Feeling OVERWHELMED By Clutter? Ever Feel Like “They” Aren’t Telling You Something That Would REALLY Help You Get Seriously Organized And FINALLY Get Rid Of Clutter? You’re Probably Right!
Professional Home Organizers DO know a few secrets and tricks to use to help you declutter and organize your home – especially helpful when you’re feeling OVERWHELMED by CLUTTER.
Today, I’m going to share their tips, tricks and decluttering advice that will hopefully show you how to start getting organized when you are OVERWHELMED.
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From Overwhelmed To Organized
When you want to declutter and organize your home, the first thing you will probably feel is OVERWHELM.
side note: here’s WHY clutter overwhelms YOU
Where do you start?
Is it even possible for you to convert your cluttered house into a clutter-free home?
It IS possible!
And YES, you CAN clean your cluttered house fast!
Straight From The Pros
Here are 4 simple professional organizing tips straight from the pros that will help you **go from overwhelmed to organized** – and clutter-free – WITHOUT feeling overwhelmed.
Hiring a professional organizer is a life-changing experience, but not everyone can afford to do that. That means, we need to make use of the tips and tricks professional organizers use and apply them to our own strategy to declutter and organize each room in our home.
The most important tip any organizing Pro will tell you is to **DOWNSIZE and SIMPLIFY.** Having less STUFF makes home organizing SO much easier.
I’ve talked about WHY clutter LITERALLY exhausts you here (and it’s an important read), but having less to deal with will help everything else fall into place.
Simple things like cleaning up after yourself will become habit – and something you look forward to doing.
Professional Organizer’s Tell-All Guide to Organizing✅ I Found It HereThe Complete Book of Home Organization✅ I Found It Here
Professional Organizing Tips
There are many “common sense” organizing tips such as NEVER use boxes to organize, give yourself a lot of time, and common mistakes to avoid.
But what about the not-so-common organizing tips? What advice do the Pros have?
Let’s find out!
Organize Your Organization
1. When working on decluttering and organizing a room in your home, be sure to take multiple boxes or bags with you.
Professional organizers use 5 separate boxes.
– One for trash
– One for things to donate
– One for things that belong in another room
– One for things to give to a family member or friend
– One box for your “think it over” items.
What are “think it over” items?
Those are the things that you’re not quite sure what to do with at the moment.
Professional organizers will have you put those “not sure” items all in one box and then put that box away.
If you don’t need and/or look for anything in that box after a few months, you don’t need that stuff.
Makes sense, right?
The Best Time To Declutter
2. Procrastination is NOT your friend.
Clutter sure has a quick and sneaky way of building up when simple jobs are put to the side.
Professional organizers know that the best time to do something is at the moment you see it needs to be done.
Even for “normal” families – do it when you see it!
Looking To Declutter and Organize a Specific Spot or Room in Your House?
– How To Declutter and Organize Your Craft Room
– How To Declutter a Closet With TOO MANY Clothes
– How To Declutter and Organize Toys
– How To Declutter Room By Room
– Declutter Your Pantry in 3 Simple Steps
For example, in our house, dirty dishes are THE thing that build up and at times I don’t really even remember when they were used.
If each time a plate or dish was dirtied it was put right into the dishwasher instead of just piled in the sink, keeping the kitchen clean and clutter-free would be SO much easier.
Know The Rules
3. Make your decluttering rules BEFORE you start.
For example, tell yourself that if you come across anything that is broken, stained, or in any sort of disrepair, that you ARE going to throw it away.
And above all…
Do NOT make one of these decluttering MISTAKES!
Setting your own boundaries BEFORE you start will actually make the decluttering process easier and faster.
De-Junk FIRST
4. The first step is the most important step – get rid of the junk and unwanted stuff FIRST.
For example, when you’re decluttering and organizing your closet, first get rid of every, single thing you do not wear, that does not fit, or isn’t wearable.
Then, organize what’s left in your closet.
There’s no point trying to declutter and organize any space in your home if you’re constantly fighting the clutter you do NOT want (or need).
Get rid of it first, then organize what’s left.
#1 Secret Of Organizing Pros
All the Professional Organizers near you would NOT have a business if we all knew, and FOLLOWED, this one secret trick.
Thing is, we don’t haha!
But it DOES work to keep your house organized without all the clutter building up.
note:
That video is NOT mine – I just found it helpful.
BUT, while it is free, you do have to give your email address.
Extreme Decluttering Methods
The Pros have 4 decluttering methods that I, personally, think are pretty extreme.
That said, they ARE effective and worth mentioning in case they might work for YOU.
That image might be hard to read so let me list those 4 decluttering methods out for you (and h/t to happy little dumpster for the inspo!)
90/90 Decluttering Method
In short, as you’re decluttering ask yourself, “Have I used this in the past 90 days?” – if the answer is “No”, then ask yourself, “WILL I use this item in the NEXT 90 days?”.
If the answer is NO to both of those questions, get rid of the item.
To me, in my humble opinion, that’s not a **REALISTIC decluttering strategy like these are**
For example, Christmas stuff – you gonna get rid of that just because you declutter in May?
Project 333
This is more of an extreme and minimalist-inspired way to declutter your closet and create a more “capsule” wardrobe of less.
Basically, you only allow yourself 33 clothing items (including accessories) to wear for the next 3 months.
Everything else gets packed away (or totally removed).
Me? While I probably wear the same 33 things most of the time, I do NOT like to be limited. But for others, it just might work.
1 In 1 Out
This method isn’t extreme, but it’s not a way to actually DE-clutter, it’s more a way to KEEP clutter from coming BACK into your home.
The short version – for every NEW thing that comes IN your home, another item goes OUT.
It’s pretty much the same as **my Box In Box Out Challenge here**
The Box Method
Now this method IS extreme – like, TOTALLY extreme – and absolutely not right for everyone.
The short of it?
Pack up EVERYTHING YOU OWN into boxes and then only take items OUT when you use them.
The theory is that after 90 days, whatever is left in your boxes can be decluttered and removed from your home.
Sounds like a real pain in the you-know-what to me, but when I think back to when we’ve moved, we kinda did this exact thing without realizing it.
We moved in all our boxes and slowly took out the things we need, use and love.
After a few months, there were still unpacked boxes that most likely contained things we did NOT need, use or love.
But doing that same thing WITHOUT packing to move? Eh, no thanks haha!
Hopefully, one of those extreme methods sounds like something you could do and it WORKS for you!
More Tips & Tricks
– Decluttering Help for Hoarders
– Free Printable Cleaning Checklists
– 50 Easy Ways To Get Organized At Home
– How To Declutter ANY Room in 15 Minutes (or less)
– Lazy Girl Cleaning Hacks (that really work!)
– Small House? Clever DIY Storage Solutions To Maximize Space
✅ Recommended:
My House Was a MESS!
And my anxiety was through the roof!
I needed a plan to get it together - it was all pushing me over the edge.
Thing is - we LIVE here... I never had the fantasy that my home would ever look "Pinterest perfect".
I simply wanted more control, less clutter and much less anxiety.
I finally found something that worked for ME.
- My house is now easier to clean - I can now clean it in minutes, instead of hours.
- I can now actually FIND the things I'm looking for.
- I learned some simple decluttering systems that make me much more efficient every day - and I'm more relaxed and less overwhelmed all the time (finally)
- My house now looks pretty darn good almost all the time.
- Best of all - I no longer stress about guests unexpectedly showing up.
This is how I did it.
– Clearing Clutter- Where To START
– 31 Useful Life Hacks That Will Blow Your Mind
– Nursery Closet Organization Ideas
Miss Anything?
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More Ways To Declutter and Organize
1 – Decluttering? Do NOT Use These – Where To START When Your House is a Disaster – If you’re tired of thinking: “My House Is SO CLUTTERED… and I Don’t Know Where To START!” You NEED to read these tips and tricks to FINALLY get started and NOT make mistakes.
2 – How I FINALLY Decluttered My House After Being Overwhelmed For YEARS – Tips and tricks to help you get rid of the clutter even if you’re feeling overwhelmed and ASHAMED of your messy house.
3 – One Hour Declutter Challenge To Get Organized In Only 7 Days – This simple this decluttering challenge is perfect for those OVERWHELMED with all their clutter and their messy home.
4 – How To Declutter When You Have ZERO Motivation – Feeling Overwhelmed? Need cleaning motivation? How to declutter and organize when feeling overwhelmed and with NO motivation to do anything around the house.
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