Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-declutter your living area.
Take a deep breath, and imagine inhaling a sense of clarity, freedom and order. Then get started!
Day 1: Declutter Your Living and/or Entertainment Area
Step 1: Grab a large garbage bag.
Step 2: Quickly make your way around your living and/or entertainment area, tossing these items into the bag as you go:
- Magazines other than the current month’s
- Newspapers other than today’s
- Knick-knacks – unless you really love them
- Tatty coasters
- DVDs no-one watches any more
- CDs no-one listens to any more
- Games no-one plays any more
- Remotes and technology no-one uses any more (including old game consoles)
- Food
- Books you’ve read and won’t re-read, or will never read
- Videos, cassettes, computer floppies, camera film – any storage device for which you no longer have hardware
- Framed photos – unless they’re genuinely special to you
- Tatty cardigans, socks and other apparel strewn around the furniture
- ‘Displayed’ items on shelves that collect dust but hold no meaning for you
- Dead potted plants
- Threadbare or stained cushions, throws, rugs, etc
- Anything else that isn’t loved and/or used regularly.
Step 3: Put your bag by the door or take it straight out to the car. (Take it to the tip as soon as you can.)
Step 4: If there’s something genuinely valuable in there, and you’d lose sleep over tossing it, then you can put it into a separate charity store bag. But if it’s junk, just let it go. If it doubt, don’t over-analyze – toss it.
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- Return items that don’t belong in the living area to the proper place – the kids’ bedrooms, the office, the kitchen, etc.
- Straighten the coffee table and wipe it down.
- Neaten remotes, DVDs, and anything else that lives in the living room.
- Fluff up the cushions.
Now doesn’t that feel more like a ‘living’ room?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
And I’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Done with task 1! Thanks for an easy one to start…lol
Done! I think I’ll keep going…
Done..and it felt good to get rid of some things!! 🙂
5 mins spent decluttering living area. Check!
Done! Yay!
I’ve completed today’s task. It DOES feel more like a ‘living’ room 🙂
I am on vaca but this is a great motivator when I return! Can’t wait to get started! Thanks for leading the way! :0)
Just what I needed to get started on my spring cleaning! Finished and even had time to do a quick sweeping.
Done 🙂
DONE! It took longer than 5 minutes, but that was a good thing. I had no idea how many things were hiding in plain sight. Wow. Nice to go through and have permission to throw away some children’s books.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
All done!
All Done
Completed! My living space looks roomier now. Thanks for the help. I can’t wait to see what tomorrows task is.
Done! Packed up a bag full of toys and some knick knacks to go to Goodwill. 🙂
Did it! It definitely took longer than 5 minutes – I had so many random DVDs and empty cases floating around that had to be matched up and I’m sneezing from all the dust I’ve stirred up but today is done!
DONE!!!! Wasn’t easy. Just bought a new bedroom suite with bunkbes and half of it was still in the living room. Sure looks better now. Thank you.
All done! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s assignment. (great starter assignment for me because it was my cleanest room)
Done! 🙂
Done! Thank you so much for the inspiration!!
5 minutes later and my Family Room looks great!