Decluttering is vital for us to be able to keep our family homes from disappearing under a pile of old baby clothes, busted toys, and cardboard boxes…. To get you into the mood to declutter with purpose, we’ve put together a 30-day decluttering challenge for you. You can get all KonMari / Marie Kondo on your home, but you’ll actually know where to start!
Before we start, let’s take a moment to think about what decluttering actually is?
What is decluttering?
Putting it bluntly, and we do like to do this, decluttering is essential, you, going through your home, getting rid of the stuff you don’t need anymore. Yes it IS that simple. It’s you getting rid of all the crap you don’t use!
We know that this is straight to the point, but that IS the point. To declutter effectively, you CANNOT lie to yourself about what is and isn’t worth keeping. So why mince words when you are actually talking about what decluttering really is.
There are a number of methods for decluttering, the most famous is of course, Marie Kondo, and her KonMari Method™.
What is the Marie Kondo decluttering method?
KonMari Method™ decluttering actually looks at items within the home by category, rather than by location. Her famous phrase is:
“Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy.”
Source: KonMari website
There has been plenty written about this, but if you are a parent. You are likely going to find it very hard to organise everything into its categories and then fly through the house efficiently to work out what brings you joy. You’ll be lucky if you get time between nappy changes to have. cup of tea to bring you some well-earned rest, forget the joy 🤣
Therefore we’ve got something better for you. A bite-sized approach to decluttering that actually works for busy parents. Take a 30-day challenge, tackle one location at a time.
This is going to be much more manageable as a parent. So you won’t feel demoralised when you realise you have started decluttering and you still have managed to work through the baby’s 3-6 month clothes yet. *Anyone else wondering how you managed to accumulate all these baby clothes* 😉
What is the 30-day decluttering challenge?
This is is – we’ve got a few different locations for you to focus on, and then work through over the 30 days. Tick them off as you go along. We repeat some so that if it IS a big task, such as the garage, you have a little more time to achieve it. We even include some of the locations that you might not think of. In the 30 days, we cover:
- Kitchen,
- Fridge,
- Pantry / Larder,
- Kitchen Counter (because we all know how much “stuff” gets left on there,
- Front closet,
- Desk,
- Cleaning supplies,
- Coat closet,
- Medicine cabinet,
- Office,
- Night stand (if you have one),
- Devices,Books / Movies / DvDs,
- Kids clothes,
- Under clothes, theirs and yours (!),
- Linen closet,
- Laundry room / Utility room,
- Bedroom closet,
- Toiletries,
- Car / van,
- Garage,
- Maintenance – we’ve put a day in for this just in case things need touching up a bit,
- Outdoor and patio,
- Purse / handbag / bags,
- Subscriptions (don’t forget these could do with a declutter too!),
- Power room, and
- Bonus day to make sure you didn’t miss anything!
We think that this is well worth tackling, don’t you? Might make things seem a little less cramped for us all.
To download the decluttering challenge, just click on the circular image below.
We hope that this is helpful for you. If you are looking for more printables / checklists to get a bit more organised, then do check out some of the other resources that we have on KiddyCharts for Organised Moms:
Organised Mum Ideas on KiddyCharts
Some other ideas to keep you that little bit more organised as a mum *honest*
Free family Thanksgiving dinner checklist
Any celebration dinner - doesn't have to be thanksgiving; here is what you need to organise beforehand.
Ready for school checklist: Never forget stuff again! (ish)
Make sure they never forget anything *well actually forget things less!*
Medicine cabinet checklist: 25 essential items every parent needs
Do you have everything you need in your medicine cabinet?
Twin mum essentials: A checklist
Is a friend expecting twins? Or even just a new baby? Then we've got a list of what you need to help!
Above are our thoughts – there are other ideas out there too – check some of these out as well?
Decluttering ideas from the internet
Some more ideas for helping to declutter your life!
Declutter Your Home: 7 Practical Benefits of Decluttering
Thoughts on why you should declutter your home - with 7 benefits of doing so.
- Get Rid of 100 Things Weekend
100 things to get rid of this weekend - make your house lighter with these general ideas of what you really don't need.... *or do you*
How to Declutter Books as a Minimalist Homeschooler
As we do provide resources for homeschooling - here is a bit of help with decluttering books for those who homeschool.
We hope this all helps – do sign up to our newsletter if it does.
We’d love to see you on the site again soon – and good luck with the decluttering as well.
Helen
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!