My Checklist To Declutter Our Home

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, I managed to come down with strep the day before my half marathon (so didn't get to run it, boo!).  I'm finally feeling better and feel like I can rejoin the human race again.

While I've made a few (very) baby steps towards simplifying our home, I know that I'm not going to get very far without a plan.  I know that there are different strategies out there for how to declutter. You can go room by room, category by category, etc.  One concept that really resonated with me was to prioritize based on what takes up the most amount of my energy or causes me the most stress.  I love that idea because once those big ticket items are taken care of, I'll have more time and emotional freedom to dedicate to the smaller issues.  I think it will give me the motivation I need to keep going if I see a lot of bang for my buck right off the bat.

Personally, I know that for me to stay focused on this process, I'm going to need to break things down into manageable portions.  I tend to get overwhelmed pretty easily, and once I'm overwhelmed, I get paralyzed.  So, in order to circumvent that, I need to prioritize based on amount of energy spent, and then further break it down.  I'm a paper girl, so I like lists written down on paper.  I want to physically check a box or cross an item off.  Here is my checklist based on my priorities.  I'm obviously still working on it, but wanted to share what I've got so far.  I'm also including a blank document in case anyone would like to use it for their own checklist.

My Declutter Checklist

To download the blank checklist, click here.

In addition to my checklist, there are a few other components I feel are extremely important to my success.

Dedicate time.  While I'd like to believe I'm going to spend so much time doing this, I really want to be realistic.  To start, I'm planning to set aside 1 hour on Monday/Friday/Saturday to declutter.  If I'm able to do more, that's great!  But I want to make sure I'm spending at least 3 hours per week.

Set weekly goals.  I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew, and I while I dive head first into action, I often burn out quickly.  I don't want that to happen, so I want to spend about 20 minutes on Sunday coming up with realistic goals for the week.

Set deadlines.  There are some things that I may try to sell before donating them.  I need to set deadlines for each item, so that if they don't sell within that time frame, I go ahead and donate rather than letting them sit in my house for an indeterminate amount of time.  With that, I plan to make a donation trip every Saturday to get rid of whatever items I came up with that week.

I know that this will likely change as I figure out what works and what doesn't, but I feel like this is a great place to begin.  What's on your checklist?  Let me know in the comments.  Also, please let me know if the blank checklist I linked helps you.  See you tomorrow for the first Frugal February Friday post!

Kelly