5 Ways to Declutter and Ace Your Fall Resolution

Fall resolutions. It’s a real thing. Summer is about late bedtimes, ice cream, going to a favorite beach, or driving north to New Hampshire or Maine for a family adventure. But come back-to-school season (and yay, pumpkin everything!), it’s a lockstep return to routine. For moms with school-age children, fall is a chance to reboot. Eat more kale. Go to the gym. Check off that to-do list that you meant to tackle over summer. And, maybe declutter the home while there are less little feet running around the house.

And when it comes to decluttering the home, the best person to turn to for advice is Becky Bast, or as we know her in the suburbs south of Boston, the Declutterista. After reading Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she tore through her house like a tornado and created garbage bags full of donations. She felt instant relief and lighter, and decided other busy moms, like herself, could benefit from her service.

Decluttering brings an “instant sigh of relief,” said Bast.

For moms looking for that same “sigh of relief” feeling, and if an organized home is one of your “Fall Resolutions,” here are five decluttering tips from the Declutterista:

1. Just begin. Don’t worry about the best way to declutter or organize. Just start. If you don’t know where to begin, then start with the first place you see when you enter your home. Your first thought should not be, “Ugh” but closer to a zen-like “Ahh” when you step through your front door.

2. Be kind to yourself. “Ugh I’m such a mess.” “I’m so embarrassed.” “This is gross.” If your home looks like your toddler threw a late night party with everyone in her playgroup, don’t be hard on yourself. Think of all the things you do great. Not everyone is a rockstar at everything, and if your home is a little “meh,” that’s okay. Just know, you are not alone feeling overwhelmed at times.

3. Ditch items that don’t make you feel great. If an item in your home is making you feel lousy, then remove it or deal with it right away. We don’t need reminders of things we didn’t do to make us feel bad. I had a beautiful Dutch oven staring at me saying, “You should be making soups in me.” My friend is fostering it now because I know she’s getting a lot more joy out of it. And, when I’m ready to soup again, she will happily return it.

4. Find a friend. Get a non-judgmental friend, family member, or the me, the Declutterista to help you get started decluttering. The task can be overwhelming, but with a supportive buddy and a good music station, it’s amazing what you can accomplish in a couple of hours.

5. Donate. Think about donating items right away. Instead of selling or finding the perfect person. You might be already overwhelmed so additional to dos, such as taking pictures and posting it to yard sale pages or storing them in your basement to dig out later, might not be ideal.

This fall, set a resolution and tackle it. Maybe it’s an organized home. Or, maybe it’s a commitment to eat less ice cream. And, doing it with a friend, as Bast said above, makes it easier and more likely that you will do it. Because, let’s be honest. In Sharon, winter is coming…

By Emily Hollenbeck, writer at MomApprovedGifts.com