Friday 7 March 2014
7 Places To Cut Clutter This Spring (And Tips To Do It With Kids!)
I am trying to put my house in recovery from it's awful binge and purge cycle. It fills up with stuff - from garage sales, birthdays, and god knows where else until it drives me so mad that I have to get rid of stuff. Get rid I do - I'm still working on my most recent purge where I have a dozen large bags and boxes stacked in the garage to sell. It's my goal to stay on top of the clutter and end the cycle but right now it's time the purge.
When it comes to purging you need to really think about what you want out of life. Purge as much as you can while still being able to function. If you run the dishwasher daily and have one kid you don't need 30 plastic cups.
Here are places I cut clutter:
Kids toys. I took out so many kids toys about a month ago and no one has even noticed. Since then they've been playing more and making less messes so it's a win-win!
Linen closet. It was time to purge the baby blankets, ratty quilts, and worn out bed sheets. I rearranged the closet so it's all neat and tidy. I kept out one set of sheets and one change of blankets for the kids' beds just in case of nighttime accidents and threw the rest in storage downstairs.
Books. We love our books and we still have quite a few but we cut out the ones that no one had read in a long time and weren't special. (This is a very small selection of our large collection.)
Pantry. Throw out anything expired and stale, toss or give away anything you won't use. Afterwards my pantry felt huge!
Kid kitchen stuff. So many plastic cups that no one was using so we saved the favourites and eliminated the rest. The same went for divided dishes and containers of odd sizes that no one uses. I added a drawer that I was using somewhere else (and no longer needed because of decluttering) for the kid's bento supplies.
Kitchen utensils. Half a set of measuring cups and one of three sets of measuring spoons were included in what was kicked out of this drawer. I sorted using cheap Ikea dividers and also keep frequently used stuff on the counter next to the stove.
Tips for cutting clutter with kids:
- Let them make decisions on some stuff. You can pack away the two small t-shirts and toss the broken toys at the bottom of the bin but let them have control of their own things.
- Set limits/goals. After you give them control they may want to keep everything. Give them a number of how many things they can have, or in a specific collection, or how many to get rid of.
- Offer an incentive. After the house is decluttered they can have a friend over, make money selling their stuff at a garage sale, whatever motivates them.
- Embrace a "one in one out policy". Daughter has 15 Barbies and gets a new one? Time to toss an old one.
- Stop shopping. Don't buy stuff for your kids and try and discourage others from doing the same. Encourage them to ask for activities rather than things when someone is looking for a gift idea. Instead of buying everything they ask for have them save up for it on their own, they'll have longer to think about it and appreciate it more.
- Box it up. When kids are truly uncooperative about giving stuff up don't force them, it could be traumatic. Instead place some of the items you'd like to get rid of in a box. Tell them the toys can come out when you need them. If the kids ask for specific items, give it to them, but don't show them what's in the box. At the end of three months or so get rid of whatever they'd forgotten about.
- Rotate toys. If you still have too much stuff but the kids play with it all try rotating the toys every month or two so they always feel new. They may ask for less too.
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