I dislike clutter but only when it belongs to someone else. I’m serious, I can deal with my clutter but when I start seeing cluttered desks, couches and corners all over my house, that’s when I come undone. The Ultimate 5 Minute Decluttering Tip has helped our whole family keep declutter to a minimum.

Many a time I have complained to my poor husband about how it took me 1/2 the day just putting things back in their place and how frustrating this is to me. I didn’t even started cleaning until after lunch because I spent my morning putting the scissors back in the drawer, picking up pillows that had been thrown all over the floor… though these things seem minor they add up and before you know it you have piles. When we have company it’s usually the time I start to see all the clutter so I walk around the house barking out commands to my family about the pile of shoes behind the door, the kitchen island full of pencils, notepads and books, the book shelf with books thrown everywhere. But when we do “the walk through” we are able to keep clutter to a minimum. Note I didn’t say a perfectly spotless house because I’m never aiming for that just a mess-free house.

So I’ve been doing this “walk through” for years but on and off. When we do stick to this “walk through” routine my household chores are so much more manageable. I get so frustrated when at the end of the day my house looks like a pig-pen. The reality is we live in our house, we play, we eat, we have friends over, we use it to the max so our house gets dirty. There was a point in my life that I didn’t let my kids do lots of things for the sake of keeping a clean house but this “walk through” has helped me feel more relaxed about the messes during the day knowing that at the end of the day we’ll all pitch in.

The Ultimate 5 Minute Decluttering Tip

The Walk Through

The Walk Through is what I like to call it. After I found myself daily telling my husband “Can you walk through the house with the kids before they get in bed and have them put everything in it’s place?” I came up with this short cut name–The Walk Through.

How it works:

• Take a basket or bin and had one to each of your children.
• Then tell them to pick up the stuff that’s around the house that’s not in it’s place. I have boys so I have to be specific of where I want them looking–the desks, the book shelves, the couches, behind the doors, tables… You can make it fun and say you have 5 minutes to fill up your basket with things that need to be put back in its place.
• You’ll need an adult accompany them at first but our goal is that they can at some point do this on their own.
• Once they fill their baskets with this stuff then have them put these things where they belong. You’ll also need to accompany them or check on them at the beginning to make sure they are putting things away.

The only way this decluttering tip works is if you put the stuff away. If having a basket is too tempting to just leave the things in it then don’t use a basket. Most of the time I don’t let my kids use a basket for that reason but my little guy who is 5 gets one because he always complains about not being able to hold all of his cars or Lego pieces in his hand.

Want more?

This article is Day 3 of 21 Days: (Re)Discovering the Heart of Your Home series! As we consider our house let’s think beyond making beds, cleaning dishes and doing laundry. As we think about homemaking let’s look beyond whether we work outside the home, work in the home, are single, empty nesters or don’t have children…  Let’s put all of that aside and let’s view it through the lens of relationships and let that guide us. What is the purpose of the space between these four walls? What do I want to overflow from our home and from my heart to my children, my spouse, my guests, my neighbors…?  Cultivating a home is so much more than keeping a clean house, making food from scratch, having an organized and tidy home it’s about cultivating beauty, laughter, peace and love in my family and in my relationships. Follow along HERE to get updates on the latest homemaking, parenting and recipe blog post!

Your turn!

Try it and come back and tell me how this has helped you move toward a tidy home. But remember I’m not aiming for perfect just mess-free.