Tips for Decluttering Your Home

Spring is just around the corner, at least that is what I keep telling myself anyway. So its time to start thinking about Spring cleaning and getting rid of the clutter that seems to take over our homes.  Now I am not an organized person at all. And I have been accused of holding onto way too much stuff. But these past few months we have done a fairly decent job of finally going through our house and ridding it of the dreaded clutter. I can actually sit at my desk and work in my office, which I haven't done in years. Here are a few tips to help you get started on your own Spring cleaning.

Sort

Remember that TLC show Clean Sweep, where organizers come into crazy cluttered homes and have them sort their stuff into piles? Do this for yourself. This is a great first step in getting yourself organized. We pulled our van out of our garage and set up three sections in there: sell/donate, keep and trash. Take a really hard look at the items you think you want to keep. When was the last time you used it? Is it something that you really must have? This was the hardest part for me: letting go of things I thought we could use in the future. But the truth is if you haven't used it in the past five years, you aren't going to use it ever. So get rid of it. If there are items that you must keep but don't have the room to store, you can look into portable storage containers.

Sell
Once you have sorted out what you are not keeping, you can ease some of the pain of getting rid of your stuff by selling it. This is not limited to just tag sales, although those are a great way to earn a few bucks. We had a tag sale last year but it wasn't that much of a success. I am also a huge fan of consignment shops, especially for kids clothes and gear. If you have a Once Upon A Child near you, they will pay you cash for your baby and kids stuff, no need to wait for it to sell. I make trips to our local one regularly as my youngest outgrows things. Also look into online groups on places like Facebook, Yahoo Groups, etc. I actually started a local tag sale group on Facebook for moms in our town and we all post our gently used items we are selling there. It ranges from kids stuff to furniture and it has been great. Whatever you end of not selling you can donate. I like to bring items to the Goodwill store. I also used a local "Mom Swap" group, on Facebook, to pass along our old couches and larger things that I could not get over to Goodwill. 

Organize

Our ClosetMaid
toddler toy storage.

Once you have cleaned out everything you no longer need you then have to organize what you have left. You need to avoid the cycle of it all happening again, which is something I often struggle with. Invest in some inexpensive organizational tools so that everything has its specified place. I happen to love the ClosetMaid storage solutions at Target. We have three units in our house being used for toys and one for the boys shoes, hats, gloves and backpacks. If you have office issues like I do, where the paperwork and mail seems to quickly pile up, develop a system that works good for you. Have a bin for bills that need your attention, papers that need to be filed and so on. At the end of the week, file anything that you need to keep so that the pile doesn't grow.

Decluttering your house really is a daunting task and not one most people look forward to. The above steps are what really worked well for us and hopefully will help you as well. While the process can be long and frustrating, once you have gotten rid of clutter and are surrounded by a neat and organized home, you will be so glad that you took the time to do it. 

Do you have any decluttering or organizing tips that could help us all out? Please share them!

This post has been brought to you buy Zippy Shell who offers affordable, portable storage in Houston.

Way Basics Storage Cubes Review

Having three children share a room can be quite a challenge. While our oldest has his own bedroom, the twins and the little guy are all in a room together. We are fortunate that their room is on the bigger side and fits a crib, two beds and two small dressers comfortably. But their is only one closet and so storage for clothes, toys and books is difficult. Our book storage was definitely lacking, with only one small bin for three kids worth of books. Not only was it not big enough, but it wasn't very functional either.

Before: inadequate storage left books sprawled out onto the floor and under the beds.

As you can see above, this wasn't working. So I turned to Way Basics to help us get our books cleaned up. I was initially drawn to them because their storage solutions are eco friendly. All of their pieces are made using zBoard which is made from 99% post-consumer recycled paper and is free of formaldehyde and VOCs. Way Basics offers several different solutions like their storage cubes or even a modern bookcase. For our particular project, we decided to go with the cubes and even made it a little fun by choosing one white, one green and one orange.

This was my color choice inspiration.

I opened up my boxes to start assembling my three cubes and I was surprised by how thick the walls are. When something like this is made out of recycled paper you sometimes just assume things won't be strong enough. To be honest, I thought these were going to be like cardboard. Boy was I wrong. The storage cubes were more than sturdy, tested by a climbing almost 2 year old, and actually have kind of a laminate feel to them.

One great aspect of the Way Basics Storage Cubes is that they are no tools assembly which makes them so super easy to put together. You are given step by step directions that are easy to follow. It took me less than 30 minutes to assemble all three of my cubes.

1. Layout all your pieces.
2. Place tabs in holes.
3. Remove tape backing from walls.
4. Press the first wall into place
5. Place the second wall into place.
6. Add top piece.
7. Put on backing.

That's it, you are done! Now you can take your cubes and arrange them in any way you like.

Our finished cubes.

Since we have three boys in this room, the three cubes worked out perfectly as now they each have a cube. I assigned the bottom cube to the toddler so he can get to it easily and then the twins picked out which one of the two they wanted for themselves. Then they helped me sort out the books and they each put their own books away in their designated cubes.

After adding their books.

Overall I am thrilled with the Way Basics Storage Cubes. I love the way they look in the boys room and since now we have a functional, dedicated space for books it helps to keep the room tidy.

Shop
Now through Black Friday, November 25th, take 25% off all zBoard Storage Products with code WBTHANKS25.

Connect with Way Basics

Web: www.waybasics.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/waybasics
Twitter: www.twitter.com/waybasics
Blog: www.waybasics.com/blog

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this review are my own and based on my personal experience with the product and/or company. You may encounter a different experience with this than I did. Way Basics provided me with free products to review.