How To Declutter Your House In A Week

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So you want to declutter your house is a week! I am so excited that you are here and taking this step to get started. But there are a few things you need to do before you can begin. So I am going to share how I do this in my own house!

Are you ready to get started?

Here are 12 FREE motivation tips just for you…so you can start cleaning TODAY!…

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Please feel free to use the table of contents to jump to the section of this article that will help you the most. Or, if you think you need to read it all, just keep scrolling!

How To Declutter Your House In A Week: Getting Prepared

If you want to declutter your house in a week, you are going to need these three things, first and foremost:

1. Time
2. Energy/Motivation
3. A Plan

Decluttering your home in a week takes more than just staying you want to do it.  Why?  Because to declutter your house in a week, you need to be committed, and motivated to get it done.  And here are the first steps you will need.

Related Post: How to Get Motivated To Clean And Declutter

#1  Find The Time

Finding the time to declutter your house in one week is absolutely essential.  And in order to do that, you need to know approximately how long it will take in order to completely declutter each part of your home.

Do you think you could finish a room a day?  Do you need 1 hour a day or 12 hours a day?

This all depends on how cluttered your home is.  

But when you decide on how much time you will need, then make sure you:

1. Block that time off in your calendar.  (Need a calendar? I love this one for moms!)
2. Set up child care if needed
3. Take off work if needed
4. Let other members of the family know your plan so you are uninterrupted

Related Post: 12 Best Planners For Moms Who Want To Be Organized

#2  Find the Energy and Motivation You Need

You may already know why you are planning to declutter your home in a week.  Maybe you are having company come to stay, maybe you are feeling overwhelmed by the clutter and need it removed from your home, maybe you are just feeling like you are sick and tired of your house being cluttered.

Whatever the reason, make sure it is a good one.  Decluttering an entire house in a week is not an easy task.  You need to do the following things to keep up:

1. Make sure you are highly motivated.  Visualize or create a vision board of how you want your home to look when you are finished.  Or keep in mind that your company that is coming will want to visit in an uncluttered space.
2. Keep your energy up.  Make sure you have had your morning coffee or matcha (this is my favorite matcha) because you will need it.  Remove yourself from the situation now and again to take a walk, exercise, and basically take a break.
3. If you need to remember why you are doing this, just look at your vision board and think about your end result so you get back in the right mindset.

#3  Make A Plan To Declutter Your Home

Before you begin, you may want to make a plan in order to keep you focused on your next steps.

You will need a plan for:

1. Which areas to tackle and in which order
2. Figure out where to start in each area
3. Designated piles for the clutter you are cleaning out
4. A good removal plan so the items get out of your house right away and are not just stored in a different area of your house.

So Let’s Make a Plan To Declutter Your Home In One Week

Here are the steps to help you make a plan to declutter your home in just 1 week…

#1 Which Areas To Tackle and In Which Order:  The Decision

When you choose an area of your home to declutter, you want to start where you are having the most frustration, or where you will see the most impact.

So, if there is a space like that for you, then right it down as the first place you will declutter this week.  This space will be the first one you work on during the first day of your declutter week.

After that, what is the second area that frustrates you or you would see the most impact by decluttering?  Write that down for day two of your declutter week.

Continue doing this until you have 7 days of rooms to declutter.

#2 Where To Start In Each Area You Are Decluttering:  Breaking It Down

On the first day, you will want to know exactly which space you are going to declutter, but also where you are going to start.  Surfaces?   Drawers?  Cabinets? Closet?

It is your choice, but I recommend breaking it down into sections and then after each section is decluttered, take a break.  

Then, move on to the second section, and then take a break.  And so on.  Do this breakdown for each day and each area you have chosen to work on for that particular day.

#3 How To Sort Your Clutter

You will need 4 piles that are labeled for your clutter.  They are:

• Trash
• Keep
• Move
• Donate

As you go through the items you are decluttering, instead of leaving the room every time you need to move something to a different space, keep it all within reach.  

Instead of just piles, place large garbage bags, bins, or boxes in the place you are sorting your decluttered items so everything gets placed in something right away and you do not have to pick things up later.

Pro Tip: If you keep decorative baskets in each room, you can declutter whenever you find something that needs to be decluttered from that area. Just know that this basket is your declutter basket and only use if for that.

#4 Have A Good Removal Plan

The whole reason you are decluttering your home is to REMOVE the clutter.  So I am going to be harsh with you right now and give you a little eye opener.

Part of the reason we accumulate clutter in the first place is because we cannot let go of the things that need to be let go of.  That is why I only stick to 4 decluttering piles.

DO NOT however hold onto things any longer that you think you may be able to fix, repair, upcycle, or sell.

So, when you are finished decluttering a space in your home, REMOVE the items you are getting rid of immediately.  I know this may be a pain, but I would recommend a trip to the trash and the donation center EVERY DAY during the week you are decluttering.

This will stop you from trying to go back through anything to hold onto it.  

I am sorry for the tough love, but if you truly want to declutter your house in a week, then you don’t want the remnants of the declutter sitting around when the week is over.

How To Declutter Your Home In A Week Room By Room

Questions to Ask Yourself When You Declutter Your House in One Week

Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you declutter your house room by room.

1. Have I used this within the last year?
2. Does it work?
3. Does it look how it supposed to?
4. Is it in good condition?
5. Will you use it again?

DAY 1 – Bedroom:

Declutter the following things from your bedroom:

• Blankets with holes
• Old shoes
• Shoes that don’t fit
• Shoes you never wear
• Clothes that don’t fit
• Clothes you no longer like
• Clothes you have not worn in over a year
• Clothes that have faded
• Anything you have two or more of
• Clothes with lost buttons
• Clothes with stains
• Clothes with unintentional rips or tears
• Extra throw pillows on your bed
• Exercise clothes you do not where
• Anything completely out of style
• Old belts
• Old purses
• Broken belts
• Broken purses
• Hats you never wear or don’t like
• Any novelty items you never wear or use
• Anything that is stretched out
• Anything that is too big for you
• Flip flops that are dirty, faded or old
• Extra pairs of pajamas (your only need 2-3 pairs per season)
• Extra exercise clothes (you only need one outfit for each day of the week per season)
• Old out of style or unworn ties
• Old suits or sports coats that are out of style or never get worn
• Out of style sunglasses
• Sunglasses that are scratched or broken
• Old glasses you never wear
• Any trash

DAY 2 PART 1- Bathroom

Declutter the following items from your bedroom…

• Expired Makeup or any makeup that smells weird or you don’t ever use
• Expired Body Products or any that don’t smell right anymore or you don’t use
• Old bath mats
• Holey towels
• Holey wash clothes
• Items that don’t belong in the bathroom
• Faded or bleach stained items
• Old makeup
• Old body products
• Bottles of nail polish that are dried or gloppy
• Old personal use items you don’t use
• Extra hair accessories you never use
• Styling products that are old/expired/never used
• Styling appliances you never use
• Any grooming supplies you have more than one of
• Old toothbrushes
• Old contact supplies
• Anything broken
• Anything moldy (like kids bath toys and loofahs)
• Broken watches
• Broken jewelry
• Watches and jewelry that are out of style or never worn
• Any trash

DAY 2 Part 2 – Living Room

• Old CD’s
• Old DVD’s
• Blankets with holes or stains
• Extra throw pillows
• Any trash

DAY 3 PART 1 – Kitchen:

Get rid of the following things immediately:

• garbage laying around
• anything you have two of
• anything you never use
• Expired Food
• Food you don’t eat
• Utensils you never use
• Extra utensils
• Appliances you don’t use
• Recipe books you never use
• Paper recipes (upload them to Evernote instead)
• Old tupperware with no matching lids or that is scaling on the sides
• Extra pitchers
• Extra platters
• Broken utensils
• Expired herbs and spices
• Entertaining items you never use
• Old bottles 
• Chipped plates and bowls
• Leaky anything
• Broken or chipped mugs
• Any trash

DAY 3 PART 2 – Linen Closet

• Sheets with holes
• Old pillows
• Bedding you don’t like anymore
• Bedding you have never used
• Table clothes you never use
• Cloth napkins you never use
• Any trash

DAY 4 PART 1 – Office

• Old receipts that are more than a year old
• Papers you no longer need
• Kids school work that is not truly special to you
• Old printers that no longer work
• Broken computers
• Old boxes 
• Pens or markers that don’t work
• Extra cords
• Extra monitors
• Extra tech you never use
• Old calendars
• Your old textbooks
• Books you have already read
• Books that just lay on the coffee table or in the bathroom that nobody reads
• Outgrown, broken or defeated video games
• Musical instruments nobody plays
• Old board games
• Multiple decks of cards (you only need 2 at the most unless you are an avid card player)
• Your old school work
• Any trash

DAY 4 PART 2 – Basement

• Unused Christmas Decoration
• Old Pictures
• Old toys your kids have outgrown
• Glasses you never use
• Wedding China
• Anything you have not used in more than a year
• Any Trash

DAY 5 PART 1- Kids Things

• Old toys
• Broken toys
• Toys that never get played with
• Clothes that don’t fit
• Shoes that don’t fit
• Books they have outgrown
• Broken books
• Trinkets they have forgotten about
• Games they have outgrown
• Games with missing pieces
• Broken or old art supplies
• Scribbled pictures
• Toys that come from fast food meals
• Diapers, wipes, and other baby essentials you no longer need or use

DAY 5 PART 2 – Other

• Expired vitamins
• Expired over the counter medicine
• Expired prescription medicine
• Junk Mail
• Old bottles that are empty (cleaning, pills, etc)

Here is a complete checklist of all of the items above.

Reasons To Declutter Your House In A Week?

Here are the three main reasons that you should take the challenge of decluttering your home in a week…

So You Can Find Things Faster:

Have you ever been running late with the kids?  Maybe you are trying to get to a doctor’s appointment or a playdate?  All you need is to find little Sally’s other glove!

But there are so many gloves, hats, and scarves that it is taking you FOREVER to find it!

The clutter from the number of winter items you have to dig through is causing you stress.  It is going to make you late for an appointment, and you are getting frustrated.  And more than likely, you will take that out of the kids as you rush them out the door and into the car…without the glove.

So You Can Get Things Done Faster:

How about this one.  You are trying to cook dinner.  But you have to dig through piles of clutter in the kitchen to find the counter top.  You have to dig through 50 pots and pans to find the one you want to use.  You have been looking for that can opener in the cluttered utensil drawer for 20 minutes.

If you remove clutter from areas of your home, it can help you accomplish your tasks faster.  Leaving more time for you to do the things you want to do!

Stop You From Buy Extras:

Have you ever been searching for something.  You look all over your house, but cannot find it through all the clutter.  So you buy a new one.  Three weeks later, you happen to find the original one. . . Now you have two.  And you spent the money to buy something you already had because you couldn’t find the original!

The cost of clutter is real!

129 Things You Need to Declutter from Your House RIGHT NOW

How to Deal with Paper Clutter During Your Week Of Decluttering

Paper Clutter is going to have it’s own decluttering piles that are slightly different than the normal ones.  I would recommend the following categories when decluttering paper:

• Needs Action.  This means you need to do something with this paper besides filing it.  For instance, you need to pay the bill, take a picture and upload it to your computer for records, or move it to a different location in your home.
• Recycle.  For items that can be recycled and you no longer need.
• Shred.  For sensitive items with personal information on them that you no longer need.
• File.  On the computer or in an actual file cabinet or drawer.  Items that need to be kept for records.
• Trash.  Items that cannot be recycled by you no longer need.

Related Post: How To Declutter Paper Piles

The Best Organization Products To Use When Putting Your ‘Keep’ Pile Away

These are some of the organization products I use around my house. I hope that when you use them, it helps make your life a little more organized and less cluttered too!

My Favorites:

• Decorative Rope Baskets
• Over The Door Shoe Holders
• Woven Bins
• Under Bed Storage
• Storage Ottoman
• Small Plastic Storage Bins

I hope this got you started creating a plan to declutter your house in a week! And if you are looking for more help, you can join my challenge, where I send an email a day for 7 days to help walk you through decluttering each and every room of your house.

Happy Decluttering!

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