Declutter tips for people who don’t have much time ~ Time management tip 26

At the risk of sounding insane to those of you who feel like you never have time.  I want you to focus on decluttering your home, your workspace, your car…

Yes, you’re going to be adding more to your already busy life, but in this case – More is Less!

These are declutter tips for people who don’t have much time.

Go room to room.

Pick a room this week and commit to decluttering in chunks throughout the week.  So let’s say you start with your bathroom.  I always find this is an easy starting ground.  In my bathroom, I have 7 areas to declutter.

• Wall cabinet (approx 5 minutes with a wipe over)
• Standing cabinet (Approx 5 mins with a wipe over)
• Above the toilet (Approx 30 seconds with wipe over)
• Around the sink (Approx 30 seconds with a wipe over)
• Windowsill (Less than a minute with wipe over)
• Around the bath (Less than a minute with wipe over)
• Floor area (Less than a minute)

Each of these areas takes between 30 seconds and 5 minutes.  Of course, this doesn’t include a proper clean but I can tell you when you’ve got a grip on decluttering, cleaning takes far less time.

Why do this?

There are several good reasons why I recommend you declutter.  Here are a few reason I do it on a regular basis.

• When my home is less cluttered so is my mind
• When my home is decluttered I know where things are
• When my home is decluttered cleaning my home is quicker and easier

Big sweep or small chunks

If I have the time, I will sometimes set a day aside to blitz a room such as my bedroom and go for it.  Some people like this style.  Grab a trash bag, a box for the charity shop and maybe a box for things you no longer want but can maybe sell.

TIP: Use the trash, charity, sell system only if you actually intend doing the selling part otherwise stick to trash and charity.  You can maybe even enlist a family member or friend to take the charity bag/box for you.

Most of the time, I prefer to do things in smaller chunks as I described above. I have several clutter hot spots in my home where STUFF just seems to gather.  I’m aware of these and you’ll know where your own clutter spots are too.  At the end of each day or even every time you walk past that spot, pick 2 0r 3 things up and put them away in the correct place.

TV break tidy

What you mean I watch TV?!?!?! Yes, I do, I love watching TV, especially films.  Here’s a little trick.  In the ad breaks, go put away 10 things.  The amount differs depending on what you need to do.

It might be to go and tidy the kitchen whilst the break is on.

It might be to run upstairs and put the laundry away.

If you love your evening TV, go for it, but use the ads to your advantage to get things done.

[tweetthis url=”https://morningbusinesschat.com/declutter-tips/” hidden_urls=”#declutter”]Declutter tip: If you like watching TV, add in some TV break tidy sessions [/tweetthis]

Once you’ve decluttered, keep on top of it.

Here’s a simple tip I use to keep on top of the clutter in my house.  Each day I take my wash basket. Not the one I put dirty laundry in.  The one I use to take washed laundry out to the wash line.

I start in the kitchen and work my way around the downstairs rooms and then upstairs.  Anything that belongs in a different room goes in the wash basket.  As I get to the correct room I put the items away.

For example, I may have left shoes in the sitting room, they go into the basket and when I get to my bedroom they go in the wardrobe.

Most days this task takes me less than 10 minutes which will include a quick tidy as I go from room to room too.

If you have kids, get them involved.

Get your kids involved with housework

Make it a game for little kids and a pocket money job for older kids.  Give them the basket before you do your sweep and ask them to collect up things that belong to them and put them in the basket, then put them away.  Make sure your younger kids understand how this works, otherwise they’ll be in the cupboards taking everything that belongs to them out.  You may need to go around the house with them the first few times (even with older kids/teens) to show them what you want them to do.  Teens can do the job more in the way you do by collecting anything that’s in the wrong place up and putting it in the right place (including other people’s stuff.

TIP: Little kids may need a smaller basket.

Also use the zones technique to help your child/teen learn to keep on top of clutter in their own rooms.

• Tidy under bed
• Tidy windowsill
• Tidy book case
• Tidy desk
• Tidy wardrobe…

In general children and teens feel overwhelmed when parents say “Tidy your room.” Instead try, “Tidy your bookcase”  Give them a small specific area to tidy and clean at a time.

I hope you’ve found these simple declutter tips useful.  Let me know in the comments below or tell me what you’re struggling with.

[tweetthis]Declutter tips for those of you who don’t have much time[/tweetthis]

This blog post is part of a series.  To read the rest of my time-management tips, go to Time-Management

If you’d like to have all the time-management post on your kindle, see the Amazon link below to my book It’s Your Time

OVER TO YOU

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