How do I go about de-cluttering my very small house?

Question

Do I do one room at a time? How long should it take per room?
Throw it out if I have't used it in a month or 6 months?.. Where do I start. My husband is a pack rat. and I have two small babies 22 months and 9 months....I am over whelmed with toys, and clothes!! Help, I think if i was more organized I could spend more quality time with my babies. Help!!

Answer 1

I start with the obvious...clear the trash. Throw out all old newspapers, magazines, sort old bills and throw away inserts, and things that have been taken care of that dont need to be kept.

Then hit the clothes, kids clothes that no longer fit, freecycle to a needy person or donate or yard sale. Pass them. Same with yours and your husband clothing. If you wont wear it, cant wear it, havent worn it for 6 months...pass it on.

Do the same with other items. Have 3 cookie sheets and only need 1? Pass the extras on. It feels so good to purge your old items, bringing more peace and order to your home, giving you time to spend with your little ones.

And this doesnt have to be undertaken in one day. Do baby steps...start one day by sorting old magazines and tossing them. THen move onto another pile or area and do the same. Within a short time you will see progress which in turn inspires you to do more.

Good luck with your endevor.

Answer 2

Then you need to declutter as soon as possible. Start one room at a time, go through everything, if you havent worn it in 6 months toss it. If it doesnt fit the smallest baby or the smallest one wont be able to wear it, out it goes. Buy some of those space bags (the ones that use a vacumn to suck the air out) for the stuff you cant bear to get rid of (christening dress stuff like that) and the stuff you are saving so the younger kid can wear it, then store them under your bed, under the baby's crib, out of sight. When it comes to toys, less is more, the children will benefit more from having mommy read to them and spend time with them, than they will from having every toy on the market. Pay attention to their favorites,the ones they play with every day, keep those and a few of the others, (you can put a small bag with 2 or 3 each in the truck of your car for shopping trips and they stay there) For the husband you need to sit down with him and tell him that you are being over run with stuff, give him a space for the stuff that is important to him and he has to get rid of some of the stuff that he hasnt used in a long time too. Dont over look closet shelves, under beds and in the garage as a storage space for the stuff that has special meaning, but at the same time you dont need to store every baby outfit, maybe just the one from the pictures, or the one they came home from the hospital in, you can start a tradition with those and get rid of the rest. Good Luck.

Answer 3

well you can do it this way to de-clutter your small house. I took one room that people would see first and that is usually the living room. you take some very good sturdy boxes and you go through that room and things that you have not looked through or used in 6 months i would pile in boxes and then i would rearrange the room the way that i would want it to be, then i would change things i got tired of looking at repaint extra. and you think that it is going to get messed up while you are doing the other rooms and you are wrong because you have everything organized and everthing has a place so it wouldnt take that long to put everything else back. then i would go to the next room and then the next until i had the whole house done the way that you wanted and you can do like i did and use the garage to use for the filled up boxes and then when you get done with each room and have everthing the way you want you go through the stuff and get it ready for a BIG yard sale you have everthing priced and ready to be put out for when you want to have it and you would be suprized on how much money that brings in and i suggest that with 2 small kids keep things that they have had there picture taken with or wore in a picture and pack them away for you to bring out when they are having kids or just want to look at the stuff that you kepted.I have a cedar box to keep things in for each one of my kids and i have 3. and then when you get done with your yard sale take to good will or give to some needy family that lives around you. and then when it is nice you can do the garage and then everything has its place and everything is not cluttered. well i hope this works. good luck.

Answer 4

I would say if you haven't used the items in 6-months to a year, then it is probably safe to start throwing things out.
If you have items that you do want to keep, but are all over the place, just stop by your local Wal-Mart and pick up some storage boxes so you will have more space.
Also, for the children's toys, I suggest a toy chest.
If you are no longer using the baby clothes, give them to Goodwill or to a friend/family member who will get use out of them.

I hope that helps!

Answer 5

One room at a time. Get boxes & sort. Have a garage sale. You'd be surprised at the money you can make & I'm sure it could come in handy with the holidays around the corner. Sort what can be sold, donated, or trashed. Your husband will probably like the money that can come in at a garage sale so he may not mind too much. Do 1 room at a time and box up the items, when you are done with the whole house, have your garage sale! Good luck!

Answer 6

Here's my suggestion: Get several cardboard boxes and some garbage bags. Go through each room as if you're preparing for a yard sale and pretend that you REALLY need the money. Put anything you don't truly want or need in the boxes or bags. Once you've gone through and gotten rid of a ton of things- take everything to the nearest Good Will store. I hope this helps! Best wishes.

Answer 7

You should start by purchasing some sturdy plastic or wicker laundry baskets and start sorting things by category. For example, one basket for shoes, one for toys, one for clothing items and then line them up and start going thru one by one putting each item up. Don't just put it up on a shelf, but designate a certain drawer, closet or bin for these things... A great way to organize is to set up a closet for categories. Like have one closet strictly for the kids toys, one closet just for crafts or hobby items, one cabinet just for cleaning supplies, etc. The key to decluttering is once it is done, you have to be disciplined to keep up with putting the items up where they belong. I know its hard with kids, especially little ones. They accumulate so much in such a short period of time, that it will actually pay off to try and declutter and organize yourself... It is a good idea to also set aside a box to throw things in that you no longer use, to later sell on ebay or a garage sale. you would be surprised how much $$$ you can make on junk you no longer use! Hope this helps. I have found that grabbing about 3 big laundry baskets and totally dedicating 1 hour to declutter can make such a big difference in clearing up a space.