Love Your Space- Declutter/Simplify Challenge Task 1

NOTE: This series is for group members of the "Love Your Space" group on Facebook. If you are interested in joining the group please visit us here.

Hey guys. Thank you so much for joining this “Love Your Space” group. I am so excited about this process and making some amazing changes to how our homes feel and function.

As I mentioned on the group- the first three week challenge is about decluttering and simplifying. Basically the process here is that every few days (depending on the task) I will post a specific task (or tasks) to help you get motivated and make positive change to your space. As a group each of you are invited to share your struggles, your successes, tips and tricks you discover along the way.

I am NOT an organization expert, decorator, stager or feng shui guru. BUT, I know first hand the struggle of living in a space that feels too chaotic, where you can’t find what you need, where every surface is being treated as a dumping zone and if you have company over you do a “big comfy couch” inspired cleaning routine…. Pushing clutter deeper into the depths of your home.

I’m going to try to stay practical here (with specific actions and tasks) but I think first we need to talk big picture. Why is clutter such an issue for us? Why does it pop up again and again in the same spaces? What’s the negative impact it has on your stress levels. I’m being serious here- there is very compelling evidence (not to mention my own anecdotal evidence) that loving the space you are in and having an organized home leads to lower stress levels and better health.

You deserve to have a home you love, a space that is calming and inspiring and reflects your personality. Your housing is one of the biggest items in your budget- and should give you and your family joy- not stress.

For this week we are going to start by preparing ourselves to make progress with some simple setup, and get into the habit of decluttering and purging as much as we can to make all the other tasks to follow a WHOLE lot easier.

First thing I want you to do is make a sorting station, I have used a rolling clothes rack to make it easy to move from room to room and tuck away when needed.

My station will be equipped with the following. Yours can be different to suit YOUR needs.

• A large garbage container (I am using a laundry hamper with a garbage bag inside).

• A large bag for “soft” donations such as clothes&linens. (I am using a hamper lined with a clear plastic bag inside).

• A cardboard box for other donations.

• A laundry hamper for clothes that need to be washed, stored or put in a different “home” in your house.

• A cardboard box for paper to recycle or shred, with a portfolio or something inside of it for papers you need to keep (we will sort these out later)

• A small bin for “homeless” items (stuff you need but doesn’t go wherever you found it).

If you can make these sorting stations a bit less of an eyesore- do it. You have my permission to go spend some dough on some cute hampers from home-sense if it will make you smile and this process easier (and if you will really use them- not if they will become more clutter). These stations will be set up for at least the next 3 weeks and I don’t want them becoming part of the problem!

You may find labeling these stations helpful, especially if you have other members of the family who will be involved in this process.

Ok so without getting too corny, what IS clutter? I like to think of it as a collection of homeless items or too many items in one place. If you have a pile of stuff that doesn’t belong somewhere- there are a couple potential reasons for it and we will do a deeper dive into prevention and setting up functional “homes” for some of this stuff- but first we need to simplify and make that job a LOT easier by eliminating as much of it as possible.

If you ever watched that TLC show “clean sweep” you get the concept.

The goal is to attack your clutter, room by room, area by area. Dedicate 15 minutes or so at a time. There is no rule for how long this will take, but make it a daily habit and we will explore more and more areas to declutter as our challenge goes on.

Blast some music. And be RUTHLESS. I’m serious. Stop holding onto clothes you don’t love. Take a picture of your kids’ art projects and get rid of them. If it doesn’t fit, it’s gone. Throw out any underwear that you don’t feel amazing in. If you haven’t touched it for a year- why do you have it? Pinterest is full of mantras like this. Find some that speak to you and post to the group.

I love starting in closets because I can fill bags and bags to donate with very little effort which gives me some great momentum.

As you fill bags and boxes of stuff for donating: here is what I want you to do. If you have room in your vehicle, immediately bring the bag to the trunk or whatever.Replenish your bag and box at your sorting station and carry on. Don’t let your pile of donations BECOME clutter. There are at least 12 drive through donation centres in London. I’ll even post a map of some of them in London.

Get them in your trunk right away and over the next 3 weeks get in the habit of pulling into one whenever you pass it. You may be tempted to “save up” donations. No. One bag or box is fine. You’ll be passing a goodwill anyways, trust me.

As you fill garbage bags (and it is really shocking how much of what you are holding onto really is garbage- especially if you have children), bring them to your garage OR if you are going to have too many to fit in your 4 container limit, put them in your trunk and go to one of the garbage drop off centres- for household garbage it’s spare change to drop them off.

As you fill your box of “homeless items” see what you can relocate in 2 minutes or less. Dishes etc. For other items if you aren’t sure- set them aside for now. Remember if you are holding onto these things they should be important and hold value to you. You want to make a home for them where they will look nice, be easy to find and return when you are done with them, and they won’t end up becoming clutter again. We’ll put some focus on this soon enough but those are the basics to keep in mind. Holding onto something because it cost or is worth money IS NOT ENOUGH. If YOU don’t find value in it. If you don’t plan to use it. If it would be easier to replace if you were ever to need it vs. coming up with a functional home for it…. Let it go. It’ll get easier and easier as you realize you feel better NOT worse letting go of the random stuff we all seem to hold onto.

A note about selling vs. donating. IF the value of an item is such that you feel it is worth selling vs. donating, and that is something you are prepared to take action on right away- that is great. Take out your cell phone, take a picture, post it wherever you need to- to sell it (Kijiji, moms’ groups… whatever) and set a time line where you will be accountable to find it a new home if it does not sell. Don’t like “I’m going to sell this” become an excuse to keep stuff that doesn’t add value to YOUR life. You will be surprised how easy it is to let things go- even without any return of $ once you see the quality of your life go up by having less chaos and clutter.

RECAP

Your Task:

Set up a “Sorting Station” (or Stations: one per level of your home if you like) with different containers generally serving the following purposes:

• Garbage

• Donations (bag)

• Donations (box)

• Laundry

• Paper (shred/keep)

• Items to Relocate

Dedicate 15+ minutes at a time to decluttering- start wherever you like for now the goal is just to get the setup done and get the momentum going.

Bonus points: Take a picture of your donation/garbage bags as you fill them and share to the group.