I have a confession to make – I probably have 20 books on how to organize my home. I have read some, skimmed some and not even looked at some. There have been bits and pieces I have gleaned from them but I can tell you the easiest way to organize your house is to get rid of the clutter.
This seems like such a simple concept but why do so many of us live in the fear of having company? Never satisfied in our homes? Always thinking that the next item we buy to decorate or make our lives “easier” will be just the fix we need. Only to find out we have too much to take care of and don’t need or use half of it.
We all have clutter. Areas in our homes where items accumulate that we don’t need or use. This next series of posts in the Homemaking 101 Series today is to help us to get rid of the clutter in our homes. My favorite reminder from Flylady is “you can’t organize clutter”. Every week we will have an assignment of various areeas in our homes to declutter, organize and beautify.
Rooms and Areas We Will Tackle Together:
Kitchen – Cupboards, Counters, Sink, Under Sink, Kitchen Table, Drawers, Pantry & Kitchen Desk.
Main Bathroom – All storage areas in the bathroom, sinks, shower, tub areas and simplifying for easy cleaning.
Master Bedroom & Master Closet – Included in this one will be closet organization along with dressers, nightstands, under bed storage, books and making your bedroom a haven.
Kids Rooms – Closets, desks, beds, under beds, toys and books. Working to make the room one your children (if age appropriate) can clean themselves.
Toy Storage – Decluttering, storing, rotating and making them easy for children to pick up after themselves.
Half-Bath or Powder Room – Tidy under sink, minimize items and set-up to keep supplies stocked and bathroom clean daily.
Family/Living Room – Declutter table tops, game storage, DVD’s, CD’s, magazines, books, photo albums, simplifying the space for easy cleaning.
Laundry Room – Organizing dirty clothes area, laundry supplies, decluttering unused supplies, sorting iron/ironing board, drying racks and appliance maintenance. Making the room a joyful spot to do laundry.
Entryway/Mud Room – Tidy your main entry where guests enter and we will organize and work through if you have a back entry where your family leaves their shoes, coats etc. We will declutter, organize, clean and add a touch of warmth and beauty to your entryways.
Our Vehicles – As busy mama’s our cars can get a bit neglected. We will talk about important items to have in them and how to store our vehicles to be kid friendly and easy to keep clean.
Important Info:
Every day for the week (please take Sunday’s off) we will set a timer for 15 minutes and spend that time decluttering, organizing and beautifying one area of our home. This is not meant to overwhelm or add to your already busy day. The hope is it will simplify your days by having an easier house to clean and take care of in less than a few months time.
Some rooms we will spend more than one week in. (An example is the kitchen – there are three weeks planned to go though it together.)
Once the clutter is removed and the room is organized, we’ll work together on how to add a little order and beauty to the room.
Deep down we all want our homes to be welcoming and to reflect beauty and warmth.
During these series of posts we’ll have more additions to the Homemaking 101 Series in the areas of budgeting, taming the laundry monster, how to use a planner to be more efficient, caring for yourself, easy hospitality, meal time routines and many more.
We will start on Monday, July 20th in the Kitchen and spend the next three weeks together decluttering, organizing and beautifying our most used space in the home. I will work to put encouragement and small tasks up on my Facebook page to keep you motivated.
If you’re joining in with us please leave a comment here or on my Facebook page. It is a great place to share our goals and tips together so we can work together in community. Gather your in person girlfriends and get them on board with us too.
Have any ideas on posts you would like to see in this series? Please leave a comment below.
Visit all the posts in the Homemaking 101 Series here.
Visit all the Posts in this Declutter, Organize & Beautify Your Home Series here.
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Perfect timing. Count me in ❤
I need this.
Kitchen tops and tiled walls done today. Feeling good. Cant wait to tackle next thing tomorrow – under sink and crockery cupboard….
Thank you so much! I’m starting today, too.
I’m looking forward to this!
Just came across this site. Really ex ited to try this. So need some organisation in my life!
I can hardly wait for this to start!
I am excited to try this! Needing all the help I can get as a mom of two working full time.
Im in!
looking forward to this! thank you!
I’m hoping to join in, too! However, I am not on facebook to receive the encouragement and small tasks. If it’s not too much ask, can you email these to us? Thanks!
I don’t have an easy way to do that Robin but I will work on something for my email subscribers. Pondering a way to put it in a newsletter. I’m not the most techy grandma blogger but I keep on learning ;). Thankful you’re joining us too!
Please add me! Blessings!!
I really need this. Very timely!
How will this work into a a schedule for those of us who work outside the home?
Lynn you only do what you have time to. We are only spending 15 minutes a day in a room so that would still be very doable working outside the home. If we have more time I’m going to encourage you to spend as much as you can as you’re decluttering and organizing. The benefit is we gain so much more free time in the long run. Try to stick with us and see how you do. Remember, there is no pressure you just do what you can manage. Something is always better than nothing ;). Blessings to you!
Let’s do this thing!!! 🙂
So looking forward to this
Hoping we can make this work! 🙂 looking forward to a cleaner, more inviting home!
I need this. Thank you for the encouragement.
Following … Maybe doing ….
I’d really like to de-clutter. Can you reform a pack rat?
Well count me in!!
I’m in! The “planner” in me wants to know how many weeks in total this will run. Thanks for doing this series.
Lesleigh I don’t have a time frame yet because I keep adding more areas of our homes in my mind lol. When I get some time to sit and go through it in the next couple of weeks I’ll try to share it in one of the posts or back here to you too :). I’m a planner to so I totally get where you’re coming from ;).
Thanks Marci! I really appreciate this series!
I have been struggling to get rid of clutter and am sooo excited to join in!!
joining!!
Sounds great!
So excited to try this!
Definitely need this!
This is wonderful! I’m all in,I need this.
Awesome. I really need this.
This is perfect timing! I need less clutter and more organization in my life before the craziness of the school year starts. I really like that your adding beauty to it too!