Start Decluttering

Start decluttering now!!! What does that mean?? Get rid of items in your house that are cluttering it up. How nothing fits in your house like it used to.

start decluttering seems to start in the living room.

It mainly doesn’t fit, because it was never really there in the beginning. When you first got your house, it was clean, and had no clutter!!

Now you look around, your things no longer fit anywhere. You bought more bookcases and shelving to help store your things. Because you went shopping or someone gave you something. You eventually have too many of everything.

My living room is a work in progress because I don’t really have an idea where to start! Do I just empty it out and start like I just moved in? I just have no real clue on where and how to start with the mess called my living room.

So much clutter is what I realize I see lately. The stuff on the counters and desktop are things I use. Not clutter. That is actually all tucked away and hidden on shelves and cubbies. I thought I was tidying up but I was hiding all the excess things I actually don’t us

Struggling with where to start to declutter we get frustrated and a little upset with ourselves. No need to do that, just start small and you will get it done. We always want to get it done right away, and really, it does take time.

Where to move my desk is what I have been trying to figure out the past few days. Moving a desk is easy to do when you have the space to move it anywhere. I really don’t have that. Then all the items on the desk and the computers also.

Movies

All our houses are different. You may love movies and need to store them. Keep all the movies you love and will re-watch again. I have all my favorite movies in a cabinet and sorted by horror/love/romance and kids. As before I had 2 big bookcases containing them all. Downsized for sure on what I owned. So what did I do, I decluttered all my movies and stacked just my favorite movies, and got rid of the rest. Yes, I did get rid of the rest. Gave it to a family member that has no cable, so he appreciated the movies. Took 2 weeks to watch them all. That was about 6 boxes of movies.

I even went even further, I had started to buy movies on YouTube and on my xBox. So they are digital and there when I need them. I now do not buy movies at Walmart and now look for the digital version of them. I still get to watch my favorite movies, and they are much more easier to get now. I just need to remember where it is. I even have some on Apple TV, those are most of my digital versions I got when I bought my movies. Most movies came with Blu-ray, dvd an digital version. So glad I paid that extra for the full package of the movie.

Start Decluttering My Kitchen

My plan for this is just to take everything out of my cupboards. Just to start to visualize my empty kitchen. Take a moment, to look at all my things on the kitchen table. Then turn around and look at the empty kitchen.

How do I want my kitchen to actually look??? To say, if I just moved in and how would I want it??

  • what do I use every day?
  • do I bake? what do I need for that
  • how many frying pans do I need
  • pots, how many?
  • Do I want a clear counter
  • do I have all the room for all my things? (No)
  • Where do I want things to go
  • how to make it to function properly

This is part of what I am thinking right now. I need to decide how much I want in my kitchen and to have it function each day. Cause I do love simple cooking and do not need a lot of appliances for every meal.

I basically want to get into my kitchen, look for a frying pan and spatula. Without having to dig them out, and move things to reach them. So I need a solution.

Also, I own so many frying pans, and pots now. Baking pans and plastic storage items. Hmm, how much do I actually need?? Cause I clearly have too many in my kitchen. Cause I am getting frustrated, there is no joy going in my kitchen anymore.

All I Feel Is stress!!

Why?? Because my kitchen has too many items in it. Not enough space for it all. So I need to get rid of things and have things fit in the space that I do have. Not finding space for all the extra things.

Need more function. Less stress. More of a sigh of relief moment when you walk in a room. You love walking into a room and feel great about it. That is the goal we are aiming for here.

To have that happen, you need to start decluttering. To make your rooms feel great to be in, and less like a storage unit. Know where all your things are.

Because I have picked up and looked at everything I own. Placed it in a spot made for that item. Just like I have my movies, in one bookcase. I now have more!! So I need to go and declutter again. Because I only need what fits on the shelves and no more. Right now, it has way too much on there. I realized that I need to only own what I use and not make all items fit in the space I have. Shocking when I came to this realization, and yes I was told this before. But I didn’t want to listen and now I see now that that idea would work now. Only keep what I need and don’t make things just fit!

So I do need to declutter along the way when I bring in new items in your house. Because I now already have lots of things and do not want clutter. So I will need to get rid of something. I really need to visualize what I want my kitchen to look like. I hope I can get this done. I have a hard time trying to visualize my kitchen tidy, cause all I see is the one I have.

Bathroom Clutter

What is bathroom clutter?

  • towels
  • hairdryers
  • many shampoos
  • many soaps
  • bathroom counter
  • area around the tub
  • having things on your floor
  • too much hair products

This is just a basic list. To make you think of what is clutter in your bathroom?

Well, I have to do with the area more, I have done some. I own 4 shelves of bathroom products. Meaning everything from hair products, lotions, bubble baths, etc… So I basically spent all this money on these. I will use them. So I am not getting rid of them. But I have a goal to use them, no more buying anymore. Whether it is on sale or not. This is an ongoing task when you start decluttering. You realize all the things you bought and how much you have too much way too much stuff!!!

Cleaning out the Linen Closet

So I have tackled the task of Cleaning Out My Linen Closet. This is where I put all my bathroom things because I have a small bathroom and not much storage for stuff in there. It took us about 3 hours, yes, there was two of us cleaning and organizing it all.

I finally had enough of not being able to get into the linen closet. Basically, if you needed to put something inside it. You would throw it in and slam the door. Sad, but true. So it needed to be cleaned out and get all sorted.

Need more space in your home?? How do you get more space, maybe declutter? Start going through the things that you do own. Do you need all that you own?

Now I know where everything is and can easily be seen also. This is how I want my place to be because right now I am overwhelmed by stuff.

Before I tackled this big task of my day. I need something to help me and give me the boost I need. So I would have a drink of water and a snap– for clarity in my thinking. This is a fabulous product.

It sure did help me to see more clearly the task I was trying to tackle. Without getting stressed out about it all. I got it all done, feel great about it all. Love the linen closet now!! Worth all the work to get it done. So when you think you’re ready to start decluttering, jump right in and get started.

Did My Decluttering of my Linen Closet Stay Clean?

No, it actually didn’t last long. It is right back to what it was before. A throw in the closet kind of clutter. No room and too much of everything in there now. So I found out when I have cleaned it out. That I basically organized the mess, and didn’t get rid of much except a small garbage bag of garbage. So that tells me I didn’t declutter, but organized the mess.

I know now that I need to tackle the closet again and be clear to myself that I need to clear it out. Only have what I have to have in there and do not organize the mess. I see now that I don’t touch most of all that is in there, and if I had to tell you all that was inside. I know I couldn’t, I just say bathroom stuff. Medicine, tissue, cold medicines, bandages, lotions, soaps, new shampoos. I also do store my essential oils and diffusers.