15+ pro-tips on "How-to" DECLUTTER your home in just 15 minutes

“De-clutter” Have you been thinking of all the items lying around and not knowing what to do how to do and where to start. Well, don’t fret, we’ve all been there.

De-clutter doesn’t mean get huge carton boxes and keep filling whatever you don’t need and then wonder where will you keep those carton boxes. Clutter becomes an organized (!) clutter  Right ?!?

Here’s a list of simple tricks(some of my own tried methods, trust me, yet my house looks all de-cluttered thanks to the human baby and fur-baby and the big hubby-baby (!)).

Rule of thumb: Always ask yourself, “do I need this stuff, when was the last that I used it, will I use it in next 6-10months”. If your answer is NO for all these three questions, then sell or donate or just return to attic or someone from whom you borrowed it in the first place

• Recycle is the key: Those old newspapers, magazines, study materials etc. lying out on the corner or wherever; give it away/recycle regularly. Recycling is good for your home as well as for your mind 

• Room by room, evaluate what Is not being used for more than a year, if it’s not used up in the last year and it won’t be used in next few years as well

• Target the dining table/tables/counters every day to keep it clean – firstly don’t dump anything on it and secondly, remove unwanted stuff like your bags, this that

• Put all the toys into a toy-box and when the kids are of age where they understand, teach them to organize their stuff (teaching young definitely helps!)
   
• E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-Y, make your bed (yeah! It does make a difference!!)

• Keep the things that you take back in its place, so that dust doesn’t settle on it and clutter the house

• Keep your clothes in the cupboard (yeah! Cupboards are meant for that, please)

• De-clutter your cupboard/closet, go minimalistic as much as possible; donate and/or sell off.

• With my personal experience, I think it gives immense satisfaction (initial heartache to see those lovely t-shirts being put into "donate" box), but now my cupboard looks good. More De-cluttering on the way…

• Look at items such as that baby walker that you do not need or that treadmill that’s only getting mounts of dust but you are not going to use; sell them off or donate
   
• Neatly loop the chords everywhere in the house- TV, DVD etc.
   
• Clean out the book stack – re-stack and straighten them

• Take up X-X-X challenge – meaning X no of items to throw away, X no of items to donate and X no of items to return to someone or put it back in its place. For ex: 15 items to throw, 15 items to donate and 15 items which need to be returned to place/person. Have a big number in the beginning and reduce the numbers in the next cycle(3-4months gap) and then reduce more till you finally have a clutter free home

• If you have 15-20mins minutes, take 5 mins and make a note of all those items that needs to go to the attic. And in next 10-15 mins, try to put those items away

• Another rule of thumb is that one should not go buying anything and everything(new or garage sales); first think of the place where you would put it, if you find a place(clutter-free), only then buy it

So, let us know if these tips really helped you or if you have some more suggestions to this list... 

Until then,
Cheerio!
Su