Simplify Your Home!

Are you on the quest for "the simple life"? Do you want more out of life than material goods and "keeping up with the Joneses"? The first step to simple living is to simplify your home. An organized and clutter-free home helps organize and declutter your mind, too! I read in a book once that everything you possess needs to be managed, from your bank account all the way down to the little trinket on your mantle. We don't think too much about all the little trinkets in life, but they add up and can quickly seem unmanageable!

I have 4 children, 1 husband, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 3 birds, and 4 fish. I have a lot to manage just in the "living beings" department. There was a time when I felt that I just couldn't keep up. Laundry, dishes, garbage, meals- all the necessary things to maintaining a household. My house was always messy, and no matter how many times I picked up those toys, they always found their way back to the floor! I began reading about the concept of Voluntary Simplicity and simple living in general and was inspired. I realized that my messy house wasn't because I was lazy or my children were extraordinarily messy, it was because we had too much STUFF. I set out to fix my home, and it changed my life.

You don't need any expensive charts or journals or "accessories" to help you change your life. These are just more items that need to be managed! I cleaned, organized, and simplified my home using the common sense steps below. My only "system" is that I looked at what I needed to do, and I did it without straying. No amount of charts, spreadsheets, or "to do" lists will keep you focused on your goal. They will merely distract you with the added responsibility of their maintenance. The one thing that I "accessorized" with was a blog. I told all my friends and family about my blog dedicated to the journey I was making in life. I felt that if I had others reading and seeing what I was doing, it would motivate me to keep it up. Peer Pressure. Maybe not the coolest way to motivate, but it worked for me!

Do not attempt to tackle your entire house at one time. Do not attempt to complete one room at a time. It can turn into the neverending struggle. This is not an instant fix; this process takes time and dedication. This is not a time for multi-tasking. You obviously can't work on this 24/7, so set aside 2 or 3 hours of every day for this transformation. While you may do chores all over the house during the rest of your day, this time should be set aside to work on the task at hand only. Depending on the size of your home and the time you are able to work each day, it can take from 2 weeks to 2 months to complete the entire process.

Step 1: Trash
Start at one end of your home and move from room to room with a garbage bag. See something out of place? Something looks dusty? Don't get distracted! Your chore is to get the trash out, and don't stray from your task! Too many times, we find ourselves multi-tasking. We head to the sink to wash dishes. We see a dirty cup in the bedroom. We notice a stack of books that a child has been kind enough to knock off the bookshelf. We pick up the books and notice the shelf needs dusting. We dust, and we forget all about those dishes we had started on. So many days we spend running from one little task to another and never fully completing anything. At the end of the day we feel exhausted but have nothing to show for it. Don't allow this to happen- stay the course. Trash. Just trash. Scour each room thoroughly and double-check for anything you may have left behind. Do NOT move to step 2 until you have completed this step in every room in your house. Do not leave the trashbag/s inside your house. Take the bags to the curb/dumpster.

Remember: the goal is to get it out! Leaving it in bags by the door for a month defeats the purpose.

Step 2: Charity donations
This step will take considerably longer than Step 1. Move from room to room bagging up items for donation. This can be a hard task. Think about it. Have you EVER used that breadmaker? Do you still wear that prom dress? Be realistic. This is where your devotion to living a clutter-free life will have to stand it's ground. I have a general rule for clothing: If I haven't worn it in 2 seasons, it goes. So, if I have a skirt that I just adore, but I know I didn't wear last summer, I give it one more chance. If at the end of this summer it hasn't been worn, it's outta here. Remember that these are material things. Keeping your "skinny jeans" won't make you skinny again, they will just clutter up your closet. I also found the kitchen to be a very cluttered area of my home, and I didn't even realize it was a problem until I started Step 2. I found small appliances tucked away that I had only used once or twice. Just because you have a lot of cabinets doesn't mean they all need to be full of things! Again, do not get distracted in another room or with another task!

A special note on clothing: Laundry can be overwhelming in a large family. Reducing your amount of clothing not only elimates the closet clutter, but it helps control your laundry routine. I took a bold step and reduced my childrens' clothing to 10 outfits per child. Some of the excess I donated to a charity and some of it was placed in underbed storage. Every few weeks, I can rotate out some of the stored outfits, but there are never more than 10 actively-being-used outfits in the rotation. I had the naughty little habit of waiting until everything was dirty to wash. Now if I procrastinate and it happens, it's no big deal. I can wash all their clothing in 2 loads if necessary. As with the trash step, do NOT leave bags of charity items sitting around. Do not put them in the back of your closet. Put them in your car and drive them to the donation center, or even better, look for charities that pick up and arrange a pick up date.

Step 3: Organize
Now it should all be coming together for you. You've gotten all the things out that are cluttering your home, and you can start organizing what is left. Everything should have a place. Now is the time to get things like bookshelves and toy bins if necessary. While the objective is to get things OUT of your house, you may need to add a couple of organizational items.

For example: In a home of 6, we have a lot of shoes. Even after trashing and donating all the old shoes that were cluttering our closets, we still have quite a few pairs. They seem to get piled up all over the house and cause considerable drama in the morning when they can't be found. Get a nice large wicker basket or comperable box-type item that complements your entry area. Keep the shoes in it. Always. When you take them off, put them there. Get your children in the habit of leaving theirs in the "shoe box" also. I have a friend who put a small section of shelving by her door which also serves the same purpose beautifully and keeps the shoes in better condition.
When everything has a place, it is easier to manage and maintain order.

Step 4: Clean
Now that your house is uncluttered and organized you can clean it. REALLY clean it. When was the last time you actually wiped out the drawers in your kitchen cabinets? How long have you been looking at that hard water stain in your bathtub? Chances are, if you have a busy life you can't even remember. Start in one corner of your room and work your way around in one direction. Try to touch every item in the room, even if just to lightly dust it off. Mop or vacuum as your last step.

Step 5: Maintain
The time for procrastination is over. You have a clean, organized, clutter-free home, and you can keep it that way! You have to get out of the "it's just one" mindset. You know that one leads to many, and many leads to messy, and messy leads to that hopeless feeling. Be proactive and clean up behind yourself. This is much harder with children, but the sooner you can teach them to be responsible and neat with their things, the more it will benefit them. Maintaining your newly organized home will take time and practice, but you can do it! There will be times when you "relapse" and find a bathroom floor covered in dirty clothes, but you can recover. Relax, take a deep breath and get back on track. Mess in the home has a real snowball effect- one toy turns into 10, one sock into 5, and before you know it disaster has struck your living room. It can happen in the blink of an eye!

I can only speak from my own experience. I am not a psychologist. I am not a doctor. I'm just a mom with a whole bunch of kids living in a small house in suburbia. But as such, what I DO know is that a cluttered house makes a cluttered mind. I know that my children behave more calmly and respectfully when the house is neat and tidy. I know that my stress level is reduced and my anxiety is virtually gone. The helpless feeling of "what have I done with my life?" when I look around at clutter and chaos is gone, and maybe most importantly, I know that I am teaching my children lifelong skills and habits for a more simple and peaceful life. Children learn by example, and I cannot expect them to clean up after themselves as I leave empty cups around the house. I can make the rules, and I can enforce them, but unless I also practice what I preach, they will never fully embrace the idea.

As I stated earlier, this is not a quick-fix. This is a process that involves your entire life and changing the way you look at material items and your attachments to those items. I suggest reading The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs and any/all of Elaine St. James' books on simple living. They both have great ideas and alternative methods for de-cluttering your life and home.

Article by:

Melissa Buck is a work-at-home mother of 4 children. She owns and operates Moon Bees with her friend and business partner, Leanne Holcomb.

This article is available for reprint with author's resource box intact and all links live and clickable. Copyright is reserved by author.

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