5 things to declutter in 15 minutes!

YES PLEASE – 5 things to declutter in 15 minutes!

Y’all… I warned you about these lifestyle posts right? Okay… I didn’t want to throw you for a loop!

I don’t know about y’all, but every year I LOVE getting out my holiday things and seeing all of the twinkling lights… and then OH HOW I LOVE PUTTING THEM AWAY in January! Seriously… every time we put up our Christmas decor I get all giddy about the “clean space” where trees and decorations once blocked the ability to vacuum. Inevitabley, I never want to stop with just putting things away, and I get inspired to declutter, donate, create more space in my home!

Anyone else feel this way??

Today, we are going to start simple with a list of 5 things you can do in under 15 minutes to start decluttering your space and bringing balance back to your house. Here we go!

Open your refrigerator, take out anything that’s either expired OR things that you bought but don’t really like OR things you bought for a specific dish but won’t need again until after the expiration date ORRRRR things that are pretty much empty and you are scraping the bottom.
- The truth is, we leave the ketchup in the fridge with half a tbsp left because we don’t want to “waste it”. But we are wasting space by having a big bottle in the fridge that’s basically empty. It’s the same reason we don’t want to throw out something that we don’t really like. It feels wasteful. But there is the flip side… you leave it there knowing you aren’t going to eat it or use it and it clutters your space, makes it hard to find what you do need, and makes it hard to keep the shelves clean.
Walk around the house with a paper bag, and drop in anything that can be recycled.
- This isn’t a time to be thoughtful. This is a time to be ruthless. That beautiful magazine about Holiday Design that you haven’t had the chance to read? Holiday’s are over. Toss it. Those shoe boxes in the closet? Take the shoes out and put them on a shelf and toss the box.
Get that stuff off of your kitchen counters.
- My friend and I just had a discussion about how nice it is to have our countertops back after having all of the Christmas decor and cookies everywhere. You know those pretty canisters that are purely decorative. See if you can use them in the pantry or as storage in the bathroom… just to enjoy the space for a little while. You can always put them back if you decide to. I stick with the rule that if it’s not useful (think knife set or bananas) or if it doesn’t have a story (like grandmother’s cookie jar), it can go away.
Go under your kitchen sink and get rid of anything you don’t use.
- We know we all have random cleaners that have been there for two years that you don’t use for some reason. Let go of that guilt you feel for dumping a half used bottle and don’t buy it again.
Pick 5 things to donate.
- Honestly, I am pretty good about donating things we don’t use or need on a regular basis… and somehow there is always more. Within 10 minutes I found two ruffly white curtains that I used to use as tablecloths when my daughter was younger, a throw pillow that was too brightly colored for our house, two skirts, and some decorative glass jars that have been sitting in a closet for too long.