Clear the Clutter Week 2: Entry, Linen Closet and Living Room
Happy Monday! We are back with the second week of the Clear the Clutter Challenge. How did things go for you the first week of the challenge? I am about 99% done but I still have a few little things to finish up! This week we are working on entry way, linen closet and living room! I will share a few easy steps to get these spaces under control!
Take everything out
First things first, and this is probably the most time consulting step, take EVERYTHING out of bins, baskets, drawers, shelves, etc! Note: Start with one space at a time instead of tackling all three of these spaces at once!
You decide if you want to tackle the hardest or easiest space first!
Decide what you want to keep
Go through your piles and decide what you want to keep. Be ruthless and logical about your must keep items. Do you need 5 king sheet sets if you only have one king size bed in the house?
In the linen closet, I decided to keep two sheet sets per each bed. Then if one is in the wash we use the other set. We don’t need more than that!
Same process goes with everything in your entry way/mud room! Determine how many hats, gloves, coats that everyone in the family needs. Unfortunately we tend to lose gloves easily, so we need all the pairs we have!
Don’t forget to clean out those spaces in your living room like the toy bins and magazine racks!
Determine how you want to organize
Now that you have your piles of “keepers”, determine how you want to organize those things. Do you have bins and baskets around the house that you can already use?
In my entryway way we have baskets down low that hold current seasonal items and then baskets up high that hold out of season items. At the end of the season I just swap the items with each other. So much easier than storing in another part of the house.
Also, one little tip for keeping my mud closet a little more organized is to keep the kids backpacks in their rooms on the weekends. This allows us to have a little more room in the closet, especially if we are entertaining on the weekend. Plus it looks a little more organized for those few days of the week!
I’ve been watching Tidying Up on Netflix, so I’ve totally been converted in how I fold. Just by folding my towels better I ended up with so much more room in the closet.
We don’t have a living room, so I worked on our family room for this week. There isn’t much in the way of clutter in this room, but I cleared off our ottoman that always seems to accumulate stuff. Plus, we have one toy bin that tends to be a catch all, so I try to go through it on a weekly basis. Once the basket is filled up, I go through it and return things to their proper homes.
Don’t forget to maintain regularly
The biggest key to keep these spaces organized is to regularly maintain the areas. Almost every day, I am straightening up our mud closet and taking out extra shoes and coats. Actually, cleaning up the coat closet area is one of the kids favorite assigned chores because it only takes a minute or two! You know it is an easy task if kids LIKE THE CHORE!
Unfortunately, decluttering is not a one and done process. I recently read that Marie Kondo, the queen of tidy, goes through her house every single day! I can only imagine how tidy her home must be since she is always keeping up with decluttering!
If you are looking to get your entry way CLEAN in addition to organized, be sure to check out my 30 Minute Entryway Spring Cleaning post!
Are you ready to get started on Week 2?
1.Join our challenge so you can have instant access to our Day by Day Clear the Clutter Challenge Calendar!
When you sign up, you will also receive a weekly e-mail with extra tips and ideas!
2. Connect with our Clear the Clutter Facebook Group for daily motivation and inspiration!
3. Follow the hosts on Instagram (Jaclyn, Keri, Brittany B. and Brittany W.)and use #cleartheclutterchallenge2019 with your new and improved spaces for a chance to win COFFEE FOR A WEEKEND!
Make sure to check out my co-hosts tips as well!
Brittany W. Our Homemade Easy
Brittany B. Dreams + Coffee
Keri Keri Lynn Synder
Jaclyn Coffee, Pancakes & Dreams
We hope you are joining us along for this decluttering challenge. I am hearing from so many of you that this five week series is helpful is so motivating! Yay!
This is some amazing advice, and really a great post for me to come across. At the moment, I feel like I am drowning in clutter. This has inspired me to get sorted. Thank you!
Great tips! I’m still working on the kitchen here!
Awesome inspiration once again!
I am working on all the closest one room at a time. Does make me feel much better and now we can find anything.
Great tips. I like how you switch the seasonal and out of season baskets. Easy enough! 🙂
-Lauren
Clutter is the bane of my existence ha. I try so hard to keep down the clutter but like you said its not a one and done process, no matter how much I would like for it to be, and sometimes I just don’t want to keep up with it. Love this challenge
These are all such great tips! I was just throwing magazines away yesterday and wondering why I saved them all in the first place?! Thanks for sharing!
I love your mudroom area. I would really like some kind of set up like that in my laundry room. It’s a large room, but I haven’t found the perfect piece to put in there. At least it is organized and clutter-free. I clean out closets about every three months or so. My husband told me the other day there wasn’t too much left that I could get rid of! Ha! Clearing out the clutter keeps me from buying unnecessary things too!
Thanks for the great tips. I just signed up for the newsletter, so I’ll have to get caught up!
I really need to declutter, I never know where to start and the whole thing becomes very overwhelming. Thank you for sharing these tips 🙂
My boyfriend and I just bought our first home over the summer and it’s been a struggle to get organized, so I’m loving these tips! My favorite thing right now is to use baskets because I can just toss stuff in and put it on the shelf and it hides the mess. Thanks for sharing!
Yes to this! I started my Spring cleaning early this year.
Wow you did a great job, mine is where things go to be forgotten even though I work on it at least once every year, the clutter just ends up back there. thanks for sharing this.
These are great tips! I’ll def be checking out that Netflix series. I love having my clients clear the clutter. it frees so much mental space. After all our external environment is a reflection of our internal world. Here’s the link to the first of three in my clear the clutter series: https://www.modavatecoaching.com/3-steps-to-clear-the-clutter-in-your-life-part-one/
I pulled everything out of my front closet and found a pair of snow pants my son grew out of at least 2 years ago! UGH! Time to organize better for sure!
I benefit from reading your site. Cheers!