If you’re struggling right now with decluttering, or you’re just unmotivated to start the process, then keep reading. Because I’m going to teach you how to quickly declutter any space in your home.
To be honest, I think we often overcomplicate decluttering spaces in our homes. Yes, we all have those sentimental items that do take some thought process, for sure. But, a lot of the spaces in our homes really aren’t hard to declutter. Oftentimes, the hardest part is just starting.
Let me ask you this – how many times have you opened the door to that one closet and thought, “Gosh, this is such a mess, I’ve got to get through this – I don’t even know what’s in here anymore.” These are the spaces I’m talking about! They’re the mindless spaces in your home that just require a little bit of your time and effort. But they have a big return on your investment.
I always tell moms who go through my Calm Your Chaos course, that it’s often the small quick wins that make such a difference! It’s amazing how getting through that pile of papers, or cleaning off your kitchen counter can make you feel so much lighter.
So to help you stop over-complicating and procrastinating the declutter process, I’m going to share with you 5 steps to quickly declutter any space in your home. The goal here is a quick win and a decluttered space.
To walk you through these 5 steps, I decluttered my office shelves this week. We keep all of our homeschool materials on these shelves so they get messy, quick! But I’m going to show you just how easy it is to tackle any space, quickly.
1. Time It
This first step is a MUST!!! It’s important to decide how much time you want to spend on your space and then set a timer to keep you on track. When you know how much time you have to work with, you’re more apt to stay focused. When you don’t have a timeframe set, you’re more inclined to get distracted, quickly. So decide on the time you’re going to spend and then set a timer on your phone to keep you focused.
2. Remove It
It’s important to remove everything from the space that you’re working with. For example, if you’re working through shelves, take everything off the shelves. If you’re working through your pantry, yes this means you need to take everything out of the pantry. The reason for this is because you want to think through every item before putting it back. You may have some things that need to be purged, donated, or placed in a different part of your home.
3. Sort It
After you’ve removed everything from the space, the next step is to sort everything. I recommend sorting all of your items into four piles:
- Keep
- Donate
- Trash
- Relocate
4. Wipe It
Now that you’ve removed everything from the space, it’s easy to give the space a quick wipe down! Often time, these are the spaces in our home that don’t get wiped down frequently. (To be honest, I don’t know the last time I cleaned these glass shelves of mine so it felt good to get ’em done). I recommend using microfiber cloths to wipe down your spaces. These Norwex cloths make a wipe down, so quick and easy.
5. Place It
Once you’re done wiping down the space, start placing everything back where you want it to go. This is also the perfect opportunity to rethink the placement of things. For example, I use to keep our homeschool bins on the bottom shelf, but our 2-year-old was always getting into them. So while going through this space, I decided they should probably be moved up a shelf. Problem solved.
Also, if there’s anything that should be relocated to a different space in the house, this is the time to do it. Place everything back where it will be the most functional and serve you and your family the best.
That’s it, you guys! This space took me about 15 minutes to tackle. So easy!
So now it’s your turn. What space in your home do you look at with one eye open? This week, I want you to commit to applying this easy 5-step process. Don’t overthink it or complicate it, just START.
NOT SURE WHERE TO START WITH YOUR QUICK DECLUTTER?
I have a free 15 Day Declutter Challenge where I help you declutter 15 spaces in your home in 15 minutes or less each day. I teach you why these spaces matter and how to declutter them so quickly.