I’ve done my fair share of moving which means I’ve packed up my entire existence many times. While doing so, I took some mental notes on how this should be done, and here I am ready to give you all some tips. Whether you’re moving, a hoarder who needs to purge, or just need some help getting organized, this post is for you.
1. Walk around your entire house, open up every drawer and every cupboard and take a mental note of everything you have.
Once your brain has filed it all away you’ll have a better picture of what you’re dealing with. You may, like me, realize you have a lot more stuff than you remembered.
2. Purge.
This is my favorite of all the steps. A great feeling comes over me when I get rid of things. When purging, remember the following: if you haven’t used it for a year, you’re never going to use it. Bye bye.
3. Put your purged items in one of two categories: dump or donate.
Some of your purged items will probably be lifeless things that no one will ever be able to salvage. Toss those. Lots of your items, however, may still be in great shape but you just aren’t going to use them anymore. Donate these items to friends or to your local Goodwill.
4. Sell, sell, sell.
This is where you turn to garage sales, craigslist, or eBay. The money that I’ve made from selling our old furniture and things I no longer needed went towards buying new furniture and household items. You’d be surprised at the things people want. All those items just sitting on your shelf could make you a nice amount of cash.
5. When you’re packing, label everything.
Seriously. Label every box with everything that’s in it. I’ve made the mistake of not doing this in the past and then instead of being able to easily put the bathroom boxes in the bathroom and the dishes in the kitchen, I’ve got every single box box stacked up to my ceiling and I don’t know what is in what. LABEL!
6. Pack smart.
Don’t put all the heavy stuff in one box all the way to the top. Make sure you only put a few heavy items in each box so you don’t throw your back out when you’re moving them.
7. Don’t procrastinate.
Do a little each day. If you don’t leave yourself enough time, you’re going to be on a serioius time crunch and you’re going to be stressed. Try to tackle one room at a time and give yourself a pat on the back each time.
8. Get organized and stay organized.
Make sure everything in your house has a designated spot. As a general rule of thumb, your house will stay a lot more organized and a lot cleaner if you put things away. If you put them away in their correct spot, even better.
9. Try to clean your house once a week.
Dusting, vacuuming, picking everything up, cleaning in the corners, the works. I know we are all crazy busy moms but try to do this the next time your little angels go down for a nap.
10. Use common sense.
If anything in your house has been sitting there being stared at but not used in months, if you can’t justify keeping it, if it’s been packed away for a year, say your goodbyes. I can’t stress this one enough. Holding on to things makes your house cluttered and messy, and when you go to move, you’re going to have to move even more. If I never got rid of things, I would probably be up to my eyes in things.
Having a clean house and an organized life is not an easy thing. Especially when you are a busy mom with kids running around your house making a trail of messes everywhere they go. The good news though, is that it can be done.
What’s your best tip on decluttering and organizing? Share it with us in a comment below!