De-cluttering Your Home: The Power of 15 Minutes

                Since we have moved into our new home I have scrutinized the location of certain items and organization tools.  Even though we have been in our home for less than a year, clutter still accumulates and trouble spots reveal themselves. I have come to a couple of conclusions.

Things don’t have to be permanent:

When you are faced with 10 boxes that say “kitchen” on it while unpacking you have to choose a place for the items. Unless the layout of your kitchen is exactly the same as your last home you don’t know the work flow of your space therefore you don’t know where things are best placed. This leads me to the next point.

Be patient:

Let things settle, see how you work best in the space and then you’ll know, rather than guess, where your spices and pots and pans are best placed. Things didn’t get cluttered over night,so they may not get  simplified over night.

Break it down into small areas:

I mean really small, as in one drawer, one shelf, etc. Busy mama’s don’t typically have time to take a full day to de-clutter an entire room.

My recent 15 minute projects:

I store my boys socks in the laundry room. This has worked so well for us as our shoes are stored in the mudroom right next to the laundry room. The socks were getting a little out of control. Too many mismatches and wrong sized socks.  It took me just 15 minutes to dump the bin out, weed out enough pairs for each boy to have what they need and collect the ones to donate or get rid of. I do laundry often enough so my boys only need 5-6 pairs of socks at a time. This keeps it manageable for them to find socks when they need them and for whoever is folding laundry to put them where they go.

Give things a dedicated home:

This drawer and counter top in my kitchen is our collect all space. I have a hard time to keep it clear so I made  a plan. I emptied the drawer and sorted the items. Everything that had an existing home went there.  I re-homed some greeting cards, threw out dried out pens, and put the four bins I got from the dollar store. Each boy will have a bin and items found on the counter above with go into the owners bin. When that bin is full, the owner needs to put the things away. This took me just 15 minutes to do and oh the refreshment I felt when the space had more function!

I hope this read finds you with a spot you can tackle to de-clutter soon. Remember to be patient with yourself and your space. Get rid of things either trash or donation that don’t serve a purpose to you. You’ll feel relief and refreshment with a tidy space that is simplified and orderly!