Declutter Your Home to Regain Design Clarity
Get a fresh start in 2017 and declutter your home to regain design clarity. What better way to begin than by decluttering and getting rid of items that have collected dust over the years, or once-loved treasures that have lost their luster? Let's go room by room and dive in, shall we?
Declutter Your Kitchen
Decluttering your kitchen is really important because the kitchen is the focal point of your home. It is more than just where your family is in and out of throughout the day. It is also the epicenter of where your friends hang out while you're prepping apps and playing mixologist with the latest watermelon martini recipe. Wouldn't it be nice to have a whole cabinet dedicated to all of your bar essentials? How cool would it be to have a pull out bar that's hidden in your kitchen cabinet! But - bummer! You have that deep fryer and ice cream maker taking up most of the storage room. No cool hidden bar for you to impress your friends. I know, once upon a time when you and your husband were dating, you both enjoyed breaking out the ice cream maker to make vanilla ice cream from scratch. However, now fresh ice cream is just a click away and you’re getting it delivered. How about taking those once upon a time appliances to Goodwill or give it to another couple that's going through the beginning stages of dating? Not only can you get rid of those small appliances you can clear out the cookbooks that relate back to the deep fryer. It's like a win-win!
Declutter the Home Office
Most of the time the door to the home office is closed - you know, to hide the multiple piles of "I'll get to that later" paper. Those piles become a stress point for you. The best way to tackle piles of paper and declutter your home office is to come up with a system you can stick with. Some items are time sensitive such as bills and upcoming events, and others are just ripped out magazine recipes or super cool places to visit that landed onto your bucket list. My favorite store to get myself organized is The Container Store. Create a file or bin for all of the paperwork to initially land and then create a filing system for each of the categories. Now for the trick - go through the initial file each week and file away accordingly. Here's a great post from Simplify 101 for more detailed tips on how to get those organized.
Declutter the Living Room
The last room on the list to get decluttered is the infamous living room. This high traffic area gets cluttered pretty quickly on "The Daily”. Between the mountains of magazines, the multiple 2nd-3rd generations charging cords, old gaming consoles, and any other out-dated electronics, the living room goes from comfy and functional to a hot mess real fast. Take heart, decluttering the living room is easy!Go get a couple of empty boxes and pack up all of those items that have been sitting around and take them to your nearest recycling center. Yes, this is a MUST!
Recycle Electronics
Take all those old electronics to a recycling center rather than adding to the landfill - they know how to dispose of them properly. If you're not sure of one in your area go to Recycling Centers to find the nearest place.
Go Green with Magazines
For the LONG term fix, avoid more magazine mountains by subscribing to digital copies of your favorite magazines. No need to stop reading about the 10 best places to eat or the 10 best places for your next vacay. Going digital is a thing and here to stay. Texture is a great resource to get you started on your digital subscriptions. Trees will thank you for sparing them to be cut down for the latest gossip about some pop star.What are you waiting for? Go get decluttering! When you're ready for more great (digital and clutter-free!) design advice, sign up here for my FREE Tips & Tricks Newsletter! Start creating a space that you will love to come home too!