First things first

Tackle the clutter one item at a time.

We started with the pile of stuff in the middle of the room, which was mostly sports clothes for the 2 very active young men of the house. A lot of it was discarded, simply because it was now too small for the boys or had no sentimental value to them. But whatever was still needed or useful made its way in the proper cupboards or donation pile.

HOT TIP: Before you start decluttering, identify where you’re going to put the stuff you are getting rid of. Having designated boxes, bins, and bags (garbage and recycling) will help.

Next came books, DVDs, random papers, and office supplies. Annie, my friend and client, would sit and take one item at a time and decide if she wanted to keep it or not. When she wasn’t sure, we talked through it. I was responsible to take the items where they belonged and make it easy to manage the piles of donations. Eliot, one of her sons, helped us sort through the DVDs and some were kept for the RV, but a lot were donated.

HOT TIP: As you are decluttering, if you think someone you know would love or could love an item, take a photo, and text them the information right away. If they want the item(s), you can make a delivery later (or asked them to come pick it up), and if they don’t, you don’t have to wait for the next time you see them and can add the items directly in your donation piles.

Clean and Organize

Once the clutter was cleared, furniture moved around and trashed/recycling taken out, everything got wiped down or vacuumed. It’s important to do this step, because, once stuff is put back, it’s harder to give everything a good deep clean.

We organized the books on the shelf and got the desks sorted for the boys.

Anything we found that had a sentimental value to mom, or the boys, we kept in previously started memory boxes (simple plastic bins – one per person).

Bonus Linen Closet

At the end of the day, we were left with an empty closet, and I knew one space that was bothering Annie, was here small appliances pantry/linen closet. So, I decided to try and see if the extra set of shelves could fit in the now empty space. And luckily it did!

We now had space for some linens. We pulled every item from the other space, sorted through them quickly (even more donations yay!) and organized the keepers in the closet.