The Simple Life

Today is part two of my series on “stuffitis”. Last week I talked about the perils of “stuffitis” and this week I will offer suggestions on how to conquer it.

Let me first put in a disclaimer that I am probably as organized/disorganized as the next person. But I have read many books on becoming more organized and I am starting to implement some habits to create a simpler home environment. My home this week was a lot more organized than last week, and that is how I measure my progress.

I get most of my inspiration from The Fly Lady. She has a list of 31 baby steps to begin decluttering your life. She stressed the power of simple habits to maintain a simple, uncluttered home and life. If you want to learn more you can also sign up for her mailing list here.

Here are 3 important things to consider when you begin to declutter your life

1) Remember that it took you months and years to accumulate your clutter, so it will take some time to organize and eliminate it. Don’t try to do too much at once or you’ll get discouraged and give up. Start with one simple area or room.

As I tackled my decluttering this week I realized I could only do a couple of areas without feeling burnout. My decluttering wasn’t as bad as I had anticipated because we’ve moved within the last year and got rid of a lot of stuff, but I still didn’t accomplish all that I wanted. My towels and kitchen cupboards are now organized but there are a few other areas to declutter in the next few weeks.

2) Challenge yourself to donate or toss as much as you can. Be harsh when deciding if you really need certain items and if you’ve really used them. Like I said last week, when we were without many of our items we really didn’t miss them.

3) Once it’s clean keep it that way. This was my major project of the week. Last Friday I spent a few hours completely cleaning the apartment with the goal to keep all of our living areas clean and clutter free. This meant unloading the dishwasher first thing in the morning, putting clothes straight into the laundry basket and picking up my son’s toys during nap.

This has been a challenge (and our bedrooms didn’t quite keep up with the rest of the house) but it has been well worth it. I have found I have more time to spend with my family and I feel less stressed knowing that the chores are done and my life is a little simpler.

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