Spring Cleaning and Decluttering Challenge
March is one of my favorite months. Not only is it Avery's birth month (get ready for some birthday content coming soon), but it means spring cleaning and organization! There is something refreshing about a house that has been deep cleaned and is prepped for the busy summer months ahead.
You might be thinking to yourself, "I don't have time to deep clean let alone organize." Trust me, I get that. Being a full time mama to two littles under the age of 5 takes a LOT of energy. What's fun about this challenge though, is that you can include the whole family! It's never too early to teach kids the importance of personal spaces, cleaning, and organizing. They may not completely understand the concept (at least mine don't because it take all of 5 seconds for them to destroy what I just cleaned), but it's all about the learning experience and over time they will begin to see what a clean house look like. And I don't know about you, but when my house is organized, life seems to feel a bit less chaotic.
To give you a bit more encouragement, I thought it would be fun to host a spring cleaning and decluttering challenge that we can all work on together! Including myself! I'm a relatively organizing person, but I do have a few areas in the house that can use some extra TLC. Every year I strive to deep clean and organize the whole house. It's the best way to start off the first quarter of the year. So, for this 6 week challenge, we will focus on weekly tasks of cleaning and organizing that will give you plenty of room for daily life moments that can easily throw you off schedule. I'll have more details at the end of the post.
Now, let's dive into some cleaning essentials and tips.
I will admit, my personality type is one who actually enjoys cleaning. It's the feeling of taking something dirty and making it sparkle that really inspires me. However, because I know not everyone enjoys this process, the best way to motivate yourself to clean and organize it to buy a few key products. I recently picked up some new cleaning rags and simple cleaning caddy to carry around my supplies. I also purchased some candles(because who doesn't love a clean and fresh smelling house) and a new water bottle to help stay hydrated. None of these are must haves, but they sure do help make this process more fun! Here are a few other elements to add to help ignite that cleaning spark inside.
Ok... now for the good stuff! Here is our challenge details and schedule. I hope you will join me!
The Schedule:
Week 1 • family/living room
Week 2 • kitchen
Week 3 • playroom + garage
Week 4 • bedrooms + closets
Week 5 • bathrooms
Week 6 • laundry + home office/paperwork
As I said before, I'll be doing this right along with you! I'm a relatively organized person so a lot of the spaces in my home are somewhat organized, but they definitely use a good clean and/or reorganization. I also have spaces that have never been organized (like my laundry room and hall closet) so I'm excited to knock them out once and for all. So even if you have organized spaces, everyone can get something out of this challenge!
Your assigned for this week...
Be inspired - If you haven't signed up for my weekly newsletter, now is the time. I'll be sending out emails that will follow along with the weekly challenge and I'll share my tips and tricks along with photos and a blog post of my journey to help encourage and inspire you! I'll also send you a free printable schedule with a detailed step by step process to help keep you on track and give you the satisfaction of checking off that to do item.
Follow along - Feel free to follow me on Instagram to see my real time progress also. I'll be sharing before and after pictures as well as stories. If you are working this challenge with me, I would love if you would share your progress on IG. Tag me in all your before and after pictures and I'll share some in my stories to help give everyone following more ideas.
Prepare beforehand - Before we start, it's a good idea to have a few things on hand. I suggest having plenty of garbage bags, cleaning supplies (including your favorite brand of cleaning spray and sponges), an outfit that you don't mind getting dirty, and some good cleaning music. None of these are mandatory, but they are good to have ready to go so you don't get off track after getting in the mindset to clean and organize. There is nothing worse then getting prepared to start a project only to stop half way through because you didn't have an essential item prepared. #beentheredonethat
A few tips for this challenge...
This challenge is to inspire you. DO NOT let it take over and overwhelm you. The goal is to get rid of items we don't need and organize to make our lives less chaotic. And it just happens to be easy to do it together. If you want to focus on cleaning and organizing later, that's great! If you want to organize and clean later, amazing! If you want to do it all (and can without being overwhelmed or taking time away from important things like work or family time), then go for it! The purpose behind this challenge is to motivate you to remove the stresses of clutter in your house whether that be cleaning or organizing or even both.
When you declutter, be as ruthless as possible. As Marie Kondo teaches, keep only the things that bring you joy. If you love books, then keep the books (unless you have so much that you stress about where to put them). Living life with fewer items means less stress, less cleaning (Amen), and more time for other things that bring you joy. Trust me, having a truly clean and organized space will free up your mind, body, and soul and truly give you back more time.
Don't buy organizer's yet. Yes our goal is to organize and clean out our spaces, but until you declutter and know what kind of item you have to organize, don't buy anything. I have a million of those Pinterest worthy pins saved showing the perfect organized space. Just don't get ahead of yourself. The whole point of this challenge is to reduce the amount of things you have any by buying organizers (even though there is a good intention behind it) can create more clutter in the long run. Just trust me on this and hold off until after you have finished purging, cleaning, and organizing.
Make a system that works for you. If you don't want the hassle of emptying out the cereal boxes into clear containers every grocery trip, then don't buy the clear containers. If labeling things aren't your jam, then don't buy a label maker. As we work through this challenge, find the system that works for you. I'm naturally a more organized person (I use to declutter my room when I was 15 lol) so my spaces may look different than yours. AND THAT'S OK. Don't do something that is not in your nature. Now we are trying to declutter and keep the clutter away, but that's different then buying matching bins and colored labels. Make sense? Good!
And lastly, have fun! Make it a family event. Bring your kids into it. Don't waste time trying to figure out IF you should keep something of toss it. My rule of thumb is, if it's something you like, use often, or has sentimental value, AND you have a space for it, then KEEP IT. I have a space for everything and I keep it organized buy having everything in it's space. I have 2 bins of indoor Christmas decor. If I buy more Christmas items and can't fit everything back in those boxes, then something has to go until it all fits. I don't let things overflow into other spaces. Sometimes, things need adjusting or you do have to make more room (hello baby items), but those things are important, will serve a purpose, and then can be donated or given away when you no longer need it.
So, are you ready to do this thing? LET'S GO!!!!!