How To Declutter Your Home In 6 Efficient Steps

A door is something I take for granite. How about you? How many uses can you think of for a door? Here is my short list:
1. A door keeps people out when we close and lock our exterior doors.
2. It hides gifts in the closet.
3. It hides clutter-it may be time to declutter your home because it hides clutter so well.
4. It is where the door knocker is attached.
5. In our garage the previous owner had attached an old door 3 feet from the ceiling to be used for storage. We store our Christmas tree on this door.
6. A door on the bathroom keeps baths private.
7. A door on the bedroom keeps many things private.
8. Let's declutter your home by showing clutter the door.

Get a BE basket. A BE basket stands for Belongs Elsewhere. Pick a room and place everything that doesn't belong in that room in the basket. This saves a lot of time as you aren't running back and forth putting things away one at a time. After you have gathered everything that doesn't belong now take them to their "homes". If they don't have a home consider if it is something you want to keep. If it is then make a decision right then and make a place for it and put it in its place. If it is not important to you, put it in the trash, recycle bin or donate pile.

My daughter organized her jockey box, a.k.a. glove compartment in the car while she was waiting for me to drop off my car at the mechanics. She found 3 Altoid tins, 2 large dental floss containers, 5 flashlights (how many flashlights does one car need?), a hand full of pens (most of them didn't work) and 2 tire gauges. The point was she had duplicates and more of several items which she didn't need or want. She donated the duplicates and got rid of things no one could use.

Do you have duplicates or triplicates or more of things you don't need or want in your home? This is an easy way to declutter your home-just get rid of the excess.

Declutter your home by getting rid of trash. This would be old newspapers, magazines, junk mail or other stuff that is just lying around not being used and taking up space that steals your energy. Magazines can be donated to nursing homes or senior centers. But don't create more clutter by piling them up waiting to find time to donate them. It would be better just to recycle them. Don't let good intentions but lack of time or energy clutter your life.

Do you love having deadlines? Do you work best under pressure? A local charity called and asked if I had anything to donate. I didn't at that moment but I had a closet I had been planning on de-cluttering so I told them yes. That made me get to it and go through that closet. I also told my family the truck was coming and asked them if they had anything they could donate. By the time we were through we had 4 large bags to donate. Setting a deadline may be just the thing you need to help you declutter your home.

If you don't know where to start, start in the room that your family uses most often or that your guests see most often.
When you declutter your home you can then open any door in your home and instead of finding clutter you will find neat organized shelves. Ahhhh, how good that feels. Start today and show clutter the door.