Living Simply October Challenge: Day 2 - Declutter early

   

   

     Many people stress over the holidays because they're too busy, they have people coming to their home to celebrate, and they don't have enough time to get (or keep) their homes looking good. There always seems to be too many last minute scrambles to hide piles, remove trash, clear the tables and counters, and get stuff out of the corners. What if you started by decluttering in baby steps now so that when the holidays are here, you've already minimized the mess? Here's a few baby steps you can put into practice over the next week or so to get you going. Just do a little each day and before the holidays are here, the house will already look better.

1.  Every morning when you get up, do 5 minutes of cleaning - putting clean dishes away, putting in a load of laundry, or transferring one to the dryer, or folding clothes. You could use it to sweep a floor, or take out the trash. Just find 5 minutes to do something in the morning before you leave/start your day.

2.  Keep a box by the door (or back door). It's for things you want to donate. Every day, put an item in the box and keep it up for a week. If you have a family, get them to do it too, but try to start with things in the "public eye" first - where guests would see it. We can talk about decluttering closets and drawers another time, but if you've got some useless knick knacks around the house, or old blankets, books no one will ever read, shoes that have been sitting by the door for six months without being worn, donate them. Maybe you could keep this habit going right up to the holidays. The average home in America has over 300,000 items! Imagine how much cleaner your home would look if you got rid of 30 items each in the first month. Things would seem less cluttered, more intentional, and you'd spend less time cleaning.

3.  Menu Plan. This may be easier to do in the morning for each night, or just do a few days ahead, but if you can sit down on the weekend and plan a week, even better. Don't waste money. See what you have on hand FIRST. THEN plan what you can make without needing to buy a bunch of new ingredients. Planning even just one day ahead saves so much time when you get home at the end of a tiring day. You can just start right in knowing what to do instead of taking 45 minutes thinking about it and discussing it - then ordering out something that takes another half hour and costs you money you didn't need to spend. All you need is a base (rice, salad, quinoa, pasta, etc), pick a protein (meat, poultry, fish, vegan options), and add some nutrition with vegetables or even fruit (salad, broccoli, carrots, beets, mixed veggies, sliced apple, diced pears, applesauce). Saves time and money.

4.  Make a point to get dishes done before you go to bed, whether it's after dinner or half an hour before you want to go to bed. I know no one enjoys dishes after a long day, but you'll be so happy in the morning not to walk into a messy kitchen with dirty dishes piled up in the sink.

5.  Remove things from the main living area that are unnecessary (at least for the next 90 days through the holidays). These aren't things you'll donate, just things to remove for now to declutter guest space. It can be things like extra toss pillows and blankets you've been having to straighten every day, or decor that doesn't need to be on display for a few months, or piles of things you want but haven't figured out where to put them yet. Take a quick look around your space and pretend you have someone offering you $50 for every item you're willing to remove - what do you not really need to look at every day? Again, it's only temporary and you aren't giving it away. You're just making things more simple for the next few months.

We'll discuss more baby steps as the month goes on, but for now, just these few things can make a huge difference at the end of 30 days. Are you up to the challenge?