
The first step of decluttering a space is to take everything out of your cupboards, closets, and off of counters to see what you’re dealing with. Next, sort your items into four piles. Donate, sell, relocate, and garbage. The relocate pile is for those items that do not belong in that space (dog toys and dishes do not have a place in the bathroom). Going through which items should stay or go can be tough but do not keep holding onto those hair products that you haven’t used in years! Even if you think that you may use those products one day, there’s a good chance that if you haven’t used them in 2 years, you won’t use them in the near future. Same goes for makeup and face products, if you haven’t used them for a while then you probably won’t use them and they are probably already expired (most face products have a shelf life of 24 to 36 months anyways). If you want to minimize your items then consider how many of each you really need. Let’s say you have a family of four, each person would need two bath towels (just in case one is in the wash) and one to two beach towels. Donate the rest!
Since everything is out and on the floor, now is a great time to clean the drawers and spots that you will be putting your items back into. Get the old toothpaste stains off the counter and mirror and vacuum out all the hair and dust from the cupboards. This is also a good time to give the shower and toilet a deep clean. Some areas that often get missed are the baseboards, behind the toilet, and the ceilings (cobwebs, dust, and fly poop can be anywhere and small enough that you don’t notice it until you’re staring at it from on the toilet).
Now that you’ve simplified the amount of items you’re working with and cleaned the space, let’s organize. Organizing can be fun but it’s important not to skip the declutter step or you’ll have an organized mess. Take products, like q-tips and bandaids, out of their boxes and put them in a more confined bin or container. Boxes take up a lot of space so it’s worth investing in some stackable containers or clear jars. The less you have on your countertops the better, only put a few essentials out and top it off with a scented candle or plant. Once everything has a place, the key is to maintain this. Don’t buy new products without tossing or using up your current ones. Do a quick couple minute tidy each day so it doesn’t turn into one big daunting task. If each item has its designated spot then that’s where it should always end up at the end of each day.
