Declutter first before you organize and clean your home, and the process becomes much much easier!
I wrote this article around the time when our kitchen counter had become a dumping ground, that we could no longer use it for preparing meals. I had to do some real cleaning in the kitchen then.
This experience reminded me of an important lesson we all must learn if we want an easier way to maintain a tidy home.
Decluttering must come first before organizing and cleaning.
Whether you’ve set yourself into an everyday declutter challenge, or you declutter just when you are about to clean a particular area in your home, you will find that organizing and cleaning becomes a lot easier when you have decluttered first.
Let me show you why.
1. You don’t have to organize or clean what’s not needed.
Why waste time organizing and cleaning what you don’t need? And yet, this happens many times.
Decluttering compels you to sort things out into what’s needed and what’s not, what’s being used and what’s not.
When you remove stuff that you don’t need anymore, all that is left is just what you need. Then you will only have to focus your organizing and cleaning efforts on those stuff that you really need.
2. It’s easier to move things around.
When you’re decluttering an area, say a kitchen counter, you usually remove everything on it to clean the space, then put things back when you’re done.
When there’s less stuff, of course it’s easier to move them around than when you have to move a lot of stuff (some of which you don’t even need anymore).
3. You’ll spend less time in organizing and cleaning.
Less things means less to organize and clean. Consequently, this also means less time to spend in organizing and cleaning.
The time that’s supposedly for cleaning, you can now use for something else! Yay!
4. It’s easier to maintain a space with just a few things.
Maintaining an already clean space is so much easier than when you have to clean it like it’s the first time you cleaned it.
Yup. I know. Life happens! So there are times (can even be many times) when those maintenance efforts really have to take the back seat.
And this makes decluttering even more important!
Again because it will always be easier to organize and clean a space with just a few things than a place with lots of stuff.
Do yourself a favor.
Before you begin organizing and cleaning, declutter first.
It doesn’t matter whether you embark on a declutter marathon for thirty days in your entire home, or you randomly pick a place to clean, then declutter that before cleaning.
It’s all up to what works for you.
What’s important is… you declutter first, so organizing and cleaning won’t be that much of a burden anymore.
Need help decluttering your home? Download our Mini Declutter Workbook to help you have an easy start!
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Here are more decluttering posts that you may find useful.
- 50 Things to Declutter Without Any Regret!
- Why You Need to Pay More Attention to Decluttering
- Where to Start Decluttering When You Feel Overwhelmed
- 24 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Decluttering Easier and Without Regret
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