Declutter the Bedrooms

What's the Homemaking September ShapeUp! all about?



For everyone just joining in I'll be explicit, for everyone doing this daily with me... well you know the drill.

Monday we decluttered the Kitchen, Tuesday we decluttered the Dining Areas and the Entrances to our home, and yesterday we decluttered the Living Areas. We're still decluttering, but this time the bedrooms. Again, don't dwell on just 1 item, don't get sidetracked.

First, grab a trash bag and the same 2 totes you've been using, again 1 is for donate/sell and 1 for put away items for other rooms. As you are going through the areas and run across items that don't belong, put them in one of the totes. Again, don't leave the areas to put them away yet.

Go through the bedroom quickly and throw all the trash in the trash bag and also everything that is broken or no longer functional, like broken hangers. If you run across an item you no longer need/use/want and it's in good working order, put it in the donate/sell bin. I start with the floor and work my way up. Take a quick peek under the bed, never know what might get lost under there. Clear off the nightstand(s), dresser(s), armoire(s), and/or furniture items. Quickly go through the drawers and cabinets and pull out anything that doesn't fit, is stained beyond wearable, or just doesn't look good anymore. If you have a few things that are iffy, pull them out to try on when you are all done, but don't pull out too much or you'll just make a mess! If you still have queen sheets, but you've had a king bed for 3 years, get rid of the queen sheets.

In kid's bedrooms, pull everything that is broken and pitch it. If you have an overabundance of toys, ask the kids to pick 5 toys they no longer play with and donate them. If you have a child that can't bear to part with anything, pick out all the toys that you don't think they play with anymore and put them in a bin out of the way. If they ask for a toy by name within a month, retrieve it discretely and give it to them. The rest can be safely donated.

If you have a child that never wants to part with anything and can't seem to keep the room neat under any circumstances, try this... pull everything out for a week except for the bed, desk (if they are school age) and the clothes they can fit in their closet. At the end of the week, ask them what items they want to move back in. They may find after having most of it gone all week that they want less than they had before and it's easier to keep it neat. I wish I hadn't waited until I was an adult to take this approach!

This is probably a bit extreme for most, but the best thing I did for decluttering my bedroom and keeping it that way... got rid of the dresser! We put in an efficient closet organizing system and got rid of the dresser. No temptation to put anything on the dressertop, and it's easier to find what I have and to keep the room neat.

Take one last glance around the area and look at the decorations in the area and look at it with new eyes. Do you love it? Does it work? Is it just there because it's always been there? If you decide you don't want to keep it, put it in the donate/sell bin. This isn't the time to do all sorts of rearranging and decorating, just a quick evaluation of what might be visual clutter. Is something sitting on your dresser or nightstand just because it's always been there? If so, consider replacing it for a season, or permanently.

Now, take the bin of items for put away, and put the items in the appropriate rooms.

Now that we've done a basic decluttering go on over to Tamy's for Menu Planning, Shopping Frugally, and Recipes.

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