I’ve spent the past couple days thinking about my cleaning/deluttering/reorganizing plans and I finally felt ready to sit down and write out my plans, room by room.  I am planning on keeping it all together in a little booklet so I can follow the plan when I do my twice a year overhauls.  I like to do it in the spring and again right before the holidays, to get everything in order. 🙂  I’ve never been clever enough to write all my plans down in an organized way–it finally occurred to me that instead of lots of lists in a notebook that I’ll end up tossing after a while, I should compile this stuff on my computer where I can save and re-use it!

My biggest hurdle when it comes to getting started is choosing a method.  Do I want to work room-by-room?  Or do I want to work on a task-based basis?  Or a little of each?  I know the room-by-room approach is really popular and seems to be the one that I most often see described on home blogs and in organizing books.  This approach typically means that you empty the room of everything, clean it thoroughly and put back only what belongs, sorting and purging before replacing all the items to the room. Then leftover items are sold, tossed or put in new homes around the house.

My brain works differently.  I don’t like to hit the rooms one-by-one–first decluttering, then cleaning and then organizing.  I’m terrible at this approach because I get side-tracked easily and I tend to jump around and not get through a single room in a day, which then leaves the room in disarray and leads to an even greater mess in other areas of the house. This approach requires me to empty one room’s contents into another while I work on the target room…and then I have two discombobulated rooms at a time–not good for me or my ADD!

I’m going to do somewhat of a hybrid approach.  I do like to work room-by-room when cleaning, to some extent.  So I will do that where it feels right.  That’s the beauty of this whole thing…I’m in charge and I can change things up based on what works for me.  My system is just a guideline–feel free to follow it or tweak it or trash it completely!  Whatever works for you is the best system; figuring that out can be hard and it’s a process, but anyone can do it!

Step 1:  Trash & Recycling

Magazines, newspapers, paper clutter and packaging all seem to accumulate.  People around here like to save boxes and packages.  And other things that most would deem “trash.”  The easiest way for me to get this under control in order to really start purging, organizing and cleaning is to attack the whole house at once.  This involves taking a couple large black trash bags and a couple totes or baskets and just carrying them from room to room, starting on one side of the house and ending on the other.  While I go, I empty small trash cans and have one of the kids put them outside on the patio so I can clean/disinfect them.  The trash collecting process goes fast if you have a couple kids helping pick things up off the floor.  🙂

During this initial purge, it’s important to be much more thorough than I’d be normally since this IS spring cleaning and not just a daily or weekly clean-up.  This is the time to go deeper than the obvious and to go through stacks of books, receipts sitting about, magazines, mending piles, collections, coupons, etc. as you encounter them in each room.  Don’t forgot toiletries, make-up, cleaning supplies, pantry items, unused kitchen items, hole-y socks, outgrown clothes, etc.

Just remember that what you’re going through in this step is the “quick decision” stuff.  Don’t worry yet about decluttering things that take more time, like things that are sentimental, irreplacable or have a high dollar value.

Now’s the time to separate trash/value-less clutter from what’s needed.

Now is not the time to go through family photos or your jewelry box!  Just the easy stuff, ma’am!

I go through all drawers and cabinets, storage items, etc.  I like to take the totes or laundry baskets around with me to gather things that aren’t trash or “to sell” but do need a new home.  This is a great way to save those important receipts and baubles while tossing the ones you don’t really need.  For example:  My husband keeps months’ worth of ATM receipts in his dresser drawer…those can be tossed if I haven’t needed them in the six months or so that they’ve been there, but there is always the occasional pay stub or important receipt mixed in!

When you’re finished, you will probably not see a huge difference in the overall appearance of the room.  Don’t fret–this is normal!  This step is important because it prepares your home for the next step by clearing out the easily-tossed or removed clutter to make more room for real cleaning and reorganizing.

This step will take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple of days, depending on how efficient you are, how large your home is, how cluttered your home is and how much help you have.

To recap:

1) grab some trash bags (for trash and donations)

2) grab a couple laundry baskets or totes (for items that belong somewhere else)

3) start at one end of your house and going from one room to another, including hallways, do a deep, but quick decluttering of the things you can make quick decisions on

Next time…Step 2!