Clean Sweep
To get started on a clutter-free lifestyle, go through your home with a basket or paper bag, room by room, and return everything to its rightful location. Found the drill and a bunch of screws? Return it back to the garage. Kid's shoes, toys and the like should go to the appropriate place. Remove dry-cleaning from the front closet and so on. You won't be able to move onto the next step if you continually run into objects that belong somewhere else.
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Create a Strategy
Determine how much time you have to organize and start small. While the entire kitchen may need to be decluttered and reorganized, having 2-3 dedicated hours probably isn't realistic, so start with the spots that will have the most impact first. The junk drawer, the pantry and the refrigerator are all good places to start and will help you feel accomplished, inspiring you to continue through your home.
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Keep, Delay or Toss?
For those new to decluttering their lives, make three piles: keep, delay and toss. The delay pile is for all of those items that you think you still need but that don't fit in your newly organized drawer or closet (or anywhere else in the house) — but that you can't bear to throw away … yet. It also works for those toys the kids might ask to play with a couple months from now (or may not) and could ultimately be donated. Keep this paper bag full of stuff in a closet and in a couple months, if you and the kids don't miss it, toss or donate it.
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Make a Mess
Pull everything out of the drawer or cupboard and start making piles, grouping similar items. Start a ball of rubber bands if you have a lot of loose ones, fill a small plastic container for paper clips and pull out a sandwich bag to contain loose batteries. Group all like items from the pantry together — you may be surprised how many cans of the same food you actually own.
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Closet Clear-Out
Invite a stylish friend over and pull out all of your clothes, laying them on the bed. Hold each one up and have them weigh-in on what they like (or don't); keep or donate, if the item is in good condition. Hang like items back up in the closet (skirts with skirts) with the less-worn items in front. Once an item is worn, rehang it, turning the hanger the opposite direction so you'll be able to see what you have been wearing. If, after a month, you still aren't wearing a bunch of pieces you previously saved, consider donating them sooner than later.
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Bathroom Backlog
One of the fastest areas to declutter, go through the medicine cabinet and toss anything that has expired, following the FDA's recommendations for how and where. Take out all of your makeup and make two piles: daily use and special occasion. Within each of those piles, toss anything that looks crumbly, cracked, smells strange or is just plain old. Keep the pieces you use regularly handy and stash the more special items in a box away from your daily routine.
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Process Paperwork
Between the kids, the mail and your own work, paper comes into the house in bundles and can become messy piles within days. To tackle this mess, address new pieces daily. Go through the mail, tossing junk and divvying out bills and other correspondences immediately. To reduce unwanted mail, remove your name from mailing lists via the USPS.
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Brain Games
Feel like your head is going to burst with all of your to-do lists? A paper wall calendar will take all those appointments and reminders out of your brain and put them in a place that the whole family can see — which also means fewer reminders and memory lapses, and everyone can help in taking responsibility for the day's activities.
Computer Clutter
A job that always gets left for last, cleaning out your hard drive and computer is typically not fast — until now. First, delete any unnecessary programs and applications you aren't using. Create folders that contain files, limiting it to no more than 25 files and organize them within your hard drive, not on your desktop — otherwise you are just slowing your computer down. Follow the same naming system for all of your files. As for photographs, start by deleting images that are blurry or duplicates and then create files to organize them — naming them with dates usually work best. Use the color-coded labels to differentiate photos that you have printed or sent to be published in photo books.
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Create Labels
After you've divided and conquered the clutter, the keys to remaining clear and free are clear storage containers (or containers you can easily see into) and labels. Everyone in the family won't have any excuses not to try and maintain all of your hard work, because staying clutter-free is not just a mom's responsibility.
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