Declutter Your Home, Once and For All

Over the last year I have felt somewhat of an urgency to get my house in order. Although I have peace with food, I don’t feel like I have peace with the clutter that has accumulated in our home. As a result, when I my surroundings make me uncomfortable, it is easy to turn to food!

So, to avoid that from happening, I needed to do something. Luckily, my neighbor and friend asked if I would be interested in reading this book:

Instantly, I was hooked. I think I read it in a couple of days, and within an hour of reading I began to declutter. I can’t even begin to give it justice, but here are some of the highlights that struck a chord with me:

-Families will easily pass on food recipes or heirlooms from generation to generation, but one thing that never gets passed down is teaching your children how to deal with clutter. (Luckily, this book tells you how!)
–Folding your clothes can save so much space and not be so hard on your clothes. (I don’t like to fold, AT ALL, but I have to admit, after applying her technique I was shocked how much extra space I had in my dresser drawers and in my closet. Not only that, it allows you to see all of your clothes at once, versus having them stacked on top of one another and never really utilizing the clothes at the bottom.)
–Decluttering by category is KEY! (She strongly advises not to declutter by room and instead, to declutter by putting all like items together, particularly on the floor so you can see everything at once. I was unsure about this, because I always declutter by room, but I have to say, this was life-changing! I never realized how many like items we have scattered throughout the house!)
-Last, but not least, as you look at every item, ask yourself, “Does this sParK jOy?” (This may sound strange to some of you, but it made perfect sense to me! I couldn’t believe how many things I have in my home that don’t actually spark joy when I see or touch it! I probably loved this concept so much because it is similar to how we ask ourselves, “Does this bring me peace?”)

Here are some examples of decluttering by category. I laid out every hat or accessory we had in the house:

Isn’t that awesome?! We reduced hats and gloves significantly! And I think my husband thought it was much easier to narrow down his hats after seeing them all spread out on the table 🙂

I recruited the kids to help me with the next category: children’s books! This is all of them…

We ended up filling this entire tub full of books to donate in hopes they will sPaRk JoY to someone else! I was so proud of my kids for suggesting this!

In the meantime I have done all craft supplies, office supplies, and the clothes in my closet. I have always been a fairly tidy person, but this book has taken my “stuff” to a whole new level. It was freeing to read that I didn’t have to hold on to everything. She breaks the book down into electronics, shoes, greeting cards, gifts, and more. It’s a great resource if you feel like you are stuck with your current decluttering strategy and need something to help bring more order and PEACE into your life! Enjoy!!