5 Tips to Gut Your House
Hey girl,
Feel like you just cannot get past that initial push to simplify and minimal-ish your home? I’ve got you! The past year I have felt the same way! That’s why over winter break I made it happen. I went through and literally gutted our apartment! I’m sharing the five things that helped me most below!
1. Make a plan
Of course you should’ve known I’d tell you to list something! ;) I am the ultimate list maker and planner. I know I’m not alone! I got out a notebook and listed every room, closet, and cabinet in our house. Then, I wrote in my planner the days I would gut those areas. Sounds too easy, huh? That’s because it is! But this is the first step to getting de-cluttered.
2. Trash bag party
When you first start with each room, go through with a trash bag and throw away any, well, trash. Old receipts you don’t need, magazines, packaging from all that Amazon shopping, etc. This will automatically help you to clear the area. My office was the biggest trash zone in our apartment. It was amazing the difference this one step made in clearing the clutter!
3. Create your mountain
Next, go Marie Kondo on each room and put EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, in a BIG pile! Your husband is gonna be like, “Did a bomb go off in here?”, but he’ll be fine. You’re also going to make some totes full of things to sell, donate, and keep. After everything is in the mountain pile, you’ll start to go through it piece by piece, and designate it to the proper totes. I know it’s hard to let go of some things. For example, my grey suede moto jacket that’s two sizes too small. That was HARD stuff, y’all. But if it doesn’t fit, have a home, or you don’t LOVE it… it’s gotta go.
4. Get the totes out and put things in order
Once you’ve gone through the mountains, and everything has been designated to it’s tote, it’s time to move the totes out of the house. Either in your garage, on the back patio, or front porch. Just get it out of view. Because then it’s time to put everything you’re keeping where it belongs! Try to be as organized with this as you can. Amazon has great organization supplies on Prime at great prices! You can basically search anything you need! It’s my go-to for organizational supplies! Don’t forget your totes! Make sure to go get all of that taken care of next!
5. Monthly walkthrough
That initial gut feels amazing, but if we continue to clutter our homes with things we don’t love or need, we will end right back where we started. As a blogger, this is especially difficult since I need to stay current with designs. That being said, I like to go through every room each month and do a walkthrough. Did I buy anything new? If yes, did it replace something else and can I now eliminate that? I also recommend going through your fridge and pantry every two weeks. Make sure nothing is expired and toss out what is!
Hold yourself accountable, girl! When you’re shopping, wait a day or two and see if the want/need is still there. If you’ve still go the love eyes and it fits in your budget, purchase it! This has been something I’ve been practicing recently and it totally makes a difference! I hope this has help you get started with decluttering your home and living a more simple life!
