So...Operation Declutter My Life::Getting Started

Oh it feels so good to clean out junk!

I'm making pretty good progress decluttering my house.
Slow, but steady.  And it feels great.

I have a total of 9 bags to go to the D.I. and about 3 bags of garbage.
Crazy that there's that much extra stuff around here and probably more.
I've cleaned out our kitchen junk drawers (ahh), organized a couple closets and storage shelves, toys in the playroom, and a few other odds and ends around the house. 

With four little kiddos around and the busy-ness of life, I am trying to find a little time here and a little time there to declutter.  It's amazing how much can get done in between our daily activities.

A few things that have helped me get started -

1::Donate Bag.  Have a place, box, or bag dedicated to things to donate.  Any time I come across something I don't need or want, but it isn't trash, I put it in the bag.  It helps to have a place for things I want to get rid of.  It keeps me from moving unwanted items around my house from pile to pile.  I keep a bag in my closet upstairs, and a bag in a closet downstairs.  When a bag gets full, I move it to my trunk and haul it off to D.I.

2::Save for later Bag.  Have a place, bag, or box dedicated to items I'm unsure about.  Sometimes, as I'm cleaning up or decluttering I'll come across an item that I'm not sure has a place, doesn't get a lot of use, or I'm just not sure serves a purpose in my house.  But I'm not sure I'm ready to get rid of it.  Or perhaps I really like the item or it has sentimental value (I am super sentimental) and want to hang on to it for a while to see if I have a purpose for it later.  This happens often with decorative items.  It helps me to remove the item from the room and take some time to think about whether or not I really want to keep it in my house.  I put these items out of sight - under my bed, or in the garage - to see if I really miss it.  I can come back to these items later and make a decision on whether or not to keep them.  A good rule of thumb is, if it hasn't been used in a year, I probably don't need it.

3::Touch it Once.  Recently I heard about the "touch it once" rule.  The idea is to put things away after they touch your hand.  Don't pick something up and put it down somewhere it doesn't belong.  You'll just have to pick it up again to put it away.  Totally makes sense.  Not so easy for me to put into practice.  I am the queen of creating piles that need to go upstairs, piles that need to go downstairs, papers that need to be looked through, etc. etc.  I'm trying to be better about putting things in their place, not in piles to be put away later.  Following this practice really helps to decrease clutter.

This has been a good start for me.
When I get a few minutes to declutter, or even when I'm just doing daily picking up around the house, it really helps to have a system already in place for getting out the junk.
I've gotten into the habit, as I'm picking up around the house, of deciding which things need to be put away and which need to go away.  Sometimes it's straight to the garbage or D.I. bag it goes.
It's working great :)

Decluttering feels so good.
For now I'm gonna keep plugging along at the house.
This week I'll be focusing on our bedrooms. 
With three girls in one room, the junk really accumulates quickly :)



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Thanks for stopping by!