We all need to organize our lives better and these 10 Quick Tips to Help You Declutter will help you to do just that. . .
1. 15 minutes.
Can’t imagine tackling a whole house, or even an entire room, at once? Take 15 minutes each day to work on decluttering. Who knows, after 15 minutes you may just keep going for a few more.
2. Don’t allow things into the house in the first place.
Switch to paperless billing for everything that you can. Sign up for Manilla, a free web based service that helps you better manage all of your household accounts, including financial, utilities, subscriptions + More (Papeless!). Also, you can Register on the Direct Marketing Association Website. For $1, your name and address will be removed from prospective mailing lists, which will end about 75% of junk mail within 90 days.
3. Get it UP!
Start on your bedroom. Pick everything up off the floor, off the dresser (unless it belongs there), off the closet floor, etc. Pile it all on your bed. Yes, you read that right. Throw it all on your bed! Why? Because you can’t climb into bed tonight until you get that mess taken care of. 
4. Use boxes.
Get 4 boxes and label them “KEEP”, “DONATE”, “THROW AWAY” and “MAYBE”. Everything should fit into those four boxes. If not, create boxes that will work and create your own little system. Go through, room by room, and put everything in the boxes. When a box is full, deal with it. Meaning, when the donate box is full, bag that stuff up and put it in the van to donate it. When the keep box is full, start putting things where they belong.
5. One in, two out.
Whenever you bring in an item, you have to give away two other items. This will get your donation box full and will also keep your house from accumulating more clutter.
6. Enlist help.
Make cleaning up fun for your kids. Or, if all else fails, bribe them with something to get them to help you clean your room. 
Okay, so I’m kind of kidding on that one. It’s not good to get in a habit of bribing your kids. But, you can reward them. It’s all about the terminology, folks.
7. Envision it.
Creating a vision for the room you’re cleaning will help keep you motivated. Do you picture a new sofa in the living room? Well, you have to get it cleaned up before that can happen.
8. Try boxes, again.
If the other box system doesn’t work for you, try this one. Walk through each room with a box, searching for only one type of item. For example, if you want to clean up the living room then you need to walk through the entire house looking for all of the DVDs, VHS tapes, or whatever else goes in the living room. This can take a bit more time to complete, but is easier to break down into 10 minute increments.
9. Trash it.
Some things just need to be thrown away. If you can’t donate it, trash it. Walk through the house with a trash bag in hand and throw it all away the first time you see it. Don’t put it off until later – do it now!
10. If all else fails…
If all else fails, invite your mother-in-law (or someone else that would be just as critical of your home!) for dinner one week from today!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Great tips and they made me laugh too!
Thanks Alyce!
Loved the “Declutter” content, especially #10! LOL
Great advice here! I do the 15 minute thing, just set a timer and go! I also love #10. I have friends over all the time so that forces me to clean up the clutter, just to know someone is supposed to come over, I start speed cleaning!
Thanks Sharon! I have even been enlisting my kiddos with the timer! They love to race against the clock. #10 gets me speed cleaning too!
We have a house rule if “something comes in, something has to go away”. Its hard to keep but we try. We apply that on birthday season and Christmas.
I need to start doing that Nora!
We use the ice cream containers organize/store toys, paints, greeting cards and DVDs
If you are one of those who has a hard time parting with things (especially when cleaning out your closet), keep a “pending” donation box. Put the questionable items away in there as you come across them. After a period of time, you realize you truly will truly not miss these awful things, and off they go to your favorite charity. On a RARE occasion, an item they you may have regretted giving up can be retrieved.
I LOVE That idea Helen! This would especially be great for little kids who hate to give anything up!
Great list. The only addition I would make is the two year rule. If you haven’t seen or used it for two years, you no longer need it.
That is so true Amber! Especially with clothes!
Perfect article for me right now. I spent today decluttering my living room. It has been bothering me for months. Sometimes I just have no idea what to do with all of my husbands papers, computer parts, empty boxes, etc scattered all over the computer cabinet and tables. They just take over. And we’ve only lived here a year and a half! So today I got a box and some ziploc bags. I put computer parts that are big in the box, small parts in the bags, then in the box, and took it to his garage. I went through all the papers and made a work file, put away all tax papers in another file, etc. Anything in question is in a misc file. And I got rid of a ton of empty boxes (keeping all the paperwork for him of course). But seriously, who needs the box to every computer part, camera, gps, router, etc you’ve ever bought? I know we don’t even have some of that stuff anymore! And, gosh, how much better I feel looking at this room now!
I tried EVERYTHING finally the one type of item per box helped… And big ugly cheap storage shelves all over my families tiny little House. One box for sheets, one box for winter hats, gloves etc, one box for DVDs (most of which we purged and are now removing the rest from the bulky case and putting into cd holder books) gallon zipper plastic storage bags to bag individual cables, batteries, old cell phones the bagged items are in a see through plastic drawer. Its a work in progress because we still have boxes filled with assorted junk. And the real trick is putting items back in the correct place once you are done with them….. I cant put all the blame on my husband because i know i do the same thing.
Have a party! Invite friends and family over 6 times a year so you are forced to spruce everything up!
My friend swears by her neat scanner! However, I worry about returns and other things that typically expect original documents. Anyone have any experience with this?
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