Tips and Tricks to Declutter this Spring and Summer

Everyone has heard about Spring cleaning, and almost everyone has either participated in the cleaning or has used it as an excuse to get out of some boring plans. Whether or not you’ve participated personally, it’s still a phrase that you’ve heard everywhere every spring, but what does it mean? 

Simply put- it’s a thorough cleaning of a house or a room usually in the springtime (go figure), but what if you missed spring and haven’t gotten to the thorough cleaning part? And what does a thorough cleaning really entail? 

Honestly- I’m not sure what through means in everyone else’s book, but in my book a thorough spring clean is when I take the time to declutter the rooms in my home and get them all ready for another round of birthdays and holidays and, well, clutter. I also think that you can spring clean anytime of the year. 

I figured that others might be looking to start their own great summer decluttering project, so here are my five tips and tricks for the things I look for when trying to declutter my home.

• Look for shoes that haven’t been touched in a long time.

I always have the hardest time throwing shoes away or donating them. Even if I never wear them, or even if they are worn through, I always hang on to them for way too long. That’s why I always make this my first step when decluttering my home. I go through and look for shoes that I haven’t worn in the last two years and put them in a box for a thrift donation or a yard sale. I also look for the shoes that I ended up wearing down so much that there are holes in the soles and on the toes (it happens, especially with canvas shoes). 

Using this as my first step fills me with a good feeling because, let’s be honest, most of the clutter we see every day is the shoes that are just scattered around. 

• Get rid of those old school books.

We all went to school at some point in our lives, and if you’re like me, you still have piles of your old school books taking up space on bookshelves, in boxes, and on the floor. I sometimes think about selling the books to a second hand store, but they’re torn and written on with all of my little notes and doodles. It can be hard to let these things go, though, as they can be pretty sentimental, but they are useless now. It is best to smile at the memories they give and send them out the door- otherwise how are you supposed to get more books without any room?

• Clear out the vitamins, medicine, and makeup in your cabinets

Believe it or not medicine, vitamins, and makeup do expire, and just like when anything else expires, it’s time for them to go. Expired makeup can cause all kinds of infections around your eyes and lips, and while some expired medicines could actually be harmful if taken, most of the time expired medication and vitamins just aren’t as effective as they normally are. One these items hit their expiration date, it’s best to throw them out and only restock with what you need. Avoid buying things that aren’t immediately useful to you. 

• Delete the paper trail

One of the most abundant things in any household is paper. From junk mail, to the kids’ artwork, to magazines- there’s no end to the amount of paper that can clutter up a household. This spring cleaning season, it’s time to go through and get rid of all those receipts that are past their keep date, sort through the artwork that holds good memories and the artwork that is mostly just scribbles on a page. It’s amazing how decluttered and clean a room looks without a million papers in the little nooks and crannies. 

• Finish or toss those waiting projects

Tell me if this sounds familiar “I’ll do it later.” We all tend to take on DIY projects around the house that ends up cluttering our space with tools and paraphernalia. You can be determined to finish the project that day and get everything cleaned up, but then something comes up and it’s put on the back burner. They can sit for weeks or months and never get done, but what better time to accomplish these tasks than now?

It would be a good idea to finish the projects that are a necessity of life, and makybe just toss the projects that were just meant as a little pastime. You can always start over again, but for now it’s time to trash the things just collecting dust. 

Hopefully with these tips and tricks you’ll be able to get this spring and summer cleaning done so that you can enjoy the good weather that is coming our way. Have some friends over for drinks in your freshly decluttered home and become the entertainer of the year, or just sit home and relax in a stress and mess free space. The decluttered world is your oyster after all.