How to declutter and keep it that way!?

Question

I live in a very very small house with my hubby, 2 daughters (8 &7), pekingese, an 2 tom cats. My problem is I have to much stuff for my house! How do I keep it orginized and stay that way? I feel like as soon as I get done cleaning It is time to start again! HELP BEFORE I GO MAD!!!! :0P

Answer 1

www.flylady.com

she has a great system which will get your life out of chaos.
visit the site and start to do the stuff. It will change your life.
And you can be happy.

Answer 2

This is similar to a problem I had a few years ago. It comes down to making choices.

Step One:

You need to go through your house, room by room (one at a time and with your hubby) and decide what you absolutely must keep, what should go in the garbarge and what can be given away.

Step Two:
When you get everything into its pile, DO IT AGAIN. Go through each pile - be really sure that you really need that thing.

Step Three:
For the trash pile, bag it and trash it IMMEDIATELY - bring it outside/to the dump, whatever - just get it out of your sight.

For the donate pile, bag it and bring it to the Sally Ann donation box IMMEDIATELY. Value Village may also be an option.

For the keep pile - clean the room and put the stuff away. If there's not enough room for it, then you didn't get rid of enough. End of story.

Step Four:
A) You'll need to do this purge at least once every six months. My husband, the pack rat, and I do it once a season.

B) When someone brings something new into the house, something older must go (either to the trash, or to the donation bin). No matter how small it is - something has to go.

Step Five:
Don't feel bad about throwing things away or giving them away. It took me forever to convince my husband that giving books away was a good thing to do and that throwing away a gift, if you're not using it anymore, isn't a bad thing.

The rule at our place is "if you haven't touched it, or otherwise acknowledged it, in six months" - it goes.

It's tough. But it ultimately works. The important thing is to be able to breathe in your house - if you have to scuttle to the side to let someone pass - or to avoid the big pile of whatever - you're crowding yourself in and (whether you believe it or not) stressing yourself out.

Remember, things are things - you can't take them with you. But creating a sanctuary will make all the difference to the creation of family memories and, when you keep to a schedule, it will be much, much easier to maintain - easing your life tremendously.

Answer 3

You need help, big time. Here is what you do.

Be strict with new purchases. Ask a hundred times whether you really need it. Buy only what you need. You save tons of money.

Second, ruthlessly, get rid of stuff. Give them to salvation army, used articles/clothes pickup organization, Cerebral Palsy orgs., and / or United way.

If you have not used something in the past 1 year, you do not need them. Best way to find this out is to put a tag on the hanger. If you use it, then change the tag if not you know it is 1 year old and you have not touched it. These type of items are for donation. As I said, you should JUST abandon them without ever having to look back. Never think you will need it 'some day'. This is what gets you into trouble and things go haywire on you.

To keep things organized, stay on top of things that get disorganized - attend to them as you see them get in disarray. You will be amazed how easy it is to stay organized this way than to get to them at a 'later date'. No one has time set aside just to get organized. Staying organized is a constant battle.

Procrastination is the thief of time.

Answer 4

You've already stated your problem: you have too much stuff for your house.
So get rid of some of it.
If something hasn't been used in one year and it doesn't need to be kept them donate it, discard it, sell it or give it away.
Break the problem down into manageable chunks. Start with one cupboard. Don't try to do the whole house at one time. All the family should be helping you.
If you have a yard sale let your children keep any money made from the sale of their toys. Money from their outgrown clothes should be put back into the general fund.
Have a place for everything and get everyone to keep things in their assigned places.
Decluttering and cleaning are different, but related. Getting rid of the clutter will make cleaning easier.

Answer 5

Being a pack rat, I feel your pain. The way I uncluttered was to be serious about getting rid of anything I haven't used in a year. Some went for a yard sale, some to charity and some just to the trash, You must have no mercy. Trust me, you wont miss it. Then I got different sizes of plastic containers from small to large, filled them with used things and labeled them. I bought a label maker and that was so much fun I couldn't stop. Even bought more boxes and drawer sets as I found more things to organize. Now I know where everything is and after I use it I put it back. Makes life easier for my family.Good luck!

Answer 6

the less you have say dishes for example , the less you have to worry about messing up yur house. I knew that when i was just a boy , mom said clean up yur room and i went out to the garbage bin and got a garbage can because i did not want to clean it up ever again and i still live that way today. I only have enough dishes to feed the family 4 so thats all ill ever be stuck cleaning same with forks and so on hope that helps

Answer 7

it will take a while for you to sort your things especially with your busy household.

you may want to break it down by room. let's say you may want to start the kitchen because it's where you all spend most of your time.

in any room you may want to start with, you need some things for you clear up the mess.
> boxes (maybe cardboard or plastic)
> timer
> permanent markers
> big trash bags
> a lot of time and patience

mark the boxes:
KEEP
DONATE
NEEDS REPAIR
TRASH

you may also need another box for WILL THINK ABOUT IT. but i don't recommend it you may hang on to things you don't really need.

you can time yourself in doing the sorting so you don't waste your time. start with 15 minutes but no more that 30 minutes.

once you figure out what needs to be in the boxes you may start to wipe the area clean, vacuum dust and start putting things that you decided to keep.

if you think you may need some containers to put things that you decided to keep use baskets of all sizes, cheap clear plastic containers in the dollar store. i prefer clear plastic bins because you can see what's inside. but if you decide to a more decorative ones, you can use a labelmaker to put labels outside, or you may use a polaroid camera and take some pictures and tape it on the box.

one good rule of thumb is: to put it where it belongs.

once you're done with all the sorting and organizing you may want to include your children in teachings them in keeping their toys and books in their designated places. your husband is not excused from all of this.

make a schedule of things to do & clean. break it down by day.example mondays: tackle the living room, tuesday wash colored cloths, saturdays: check the mail and pay bills. try to do some of these chores within 15 minutes. think of it as a race. you may be surprised of how much you can do in 15 minutes.

for your mails, try to sort them out as soon as you received them. have a box or a tray one for bills and one for junk mail in case you can't see them right away. if you have a paper shredder, shred the junk mail asap. try to do correspondence and your bills once a week. again try to time yourself.

when doing your laundry, try to fold the load that you finish so you won't have to re-dry it again.it will save you time and money.

with regards to cleaning again make a schedule of the rooms that you need to clean. sometimes you just need to do mini clean up in every room. keep it neat.

try to have a cleaning caddy with your basic cleaning materials such as brushes, multipurpose cleaner, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, a small broom & dustpan, scrubbing pads. have one in each bathroom, laundry area and the kitchen.

keep a pen & paper in one of your drawers may it be in the kitchen or bathroom. so you can jot down things that you want to remember.

i may be asking too much but if you have just a little more time you may want to check out the library for some books that will help you be organize and have an efficient plan that you will need to maintain a clutter free and clean home. i recommend two books of donna smallin cleaning: plain & simple;organizing:plain & simple. they're so simple to read and you will learn a lot of things.

i hope i was able to help you.

happy cleaning & organizing