5 Tips For Decluttering Your Home This Summer

No one likes a messy home— especially when it's summer and the sizzling temperatures are making everyone just a little bit irritable! We've all been spending more time indoors making it the perfect time to do some decluttering.

And whether you have a few problem areas in your home or you desperately need a massive cleanup, Patch has come up with a few ways to help you tidy up your space and feel refreshed. We'll even help you sell or give away your unwanted items!

Post your items on Patch by clicking here.

From creating a detailed cleanup plan to the best way to get rid of your extra stuff, take a look at these tips that will make decluttering your home a bit more manageable:

Make a plan and stick to it. Crafting a list of all your home's problem areas and laying out a plan of attack will save you a lot of time and stress. It's also important to pace yourself and allot a realistic amount of time to actually finish the project you're working on. If your garage is filled to the brim with boxes you haven't gone through in ages, you're probably going to need more than a few hours to get through it. This will help you stick to your plan, even when life and distractions get in the way.

Organize and clean room-by-room. Once you start a project, finish it! It can get very hectic (and messy) if you have multiple projects going on at once— not to mention it gets super difficult to prioritize your clean ups when there are multiple spaces that need attention. Pick one room at a time, and then only move onto the next room after everything is tidy.

Start small. Decluttering your home doesn't happen instantly. It can be overwhelming to think about the entire house as one big project. Once you choose a room, you can choose a specific area of the room to focus on at one time, like a bookshelf or a cabinet. Find a small project and then build on from there.

Keep, toss or give away? Purchase bins and boxes so you can more easily organize your keep, toss and giveaway piles. Look through your things and decide which items you can't live without. For everything leftover, decide whether you want to donate it or throw it out. If you think someone else might benefit from the item, add it to the giveaway box. If not, toss it!

Post on Patch Classifieds. After decluttering your home, you'll probably have a number of things in your giveaway box. And whether you're looking to give your unwanted items to someone in need or you're hoping to get some extra cash by selling them, Patch is here to help! Just post your items on the Free Stuff or For Sale categories under the Classifieds section on your local Patch, and you can get rid of (and even get!) stuff for free. Yep, it's totally free to post your items on Patch!