There are the toys that your kids have lost interest in over the years and the books that they’ve advanced past their reading age and now they are collecting dust on a shelf or in a bin. There are the clothes that are hung up neatly in your closet or folded up and stored away on the top of the shelf, even though you can’t remember the last time that you wore them.
This is why during organizing--and during spring cleaning in particular--I make it a priority to touch every area of my home. I don’t let myself just open up my linen closet and if everything looks straight and contained I call it “done”. No, I force myself to do a once over of the linens. Do the pool towels have stains or holes and need to be replaced before next summer? If so, I’ll add it to my pile to bring to a local animal shelter. The same thing goes for my girls rooms. My daughters are going like weeds, and at this point in their life we have to seasonal checks of their wardrobes. Sure, their t-shirts might be in good condition, but are they ready to be passed down to a cousin or donated? By touching everything in our home we force ourselves to really examine what we are keeping so that it’s not just a place with organized stuff that we don’t use.
This year, I’ve created a Spring Organizing Checklist to help you organize your entire house (click here to download). From checking for expiration dates in the pantry to donating the decor that you no longer pull out during the holidays, the goal with this checklist is to help you declutter your home once and for all this year. Take it room by room and I’ll bet the motivation of seeing how much you can let go of (and how good it feels to get your home in order) will help you accomplish more than you had set out to during spring cleaning.