Decluttering your house when you have kids is so hard! Before you have kids, your house is fairly organized (if you don’t count your husband’s clothes that never quite seem to make it to the hamper ;)). But, then, slowly, the toys take over, the kitchen counter is covered with papers, and you just got a puncture wound from a Lego on the floor that you didn’t notice.
And don’t even get me started on the laundry!
When your house is overrun with clutter and mess, it is so hard to get motivated to start getting organized! When you look around at how much there is to do, I mean, where do you even start?!
There is an Easy Way to Declutter Your Home
Well, I am here today to tell you two very important things:
- Decluttering and organizing is an ongoing process. You don’t just “set it and forget it”. Sorry!
- If you are feeling overwhelmed with how to start conquering the clutter, there is a super easy way to declutter your home.
I can tell you this works because it is exactly how I started to declutter my house a year ago. I was there. We had just had our third baby and were contemplating moving. I looked around and couldn’t imagine packing (and then unpacking) all of the stuff I saw laying around.
Toys, textbooks from college (we had both graduated about 10 years before!), clothes, books we didn’t plan on rereading, a gazillion blankets, so much stuff.
What was I going to do with it all?
I decided to just get a box and fill it up as I came across things we could get rid of.
Don’t Declutter All At Once
That’s the secret I want to share with you today – decluttering doesn’t have to be some massive, weekend purging, yard sale event. We lived in a bad location for a yard sale and I didn’t feel like gathering everything up and spending my weekend watching people shop my stuff. I didn’t think much of it was worth selling on Ebay, and I tried some things on online yard sale sites, but didn’t want to be running around meeting people all the time.
So, I decided that the majority of our stuff that was in good shape, we were going to just donate.
I got a box and filled it up. I actually filled up 3 boxes that afternoon.
And I took about a trunk load of stuff to Goodwill about 2 or 3 times a week for the next few months. Yes, we had that much stuff.
And ever since that day, I have kept a running “donation” box in an easy to access area of our house. Now, as I am cleaning up or just doing things around the house and I come across something that needs to go, I just put it in. When the box is full, I close it up, and take it to Goodwill. Keeping a “give away” box (as my kids call it), makes it so easy to declutter your home.
The best part? I mean, besides a less cluttered house? If you take it to a nonprofit charity and they give you a receipt, it is tax deductible! (I am not a tax lawyer, so check the laws before you deduct it)
Starting is the Hardest Part
Once you get the level of clutter down to a manageable level, it becomes much easier to look at a problem area and say “I’m going to organize that today!”. I’ll be honest, it took a few months (and lots of boxes) before I actually felt like I was making a difference. So, be patient with yourself if you take several boxes to charity and still feel like your house is totally full. It will get better!
How Kids Can Help Declutter Your Home
Children Can Help Donate
If you have young children who are “less than thrilled” to get rid of a toy that they ‘“love” (and by love, I mean hadn’t played with in 6 months until you tried to get rid of it), then get them involved in decluttering your home by telling them to pick some toys that they are done with and they think another boy or girl, who doesn’t have very many toys, would like to have. You’ll be surprised at the size of your child’s heart. I know I was when I started decluttering with my girls.
Teach Children to Value Their Space
Another way children can help keep your house cleaner is by decluttering their own stuff. The paper piles of art, drawing, notes, and just…paper is unreal with some kids! You can start the habit of going through it with your kids on a weekly or monthly basis and seeing what they really need to keep. Whatever they want to keep can live in their rooms, so it helps them to understand that whatever you keep takes up your space, so make sure it’s worth your space.
It may be hard at first. And, if you have little ones, they might want to keep everything and that’s OK. But, keep at it and keep talking about making sure that what you keep is worth your space and kids will gradually decide that more and more stuff is not worth keeping. I got this idea of “is your space worth it” from Allie Casazza from her podcast, but you can also check out her book, Declutter Like a Mother. Definitely worth checking her out!
A Declutter Warning
One word of caution I would give you is this – don’t start giving away your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend’s stuff without checking with them. At first, I was just getting rid of my stuff and the kids’ stuff because my husband just wasn’t ready to part with his stuff (remember those college textbooks I mentioned earlier? Not mine.). It took the better part of 6 months of me consistently getting rid of things before my husband jumped on board and is now much more willing to part with items he doesn’t use.
I find that having a donation box constantly available, really make the decluttering process possible. I don’t have to do some marathon decluttering (#ain’tnobodygottimeforthat). I can just declutter as I go through my normal routine.
Related Reading:
The Easiest Way to Clean Your House
How to Always Know What’s For Dinner
Tips & Tricks to a Clean Kitchen Faster
You Can Do It
Find a box and put it somewhere you walk by frequently. Don’t even put anything in it right now if you don’t want to. But, next time you see something obsolete, you will have a place to put it. And then, my friend, it’s smooth sailing from there!
Want some help? Grab my FREE decluttering checklist! I take you room by room through your house with easy, manageable areas to tackle every week.
>>DOWNLOAD YOUR DE-CLUTTERING CHECKLIST HERE<<
Love this idea? Be sure to Pin It for later and share it with your friends who want (or need) to declutter!
My husband is as fastidious as I am about clutter. It isn’t “clothes that don’t make it into the hamper” for him – it is CLEAN laundry that stays folded IN the hamper on the floor. BANE OF MY EXISTENCE!!
Lol, I hear you on that one, too, Claire! At least they are neatly folded and not in a pile on the floor. I guess you have to pick your battles!
My donation box is in the back of my car so no one sees it ha! I fill it up and haul it off once every few months. Otherwise my kids will grab stuff from it and insist that it is their favorite.
Ha! That is great. I know exactly what you mean – my kiddos have “rescued” several items at different times. But, I do tell them, that Ok, they can keep that item, but they have to replace it with something else. Works every time!
lol. I have to declutter when my kids are in school, and the mister is at work, to prevent them from rescuing toys. :/
Hi Ann, that is the PERFECT time to declutter! Just you, a donation box, and a trash bag…..sounds heavenly!
I very often read the advice to tell little kids they’re sharing their toys with kids less fortunate than them, but I can’t say that to my kids because we shop thrift stores, so they know it’s not just poor kids with less stuff buying the toys. Plus, if I try to get my littles to donate they’ll end up bringing me their favorite toys, just because they can’t decide what to let go. So for now, I declutter their unloved toys when they’re not around, and they never even notice. But they enjoy having more space to play.
I keep a few boxes around for donate at all times, and when they’re full I seal them up so no one will look through. I schedule a Salvation Army pick up about once a month (about 5 boxes), and as soon as they leave my house I schedule the next one, to keep the momentum going!
Good post!