Step 1: Declutter your Home for Life

I wish I would have done this years ago. Stuff ruined my life and it made everyday harder than it had to be. The mental load I was carrying to manage it all wasn’t worth it. I was so use to stuff, I didn’t see it anymore, I only felt the consequences of it. Take my challenge in step one, stick it out all the way to the end, and your life will change. This is Step 1: Declutter your home for life.

The Birmingham Metro hosts a parade of homes event every year. We look forward to touring homes each spring to see the new homes in our area. The event has a map of homes you can tour, many staged with furniture and decor. It always inspires us and challenges us to evaluate our spaces at home to make them more efficient, easier to manage, and beautiful.

Each of these staged homes has one thing in common. They do not have a lot of stuff. I would guess that the total number of items per room doesn’t exceed 15. Obviously, we are living real life and need practicality in our homes, but what if we reset the standard for normal? If my family could become comfortable with less, could that be what is missing in our home right now?

Staging YOUR home

Living with less is usually the answer to much more. The Parade of Homes decorators, use bigger wall art pieces and rugs to fill up the space instead of extra furniture that they bought one time on a whim and have nowhere to put it so they shove it in the only clear corner of the room. (Not personally attacking you, I promise.)

You are going to have to trust me in this. This step sounds easy enough but it can be difficult. Commit to the process and see how less brings more to your space.

Whole House Declutter

How does a fresh start sound? In the whole house declutter, we will move as fast as we can. If you drag this out too long you will wanna come find me and say it doesn’t work. Technically, this is marathon but we have to sprint through this step so we can see results quick. Kinda like the first 10 pounds.

There will be a few rules (or fun people call them “boundaries”). These rules help protect our hard work and create a home that will bless you for years to come.

Declutter Boundaries

1. CHOOSE A HOLDING ROOM. This room will hold the donations or “maybe” bin during the declutter. Your holding room is off limits to everyone. The dog, the kid, the nosey mother-in-law, the husband that may need that. Everyone.
2. SPENDING FREEZE STARTS NOW. You are no longer buying anything that is not on the list. Once you finish decluttering, you will probably think twice before you bring more in. You can do it for a season and your bank account thinks so too.
3. USE YOUR BRAIN, NOT YOUR FEELINGS. I know the memories feel attached, but the memories are still the memories without that Little People farm. I’m being a good friend to you.
4. WORK ONE SPACE AT A TIME. Do not empty all the drawers and over commit. I will find you in a closet eating chocolate and that makes you bloated. Work one space or category at a time.
5. MAKE ROOM ON YOUR CALENDAR. You are going to learn the power of the word no. Honestly, I think we get into this mess but overcrowded calendars in the first place.
6. CLEAN THE HOUSE or pay someone else to do it. Just a basic cleaning. No deep cleaning. Bathrooms, vacuum, dust, and mop.
7. STOP BRINGING IN MORE STUFF. The mail, kids school papers, party favors, holiday treats and jars and bags, oh my! Make a plan right now for all those things.
8. KEEP GOING. Life will happen. Something will come up and you will have to pause but don’t stop. Decluttering is temporary. This is worth it!

3 Bins and a Maybe Box

You’ll need 4 bins. Try shopping your house before you buy them. These can be boxes, trash bags, or laundry baskets. Each bin has a category, and this system will move room to room.

• Trash: Anything that isn’t worth donating.
• Donations: This box is the MVP of decluttering. Have you used this item in the last 6 months? Do you love it? Does this item have duplicates?
• Lost items: For things you do not want to donate, but no longer have a place in the room.
• Maybe box: This box is for anything you are unsure of getting rid of. This is ONE box only so choose wisely.

Maybe Box

The maybe box is not something I made up- Minimal mom calls it the “time will tell bin”. This has really helped me in those moments when I want to get rid of something but feel stuck in letting go. It goes in this bin, in the attic and if I don’t need it for 3 months it gets donated.

THE DECLUTTER ROUTINE

My declutter routine varies due to schedules, but the goal is to spend 1-2 hours a week or 15-20 minutes a day decluttering. I’ll share what works for me, but you work through the steps however it makes sense to you. I have found that jump starting the challenge with a 3 day decluttering party is helpful.

1. Declutter
2. Organize
3. Deep Clean
4. Decorate
5. Projects & Finish

You will follow these 5 steps to work through your spaces. Choose to do one per day or simply work through each phase until you have completed the step or are satisfied with it. Pro tip: These steps are listed in order of importance. The more you do up front is what really matters.

MONDAY: Declutter

1. Grab a trash bag and throw away anything obvious. Items that are broken, can’t be donated, or actual trash. Throw away as much as you can.
2. One drawer or category at a time, I pick out my favorites (3-5 items)
3. Donate as much as you can, using your bins to sort of anything that doesn’t belong in the room or needs to be donated.

This is the day to have a plan. You are ruthless and determined and you do not care about your feelings. This day is not for organizing, cleaning, rearranging. We are just sorting and subtracting.

Side note: I do not always finish a room in a week. Just flow through the steps, finishing the last step before you begin the next one.

TUESDAY: Organize & Tidy

1. Gather Bins and containers from around the house to use for organizing (Even shoe boxes for now)
2. Label each category and think about how often you use the items.
3. Create solutions for room clutter issues.

Example: Bathroom drawers. I sorted each category by body type.

• Hairbrushes and product (daily)
• Teeth brushing (twice a day)
• Skin care (Some daily and some weekly)
• Makeup (some days).

I gave the best real estate to what I needed to get to most and was shocked at how life changing this was! I like to sort things by how often I use them. If it’s daily, that item gets prime real-estate. If its weekly still, but monthly or less, it doesn’t deserve front and center.

Do not overthink this step. If you need an organizing system that’s complicated, you have too much stuff.

Tip: During this step my to-do list starts to rack up! I keep a notebook and pen close by so I can make lists if I need to.

WEDNESDAY: Deep clean

1. Dust lighting and baseboards
2. Vacuum under furniture
3. Flip mattresses and vacuum under sofas & sofa cushions
4. Launder all the linens, rugs, window treatments.

This time is to be spent DEEP CLEANING not routine cleaning. Do that another time. It helps me to start a timer and work from left to right.

Deep cleaning can be time consuming, but don’t feel the pressure to clean perfectly. Set a timer for whatever time you do have and just see what you can get done.

THURSDAY: Decorate

1. Arrange furniture
2. Rugs and walls
3. Lighting
4. Surfaces and accessories

This step is what keeps me motivated to do the other steps! Decorating is the fruit of your labor! I want to encourage you not to buy your favorite Pinterest look. Use what you have and make something you LOVE. We come back to decorating in Step 3.

For more on decorating, visit the blog on how to decorate your home.

FRIDAY: Project & Finish

1. Rehome all four bins.
2. Move “Maybe box” to attic or other safe space
3. Fix anything broken or finish that mini to-do list

This day is for the room that needs more time or the air filters you need to change. I always start a mini to-do list once I’m in a room, so Fridays are a great day to finish what I’ve started.

REST

Saturday and Sunday are not in the plan, so I hope you rest. Like really rest and celebrate the work you did this week. If your family needs to help you prepare for the next week, make them a list and take everyone out for ice cream.

This is how to declutter your home in 12 weeks.

Don’t get overwhelmed. Take this one week at a time. You are worth this. Your family will be blessed and you’ll be surprised with all this brings to you. Everyone needs a fresh start. The best news is, once you have done this once, each time gets easier and faster. In just 12 weeks your house will turn into the home you’ve always wanted.

Here is the first project I completed! Our Master Bedroom & Closet

Ok friend, proud of you. Let’s go!