***Bonus item attached…
Do you shudder when you think of people coming over to visit unannounced?
Do you panic when you get a message that family is coming?
The real key here is to take it a step at a time. Take it at your own pace. This IS a fight that you CAN and WILL win!
You will have to commit to having less “stuff” if your home and letting go of the sacred cows you’ve hung on to for all these years (but please note that these cows only collect dust and take up space!).
Don't worry. It can all be done in a few minutes each day.
Ready for step one? Good!
We're going to declutter first - set a timer and put on some energizing music to get you going. Decide that you're only going to declutter for 15 minutes in one certain room.
Then if you want to work longer, say, another round of 15 minutes, you can. But you don't have to. This helps you get motivated, even when you feel like cleaning is the last thing you'd want to tackle. Yep- psyche yourself out.
Go from room to room one day, just decluttering - 15 minutes in each room. Some rooms might take only five minutes - there's a good feeling! Others might take 30 minutes before you can walk through the room without tripping over something. It'll all average out.
Then on day two, go back to your first room and surface clean. Wipe off counters, sinks, flat surfaces. Then spot vacuum. If there's a stain on the kitchen floor, spot clean that baby.
Day three, pick another room.
Day four, still another.
If you’re so motivated one day and get on a roll, surface clean two rooms.
After you’ve decluttered, we’re going to take fifteen minutes a day and do some deeper cleaning in each room. You know, vacuuming thoroughly, dusting, swatting away cobwebs, etc.
Now, if you just repeat this simple schedule, you've got a house that would at least make the grade on a pass-fail system. That takes a load off your mind and alleviates stress in your family relationships.
Remember, it’s better to do a little each day and get the job done, than to stress out in an embarrassingly cluttered environment because you’re too overwhelmed to even start. Go ahead – set that timer!
While some home-organization gurus will tell you to start in the kitchen, I’m going to advise beginning in another area. The kitchen will be the third place we attack and this doesn’t make it less important, but I will explain why I’m starting elsewhere.
First, if you look around your home, you probably see lots of clothes.
Am I right? You’ve got clothes in closets, you’ve got clothes in piles (meaning to put them away and not having time, eventually just pulling them out of the pile and wearing them), and you’ve got clothes in laundry baskets. You might even have rumpled clothes in the dryer or (heaven forbid!) the washer. If it’s the former, the clothes are only rumpled. If it’s the latter, they’re probably rumpled AND smelly and (potentially) mildew-y.
Yuck! And I’m guessing that if you have a laundry room, you keep the door closed, If you don’t have a laundry room but have a laundry closet (with room for the washer, dryer, and
some shelves), I’m betting you haven’t seen the top of your dryer for weeks or even months. It’s covered in rumpled clothes and towels, right?
Have you guessed where we’re starting? That’s right! The laundry area of your home. And here’s why: if you get your laundry room cleaned and organized, you’ll be much more apt to actually DO the laundry that plagues you and helps your home to be disorganized.
And because you won’t want to undo the work you’ve done in the laundry room, you’re more likely to fold the laundry when it’s done, and put it away. There’s something that’s a breath of fresh air about a straightened laundry room—sort of like when you walk in to a closet where everything is hanging neatly.
So start with small steps:
Can you see the floor? No? Then pick up what’s on the floor and put it in laundry baskets. If you don’t have enough laundry baskets to accomplish this, then just sort the things in to piles outside the laundry room. I make piles of light clothes, whites, darks, and towels/rags.
Can you see the top of the dryer? If not, put the excess clothes in the aforementioned piles. Grab one rag to dust and have two plastic grocery bags—one to collect junk, and the other for later. Dust the dryer from the lint-leftovers and use a little window-cleaner if it
doesn’t come off readily. Don’t neglect the area where the “start” button is—that can be grimy, too! Can you see the top of the washer? If not, repeat the steps above using the window cleaner if necessary.
Now look at your floor. Does it need sweeping? If so, grab a broom and sweep. It won’t take you more than 5 minutes and you’ll feel much better about your room and your work—especially if something you’ve just washed falls on the floor as you’re transferring stuff to the dryer.
Congratulations!
You’ve done the preliminary work of organizing your home—you won the battle in your laundry room! Take a 15 minute break and enjoy this victory. Then start the task of doing the excess laundry that you’ve been collecting—one pile at a time. When the first
is done, swap it out immediately to your dryer or to hangers, if that’s more appropriate.
Take it one pile at a time—in other words, small
steps! Soon, you’ll find that it really only takes 5-10 minutes to fold
warm clothes from the dryer and put them in laundry baskets, ready
to transfer to the appropriate rooms, closets, and drawers.
The Family Room/Living Room:
Some homes have a “great room” and no living room, others have a “family room” and a living room. No matter what you call it or how many of these rooms you have, organization is necessary to make it a welcoming haven for your family.
Walk in to this room as a visitor would. Notice the small details that you’ve overlooked in daily living. Do you see clutter? Your guests do, too.
To make this room inviting, we’re going to reduce the number of things in this room and make it more homey.
What did you see in terms of clutter? Magazines and newspapers all over? Toys? Shoes lying around? Start with several laundry baskets (empty, please!) and put things that don’t belong in this room in the baskets. The idea is to send things to different areas of the house in these baskets and make your de-cluttering that much easier. Throw away the newspapers and old magazines. If you’re just not going to have time to read them, get rid of them. Why have them hanging around making you feel guilty? Put toys in the basket that will get them to their owners’ rooms. Shoes should be kept in the room where their wearer lives.
Now that you’ve done that (and delivered the baskets to the appropriate locations), go back and look at this room as a visitor sees it. Better? If not, keep going in small stages and steps.
If you look at your furniture, do you see fingerprints and dust deep enough to write a ransom note in? Do you even see the top of your furniture? If you can’t answer the latter question, don’t worry about the former one. Take care of the flat surfaces first—we call this
The Law of Flat Surfaces. This Law is defined by the idea that flat surfaces collect papers, no matter what the surface is: tabletops, armoires, desks, or floors. If you start with clean flat surfaces, you’ll be more likely to keep them clear—a little every day.
Once your flat surfaces are clear, give them a once-over with a furniture polish (if appropriate) or glass cleaner (if appropriate). Run the vacuum—don’t worry about getting the edges and moving furniture—just vacuum the places you can get easily. Chances are if you can’t reach the areas easily, no one has been able to deposit large amounts of dirt or tracks back there, either.
Can you see your TV through the dust and fingerprints? If not, give it a once-over with the rag and some glass cleaner. Same with your stereo cabinet.
Now look up. Do you see cobwebs in the corners? Not a huge deal— grab a feather duster and knock ‘em down. That’s that!
You’ve decluttered your Laundry, some bedrooms and family room and/or living room—congratulations!
Keep moving along, taking baby steps every day. Soon, your home will exude the warmth and hospitality you want.
Now click here to download my free home organizing and Decluttering planner for your next journey home.
