If you were going to de-clutter your house

[Deleted]

Your WHOLE house, where would you start? In the room that needs it the most, or in the room you use or live in the most?

Our office is the room that needs it the most. All of our junk that doesn't belong anywhere else ends up there. But I wonder if it would motivate me more to start with easier rooms so I start seeing how nice it will look and feel.

I feel like I'm getting over some of my sentimentality that makes me hold on to stuff. I really want a very clean and organized house and I'm ready to get rid of a lot of stuff to get there.

Also - any organization tips for me?

[gretchenindisguise]

Closets and drawers.

Sent from my DROIDX using proboards

[circa1978]

I just pick a room and start. I do the bag system - one bag for stuff that needs to be put away in another room, one for storage, one for trash and one for donation.

[Deleted]

I'd start with the room you use the most, and then each night before bed do a quick sweep to get it back to clean so it gets kept up.

When you get to the office, I'd toss a bunch of office stuff in one box, take it to another room and start sorting through just that. Everything that doesn't get 'a place' would have to go.

www.flylady.net/ recommends setting a timer.

[kellbell191]

Aug 15, 2012 10:31:01 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

I just pick a room and start. I do the bag system - one bag for stuff that needs to be put away in another room, one for storage, one for trash and one for donation.

:Y:

We also choose areas where each category of item will be stored. One section of the basement is DH's homebrew stuff, one section is canned and bulk food, one section is pet care crap, one section is laundry. We have a filing cabinet for all docs, each kitchen cupboard has a general category, closets are winter clothes, summer clothes, bed linens, etc. If we decide before we organize its easier to organize

[hi725]

I can never decide how to tackle messes, because I always procrastinate on the worst spots.

I now start with my front door/entryway being the 12:00 position and work my way clockwise around the house. I start on the second floor so I don't have to drag garbage bags and boxes of clutter through the first floor after I've cleaned it.

[broc]

This is going to sound stupid, but I start by starting. If I plan what I'm going to do, where I'm going to do it, etc, then I'm really just making more excuses about why I can't do it and procrastinate. I set a timer for 15 minutes and just go.

[mrsjuleshs]

I decluttered my office this weekend and got new bookcases to organize everything. I started there and that is pretty much the only room that really needed it.

[sonrisa]

1) I start with the low hanging fruit. What is the most obvious and easy thing in each room to tackle? Get those things out first. You will have more room to store things once you've organized and cleaned the obvious clutter out. Plus, you will see the gains immediately.
2) Then I'd slog through the worst room.
3) Last I'd tackle the rooms I use most. If I did those first, the spill over from the bad room would make them disorganized again and I'd feel discouraged.

[eb777888]

I'd definitely do it in the room I spend the most time in (living room) or the kitchen. The first thing I do when I declutter an area is get all the shit out you don't need and donate it. Then trash what you don't want, put back what you do.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 10:38:04 GMT -5 broc said:

This is going to sound stupid, but I start by starting. If I plan what I'm going to do, where I'm going to do it, etc, then I'm really just making more excuses about why I can't do it and procrastinate. I set a timer for 15 minutes and just go.

I'm kind of the opposite. If I don't have a plan, I get overwhelmed. I make to-do lists and schedules for every big project I take on.

It can get a little obsessive.

[interro]

Like broc, I just have to START. It doesn't matter where. I'll procrastinate till the world ends if I let myself. Ideally, I'd start in my most-used room.

[adhdfashion]

The stuff stored in the garage. Its the stuff I probably haven't touched in a year. Which means it needs to go thrift store. Then the back of the closets and then the linen closet.

[lazyphoque]

I don't even start with an entire room because I get overwhelmed and fatalistic. I start with something concrete and manageable and move on from there, kind of like what Sonrisa said above. So I'd start with the desk, find a home for or get rid of everything hanging around on the desk, and then move on from there.

I do still make lists though, I just make sure that they are lists I can easily make changes to. I also work in different rooms each week so that I don't get disheartened by working on one thing for too long and seeing little progress or just getting bored.

[drrn04]

Start in the room where you spend the most time, and will feel the difference most quickly.

Touch things once. Don't make a "deal with this later" pile. Deal with it one time, and put it where you want it. Kept, donated, trash.

Don't get caught up in thing to buy to organize. Find a place for things now, and do that extra level of organization later. If you feel like you absolutely must get something, get clear plastic shoe boxes. They're small, stack well, and don't let you keep much crap in each one.

Take pictures of sentimental stuff that creates clutter. Like random mugs, baseball hats, souvenier type stuff, t-shirts, etc. Then donate the items.

Don't save clothes/random stuff "just in case" or "if when I gain/lose weight." If that happens, you'll want new clothes anyways, and not want to wear that 5 year old tank top. If you haven't worn it in a year, and it isn't a classic piece (white blouse, black pencil skirt, black jacket, etc), get rid of it.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 10:57:25 GMT -5 mofongo said:

This topic excites me so much, I'm such a dork. I HATE clutter, almost to a fault. I have been known to get rid of stuff we need, especially when I have PMS. I would totally help you, if I could!

I would probably tackle one room at a time, maybe starting with the office, since it seems to be the worst. Once you finish there, the rest will seem easy!

It is the best feeling ever, for me, lol

Lol, I completely understand! I can keep you updated, if you want.

I might be too embarrassed to post before pictures, though.

[RBL]

I would start with the room needing it the most, in your case, the office. Like mofongo said, once the office is done the other room should be simple.

[papie]

I'm also on the "just start" team. Also, my trick (which drives DH completely crazy) is that I just do it whenever I feel like it, even if it is the worst possible timing. Because if I don't do it then, I never will.

[statlerwaldorf]

It depends on how much time I had. If I had a lot of time, I would start through the area that is the worst. If I only have 15 minutes, I do a quick run starting with the room we are in the most.

[evynsmama]

Our living room! This is actually a goal for this year. We have what I call "the giant wall of oak" a huge entertainment center and large book shelf and all we do is pile stuff on it and I hate dusting it. My plan is for our family Christmas gift to be a new flat screen tv and entertainment center. This way we can get rid of the giant wall of oak resulting in less places to pile stuff.
Next is our didning room table. DD loves to color so I just keep her paper, crayons, colored pencils and markers on the dining room table and then more paper gets added to the table along with water bottles, the camera, and just random junk that we are too lazy to put in tis right place. I am hoping to solve this with DD's birthday present of an art station in November so that all her coloring materials will be in one place off my table and then we will be less likely to put stuff on the table because it will be clean.
Then there is the dresser in out bedroom, it is not bad but random stuff just ends up there and I feel like I am alsways cleaning it off.
Finally there is the office desk, papers just get piled up in there and for awhile things were just getting thrown on the guest bed too, but for now it is contained to the desk. There is also another gian bookshelf in there that needs to go, when we have another baby next year that will turn into a nursery so it will all be corrected in time.
I do a great job of keeping DD's room immaculate and my side of the bedroom is clean, but DH never puts away his laundry so his side of the room is usually messy, but at the end of the day I am just too tired to clean up his mess too LOL
Our garage is the most organized room in our house

[Deleted]

My house is rather empty.

There is nothing to declutter.