Declutter To Reinvent: Cat Coluccio
We all know the feeling.
You come home from a long day at work, and the first thing you see when you walk in the door is a jumbled mess of shoes in the entry way. You head through the house and notice the pile of junk mail dumped on the coffee table in the lounge.
“Instead, focus on decluttering one room at a time.”
There’s a huge stack of dirty dishes in the sink and the unmade bed in your bedroom is covered with a large pile of unfolded clean washing. You sigh as a heavy feeling of overwhelm settles on your shoulders, and wish that a magical fairy godmother would appear and declutter your home as you don’t have a spare few weeks to do it yourself.
Declutter Your Entire Home In 15-Minute Blocks:
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way! With a few simple tips, even the busiest person can declutter their home quickly and efficiently, without spending hours doing so. In fact, it’s completely possible to declutter your entire home in 15-minute blocks each day over a few weeks then maintain it. Here’s how:
1.) Start With One Room At A Time:
When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of clutter in your home, it’s tempting to want to tackle everything at once. However, this usually leads to feelings of frustration and overwhelm – not to mention even more mess when piles of objects to donate, toss or keep dominate every room! Ultimately, tackling your clutter this way won’t get much accomplished.
Instead, focus on decluttering one room at a time. Start with the room that is giving you the most anxiety, or the room that you spend the most time in. Next, start in one section of that room – a bookcase, a desk or your china cabinet – complete that, then move to the next section. Once that room is decluttered, move on to the next one.
2.) Set A Timer:
One of the quickest ways to declutter your home is to set a timer for 5 – 15 minutes and just start picking up things and putting them away. It sounds too simple to be effective, but trust me – it works! The key is to not overthink it – just grab anything that’s out of place and put it where it belongs.
“By the time your timer goes off, you’ll be surprised at how much you were able to accomplish.”
By the time your timer goes off, you’ll be surprised at how much you were able to accomplish. This is an especially good routine to get your family into every evening. Make a game of it with the winner being the person who collected and sorted the most items. You’ll be amazed at how great it feels every morning when you start your day with a clutter free environment!
3.) Focus On Surfaces:
When most people think about decluttering their homes, they immediately think about going through their closets and drawers and getting rid of things they don’t use anymore. While this is definitely important, it’s also important to focus on decluttering surfaces like countertops, coffee tables, nightstands, etc.
These are areas that tend to collect a lot of dust and tend to make your home feel even more cluttered than it actually is. Make it part of your daily routine to spend a few minutes straightening up these areas whenever you are leaving the room. I personally can’t stand seeing a messy kitchen, an unmade bed, or papers scattered all over the place, so this is a principle I swear by!
“Once your daily 15 minutes are up, move on with the rest of your day and enjoy it.”
4.) Don’t Try To Achieve Perfection:
The goal here is not to have a perfectly organized and spotless home – that’s not realistic or sustainable in the long run. The goal is simply to declutter your home so that it feels more spacious and inviting, and so that you can find things more easily when you need them. Don’t stress if everything isn’t perfect – just do the best you can with the time you have. Once your daily 15 minutes are up, move on with the rest of your day and enjoy it.
These are just a few quick tips for decluttering your home quickly and efficiently in 15 minutes or less. You may have more time available or you might live such a busy life that you have only five minutes to spare. So long as you do something, you’ll be on your way to creating a clutter free home that feels spacious and easy to maintain.
30-Day Love Your Home:
Needing some prompts to help you get started with your decluttering adventure? Be sure to jump into my 30-day Love your Home Decluttering Challenge, where you’ll receive 30 email prompts plus other goodies to help you beat the clutter monster in your home.
Best of all – it’s Free! Join here: www.loveyourhomedeclutteringchallenge.com
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About the Author:
Cat Coluccio is a qualified Educator, Personal Trainer and Life Coach – and a champion of midlife women. She is the host of the Rocking Midlife® Community and Podcast, and the author of a number of books, including 21 Hacks to ROCK your Midlife. Join my FREE 30 Day Love your Home Decluttering Challenge for 30 days of email prompts to help you fall in love with your home once more!
Cat is passionate about helping midlife women create fulfilling and purposeful lives yet understands how challenging it can feel to consider reinvention when your world is already so incredibly full. Hence she firmly believes that the first step to building the life that you desire in your next season, is to declutter and create space right now – be that physically, mentally or digitally.
Don’t know where to start with your decluttering adventure? Make sure to register for my 30 Day Love your Home Decluttering Challenge! It’s FREE and you can work your way through the daily emailed prompts at your own pace! What have you got to lose other than your clutter? Register now at www.loveyourhomedeclutteringchallenge.com
