HELP! My House is drowning in clutter!!!

Hi I’m Lisa,  I’m a mum just like you, I have 3 younger children and a husband.  I’m going to help you, help your home to become a haven.  In the coming months I will be answering your questions to do with your home.  De-cluttering, cleaning, sorting, and organising yours and your families stuff.

Each month I will lead you through an area of your house that may need some tweaking.  Step by step to clearing the clutter and cleaning the space.  So without further adieu let’s get into it….

We’ll start out easy in the KITCHEN.  The kitchen is the heart of our homes, we nourish our families and nurture them from this little room.

The first step to clearing the clutter believe it or not is to do NOTHING.  Yep you heard me!  Step into the middle of your kitchen and look around – make mental notes on how you would like this room to appear when you are done.  The power of this thought is amazing and helps you later when deciding what storage and decoration you would like.

This room is the soul of the home, treat it with dignity and respect and it will reward you in ways that you never knew.  Once you’ve cleared the bench, you all of a sudden have room to cook those wonderful healthy meals for your family, If your space is welcoming and clear and you don’t need to clean before you work you will be more likely to want to be there instead of getting takeaway.  Cleaning it out once and maintaining saves you time as well as mental energy.  No more stress about the mess, won’t that be nice.

Start with your kitchen sink and bench top – how much space do you have – is your bench top a home for everything that doesn’t have a home?  Collect 3 BIG plastic bin bags one for – RUBBISH, one for – RE-HOMING and one for CHARITY (you’ll need this one when we get to the cupboards).  Now just toss – don’t sort yet just toss into the bag you think is right – and one big rule you may NOT go into the bag and retrieve items at a later date.  Once your bench is clear give it a good scrub and do the dishes in the sink and give that a good scrub make it shine.  Take the rubbish bag outside NOW, take the Re-homing bag and put things where they belong. 

Now that’s done –  move onto each cupboard and do the same thing – you will be amazed at how many electrical appliances you can get rid of and do you really need that 7th wooden spoon?   I want you to clean out a drawer for your tea towels and aprons.  They should live in the room that they are used not in the linen cupboard 3 rooms away.  Added bonus is you clear a space in your linen cupboard.(ready for next month).

The idea is to do ONE cupboard or drawer at a time, and repeat the process for the bench top - if it helps you- put the timer on and have a race and see if you can beat it. 

Once the kitchen is done – take the charity bags to the charity shop straight away.  Clutter in bags is still clutter.

Remember the idea of de-cluttering is to REMOVE not RELOCATE.

Now sit down with your favourite wine and chocolate and a good book and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!