Got some unexpected free time in the schedule?
Maybe your local church, school, or sports team gathering has been cancelled. Maybe your vacation plans got upended and now you’re going to be safe at home for the next few weeks instead of leaving. Or maybe your local stores are all out of necessary supplies so there’s no use leaving the house anyway.
Either way, I think we all want to remain productive. Maybe some extra time at home could do us all some good—if we choose to use the time wisely.
I’ve seen some recent chatter about people spending extended periods of time at home. Tasks such as Cooking, Cleaning, and Decluttering seem to top their list of goals.
Although Clutterfree, the first app to provide everything you need to own less was just released this week, I thought it might be helpful to create a list of home-based decluttering tasks for you to work through with your family today (or one each day if you’re planning to be home that long).
14 Achievable Tasks to Help Declutter Your Home
—Challenge-Based Tasks—
1. Take the 12-12-12 challenge. The rules are simple: locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home. That’s it. Repeat if desired.
2. Fill an entire trash bag. Get a trash bag and fill it as fast as you can with things you can donate at Goodwill. Ann Marie hosts a 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge every year during the Lenten season. You can still hop in late and join the community of people completing this challenge daily.
3. Sort through a pile of mail or paper. Junk mail piling up on your kitchen counter or a stack of paper somewhere it shouldn’t be? For this challenge, look for piles of paper in places they don’t belong (kitchen counters, dining room tables, coffee tables) and tackle those piles first. Work to get through them quickly and easily.
4. Set a physical boundary for toys. I’m not a big fan of making your kids declutter their stuff unless you’ve led by example, so don’t start with this challenge. But when the time is right, take a look at the toy collection in your home and create a helpful physical boundary for them (a shelf, a closet, a wall, etc) and then help your child curate their toys to fit.
5. Clean commonly-touched items. It’s always important to keep often-used surfaces clean of germs and contagious viruses and stuff. Maybe now more than ever. Using an effective cleaner, take time to clean countertops, faucets, doorknobs, drawer pulls, light switches, remotes, keyboards. You know, all the things that should remain clean in order to shorten your time at home.
—Time-Based Tasks—
6. 15-minute family challenge. If your whole family is getting tired of the indoors, see if you can talk them into a fun game. Take 15 minutes as a family and see if you can find 100 things to remove from your home. Give them instructions to scatter, declutter only things that belong to them, and see if your total pile numbers 100 things by the end.
7. 20-minute linen closet clean-out. You can probably declutter all the old towels and linens in your linen closet in 20 minutes. Set a timer and get it done. You’ve been meaning to anyway, now’s your chance.
8. Declutter one room in 45 minutes. Take a look around the house and see if there is a lived-in room that you can declutter entirely in 45 minutes. Maybe your living room, family room, or dining room. Work hard to challenge your assumptions about what needs to stay in the room, removing as much as you can. When it’s complete, take a break and enjoy the peace and calm of a clutterfree room. Maybe tackle a new room tomorrow?
9. Skip one television show. I mean, really, you can only watch so much television before you start feel terrible anyway. So skip one show that you’d normally watch (if you enjoy sports, that’s already been settled for you) and use the time to declutter. That’s 30 minutes (or maybe even 60) of progress creating a new living environment.
—Area-Based Tasks—
10. Clean out your car/vehicle. Too often our vehicles fill up with unnecessary things: old CDs, sunglasses, Happy Meal toys, receipts, coins, empty water bottles, paper trash. Grab two bags: one for garbage and one for items to relocate. Fill them quickly with everything in your car that doesn’t need to be there. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can empty your vehicle of unneeded clutter.
11. Clear out clothes you don’t wear. Open your closet and drawers, notice how you usually wear the same things every day? Now’s a good time to get rid of the others: clothes that don’t fit, clothes that are too old, clothes that are out of style, clothes with holes, clothes that just don’t complement your figure the way you thought they would…. clear them out and open up your closet (and mornings).
12. Sort through your pantry. Seems like now is a pretty good time to get a good handle on what home essentials you already have and what is still needed. So take an afternoon this week to sort out your pantry—removing anything old, expired, or unlikely to get used.
13. Food storage containers. Your kitchen doesn’t need to be a punchline about Tupperware lids and the fact that they never match the container you need them to. We declared Tupperware bankruptcy many years ago, getting rid of our entire stack, and replacing them with Rubbermaid containers that stack easily. Do the same.
14. Clear your desktop. A clutterfree desktop is such a beautiful place to get work done—whether it’s career-based work or home-based work. So find some time and finally clear yours. Process piles of paper and remove unneeded supplies to craft an entirely new work environment. Who knows? Given the amount of free time you’re going to have at home over the next couple weeks, you might be surprised what new opportunities you are paving the way for.
We live busy lives—maybe too busy from time-to-time. Spending a few extra hours or days over the coming weeks at home with family may be just what we need as a society. If that’s you, for whatever reason, I hope you find the list above helpful in making the most of your time making your home the best it can be.
Mary Tagliarino says
Hello Joshua,
Please consider NOT recommending GOOD WILL as a donation site, but rather The Salvation Army or smaller local charities. The CEO of Good Will makes a ridiculously high corporate salary and only a very small percentage of their profits actually gets to those who need it. Otherwise, thank you for such great articles!
joshua becker says
Thanks for the comment. I have always recommended Goodwill and will continue to do so.
Judy says
I donate to Goodwill all the time!
Cindy says
No goodwill for me either! Very sad!
Joshua must get a kick back for promoting them.
Better options for donating than to goodwill!
Let’s keep an open mind!
Will this comment get posted??? Lol
joshua becker says
Of course, all comments get posted. I don’t get a kickback for promoting Goodwill. I just appreciate the good work they do in so many communities.
Ravynne says
Goodwill has been a great place for me to get clothes and other needed things I couldn’t have afforded otherwise due to being extremely poor. The guy makes a profit because he had a good idea, and they do good things for disabled people from what I understand. I’m fine with it.
Valerie Rogers says
Quite frankly tired of herd-mentality hysteria, with practically all news/articles geared toward that. I’m staying off my news app, and most internet, for a week to minimize that mind-racing from overstimulation. What did folks do before they were addicted to media? Many of us grew up before all that. As a society, we need to have less of it and just live.
Helene says
Too right! I was really panicky last week but then I calmed down. There is really nothing I can do about it except follow instructions and stay home. It really lets us know how little in control we are. As a Christian I can either start to act like I believe – or not. I guess it sorts out who is for real or not. Very confronting.
Monica says
I’m writing from northern Italy, in my area we’ve been in lock down for a while now. I made bags and boxes of things to donate/discard but now I can’t do anything with them until the lock down is over! I put them in the garage and hope to get them out of the house soon. This situation really gives you a whole new perspective on life. Tonight we’re having an “aperitivo” with some friends via Skype, we decided the some things are worth doing anyway, even if from afar.
I really hope we’ll get ut of this soon. Stay safe. Baci an lots of love from Italy
Alix says
Best wishes to you and everyone else in Italy!! Stay well!!
Mercer says
I pray for all of you in Northern Italy. Stay well.
Nancy says
Sending our love and prayers to you and Italy. Such a sad time in this fragile world. Hope we are all the better afterwards. ?
Sharon says
Thanks for sharing these ideas & especially the emphasis of “quickly” as so frequently in the past I have worked too slowly.
Judy says
I have to say—- I did the opposite with the food. I had a box headed to the food bank, but I decided to keep it just in case I get quarantined.
Sierra says
These are such great ideas! Thank you for providing such a positive attitude in this chaotic time. My college cancelled classes for the next 4 weeks, so I look forward to implementing some of these tips!
Cindy says
These are great ideas! Even though I try…with three young kids and two working parents…our schedules are always SO busy. So we are looking at the next two weeks as a blessing to tackle the items that keep getting shoved off as “we’re too busy to tackle.” It is my hope that this necessary “time away from the norm” will help us accomplish tasks that will make our summer more open to spending time on the things that really matter. Minimize now so we can maximize later! : )
Clint says
Great article except for getting of Tupperware…that’s ridiculous. Love out Tupperware!! ??
Christine E Jones says
Thank you for this…Living alone I started a list just as you described…However after reading your list…you made it more fun!
Isabella says
Writing from Italy, which is quarantined at the moment, so we have a huge amount of free time. Helpful article. Please stay safe because of the CoVid19 spreading.