Simplify Your Home
Only keep things in your home that are meaningful and have a purpose.
Give everything you own a place, and put things away in their place only.
Living Area:
Sofa, couches, chairs, end tables, and lamps are the necessities. Get rid of knick-knacks and extra pictures.
Keep toys in a baskets with a handle so it will be easy to carry and store. Keep blankets folded over a chair or sofa.
Go through CD's and DVD's and donate. Go through it again and donate more! Keep the ones you want in a CD's sleeve zip case. Throw the plastic covers away.
Kitchen:
Go through cabinets and donate everything you haven't used in 6 months. Keep only enough place settings for the number of people in your family. Put away extras for when family is in town. Go through cabinets, small appliances, plastics, and recipe books. Donate even more!
Keep counters clutter free of knick knacks.
Keep table free of clutter. A bowl of fruit or vase of flowers is all you need.
Bedrooms:
Keep this a calm, stress-free zone.
Master: bed, dressers, end tables, and lamps. Do let clutter pile up where it doesn't belong. Let this room be for relaxing and rest. (We do have our computer and a tv in our room. We love to pile on our bed, instead of the living room, for movies sometimes. This isn't all the time, though) Keep it clean and pleasant smelling with non toxic candles or incense. Add some indoor plants to help keep air clean.
Kids: bed, dresser, end table and lamp. Keep toys organized in a basket for each kind of toy. Keep the books simple and organized on a shelf. Keep the dresser top simple with special books, a clock, and a picture.
Toys:
Go through the toys. Throw broken things away. Donate what you do not need or want. Let the kids be a part of this decision. Talk it over with them and decide what is most meaningful. Go through again and donate even more!
Keep toys simple and organized in baskets or tubs. All blocks in one basket, all cars in one basket, all action figures in one basket. To keep from having toys scattered around, only allow one thing at a time.
Board games/Puzzles- place all together, tape to keep closed. Or put in gallon size baggie.
Bathrooms:
Go through and throw away all old stuff. Donate extra stuff. How many towels do you really need? Use the same towel a few times throughout the week and you will not have so many to wash. I have given each family member their own towel. We hang it up after drying off after our shower.
Go through your make up and throw away most of it. Simplify your beauty routine and don't get trapped into buying too many beauty products. { more on Health and Beauty }
Clear off your counters. Rid of dust collecting clutter and knick knacks. Keep only what's needed. Do you really need that cute Pinterest inspired glass jar organizer? Probably not.
Laundry:
Go through your clothing and donate the items you haven't worn in a few months. Simplify your wardrobe. Simplify for everyone in the family. Keep only what you love and makes you feel good.
[More on Capsule Wardrobe here}
Give everyone a hamper and a day to do their own laundry. Do it only once a week. Remember, you can wear most items of clothing more than once. Hang them back up.
When you are putting up your laundry, make your outfits for the week. No need for cute hanging bags or organizing boxes.(that is complicated and such a waste of money!) Put hangers together in order on the clothing rod. I help my boys do this when putting up their laundry, also. This helps simplify time of making outfits in the morning before school or work.
Washing Laundry-
Oh, the dreaded mountain of laundry! Once you have simplified your wardrobe, you'll see you aren't doing as much laundry. The mountain is pretty much gone. Now, to simplify the washing routine--- Everyone does their own laundry. Do it only once a week. Do towels once a week. (Remember to hang up after each use and reuse those!) Put clothes away as soon as it comes out of the dryer. Don't pile it up all together. Don't fold it and put aside for later. It only takes about 5 Minutes to put your clothes away. If you are planning outfits for the week, do your laundry only at specific time that you know you will have time to do it. It will become routine and very simple.
Oh, and that cute lint holder you saw on Pinterest? Don't waste the time and money. Just immediately throw it in the trash.
Paper:
Digitize!
Paperwork can pile up fast. Pictures can pile up throughout the years. The best solution is to digitize your documents. All documents. All pictures.
- Scan all papers. Save all alike documents on separate flash drives. ex: Kids paperwork/artwork from 3rd grade? Put all on one disk. High school Senior documents? All on one flash drive. Paper work from hospital stay? Put on a separate flash drive. No more filing cabinets and stacks of papers.
- Scan all your photos. Save on CD's or flash drives. If you want to look through the photos, hook it up to any computer or modern TV. Simple and quick. Much better than photos in albums in closets taking up room.