12 Tips for Decluttering a Small Home

Since being married I have had to learn how to declutter. I went from living in my parents’ 4 bedroom two-story house, to a double wide trailer, to an apartment, to our current 32′ RV. This has been four different home sizes in a two year span. With each transition more clutter has been removed and new declutter methods have been learned. So here are 12 tips for decluttering a small home:

Clean out your closet every couple of months. Donate or sale clothes that don’t fit or you never wear.
Get rid of cookware, utensils, and dishes that you don’t use, are peeling, or you have more than needed. (I got rid of skillets that teflon was beginning to scrape off, removed extra pots and pans since I only have three burners, and only kept enough dishes for my husband and I and up to six guests to use.)
Put DVDs inside CD carrying cases.
Only keep magazine articles or recipes you will use, instead of the entire magazine, and file them away.
Don’t buy extra bathroom products, use what you have first.
Use wire baskets for extra storage in the kitchen, bathroom, and office (a wine glass hanger below a cabinet is perfect to hold napkins).
Use a standing spice rack instead of filling up your cabinets with spices. Remove the spices you don’t want and replace them with ones you do. Use a label maker to rename the containers or paint a new label on.
Use storage under your bed, or make/buy a lifting bed platform. (Here is a link for instruction to make the pivot storage bed frame, http://recycledawblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-make-pivot-storage-bed-frame.html)
Only buy groceries you will be using that week.
Use storage above your toilet so you can declutter your counter tops.
Put things away when you are through using them.
Use storage for things you normally wouldn’t put there. (I have photo albums and pictures in place of a tv in my bedroom and dishes in my entertainment center.)