How to declutter your house

Are you looking around your house and feeling overwhelmed by all the clutter? It is very easy for clutter to become out of control. You walk into the house after a busy day at work and what’s the first thing that you do? You throw your keys down and everything that you have in your hands either sits on your counter or you put it in a junk drawer. Have you noticed that everything that ends up in your junk drawer tends to stay there for all eternity? I’m guessing your mud room is filled with shoes that never leave and that your nightstands have empty water glasses, lotions, books and remote controls.

Do you want to declutter and possibly donate some things to charity or maybe even have a garage sale? I know I certainly do, but where do you start? That’s always my issue. I never know where to begin. I look around my house and become very overwhelmed by everything that I see. I have so many things that I want to tackle, but looking at everything makes me want to walk out of the house. I’ve looked all over the web for a guide to help me declutter and nothing ever seems to spell everything out. So here are some tips that made my life easier. If you want even more information, check out: http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=declutter_your_home_in_31_days#_a5y_p=1544211

Bathroom

Medicine Cabinet
Throw out expired medications, hotel shampoos that you’ll never use, and throw out lotions you’ve had since you were young.

Shower
Get rid of the extras and empties in your shower. Invest in a shower caddie to keep everything organized and in one spot.

Makeup Drawer/Bag
Go through your makeup bag or drawer and reassess some of the items. Eye shadow you only used once five years ago? Toss! Lipstick that doesn’t smell quite right anymore? You know what to do. If you haven’t used it in a year, it’s time to trash it.

Linen Closet
Over time those neatly stacked towels start to shift and folded sheets somehow end up on the floor. Take stock of what’s in the linen closet, straighten what you want and consider donating items you haven’t used in more than a year to charity.

Bedroom

Nightstand
Nightstands collect books, water bottles and electronics along with gobs of dust. Clear it off, wipe it down and leave only the bare minimum.

Dresser 
Dressers can hide a lot in their drawers. Open every drawer, refold messy clothes and match every sock. Start a donate pile of any clothes you no longer need and a toss pile of holey shirts and socks you can part with.

Master Closet
Add to those donate and toss piles by going through your closet. Follow your gut: You know what you’re regularly wearing and what haven’t worn in ages. Try not to let sentimentality get in the way of decluttering!

Hallway

Entryway/Mudroom
Check the entrances to your house for out-of-place clutter. Kids kick off shoes and drop bags; adults leave keys and mail. Come up with a system for stuff that should be there (like hanging hooks or a coat rack or shoe cubbies) and instill habits to keep the space clear otherwise.

Coat Closet
Coat closets often become hiding places for more than just winter jackets. See what’s been hiding in its depths that belongs somewhere else and what you can pull out to toss.

Kitchen

Kitchen Drawers 
Why so many crumbs, kitchen drawers? And why is this burned spatula still hanging around? And why are there still baby spoons in the silverware drawer when your youngest child is in kindergarten? Toss or donate! Then organize so the things you use the most are the most easily accessible.

Kitchen Cabinets
When you’re quickly cleaning up after dinner it can be easy to throw pots and pans and bowls into cabinets willy-nilly, so take time to straighten cabinets and organize items if their placement isn’t working for you. Infrequently used items can go in a pantry or other storage spot to free up more space for items you do use all the time. Those storage containers without lids and those lids without matching containers? Now’s the time to toss the lids. Use the containers themselves as storage caddies for small items in drawers or cabinets throughout the house.

Pantry 
Give your pantry an organizational once-over. Organize canned goods by type, check expiration dates and get rid of foods you’ll never eat (like that trendy food you tried and hated). Unexpired and shelf stable foods can be donated to your local food pantry.

Spice Rack
I recently went through my spice rack and was appalled that some of my spices were purchased more than four years ago. If you’ve got spices that could be in kindergarten, you’re probably not using them very frequently in your favorite recipes, so it’s likely safe to toss them. Plus, fresh spices will taste better anyway!

Refrigerator and Freezer 
Many people try to give their fridge a look once a week or so to toss any leftovers that are moldy, but you likely don’t think about condiments and other fridge staples. Check all the bottles and jars and toss any that are expired or that you just never use (like that hot sauce you tried and decided you hated).

Junk Drawer
Junk drawers by their very nature are designed to hold junk and odds and ends that don’t really belong anywhere else. But give it a look to see if there’s any obvious trash, and see if there’s anything you could move to another spot. You just might find that set of keys you thought you’d lost forever.

Under-Sink Storage
If you’ve got pedestal sinks throughout the house, you get off easily on this chore. But if you’ve got under-sink storage, like under the kitchen sink, look under there to see what’s been hiding and what needs to go.

Living Room

Bookshelves
Bookshelves are great for storing and displaying books, art, accent décor, family pictures and more. But they can be a problem when they start to be holding places for extra clutter that makes them look less attractive. Give your bookshelves a glance to see if there’s anything that doesn’t belong. Then rearrange the items so it looks deliberate, not haphazard.

Storage Furniture 
Go through that console table in the living room, the armoire in the guest bedroom and the trunk sitting in the corner of the basement. See if you really need its contents—and if you even need the actual furniture itself!

Home Office

Office Desk
Workspaces can be hard to keep clutter-free. When you’re at your desk, you’re working or paying bills rather than focusing on keeping it clean. So do a sweep of the surfaces in the office and asses what you can keep and what you can toss.

Mail
Junk mail, bills and magazines pile up faster than dust bunnies. Clear your mail storage area and come up with a system for discarding junk immediately and storing bills that need your attention where they won’t get overlooked. For instance, keep a small recycling bin just inside the front door so junk can go straight from the mailbox into the bin.

Other Spaces

Laundry Room
The most likely clutter offender in my laundry room? A shirt that’s “dry clean only” that has been laying there unlaundered for eons. If that’s the situation in your house, label and hang a reusable bag for dry cleaning and get the clutter off the floor. Other laundry offenders include coins and receipts that fall out of pockets and end up on the dryer. Clear it out!

Porch
Porches can get cluttered quickly with gardening equipment that never got put in the shed and shoes that got left outside because they were muddy. Take stock of the porch and put items in their proper spots.

Garage
The garage can be quite a chore, so leave it for the weekend. Get rid of what you don’t need, pump up flat bicycle tires and get that lawnmower ready for spring!

Car
When you’re finished with the garage, don’t forget about your car. Get rid of the obvious trash (empty water bottles, wrappers, etc.) but also check the glove box for expired insurance cards you can toss and snacks that melted last summer.I surely found a ton of expired insurance cards and it freed up a ton of room!