Why I’m Decluttering My House Again & Secret Announcement!

I love, love, LOVE having a clean and organized home! It hasn’t always been that way though – my family used to live in complete chaos. It was embarrassing. And I felt like a failure as a wife, mom, and homemaker.

I knew I wanted to make a change, but I was overwhelmed. With the help of a few great books (I’ll share the titles on Friday!), I gathered the knowledge and motivation I needed and I got to work.

The first time I decluttered my entire house from top to bottom, I thought it was a one time deal. You know, clean it once and it’ll be done forever, right? Well, I’d forgotten two things:

1) We live here.

2) We can be really messy (except for my husband – he’s neat and tidy and so gracious to me as I clean, backslide, and try again).

Anyways. During my first full-home declutter session in the spring of 2013, it took me a solid 8 weeks to finish, but it was so very worth it. We kept our house clean for months and months. Then life happened, I got overwhelmed, and things got messy again.

So in the spring of 2014, a solid year after my first complete declutter session, I decided to do another full-home declutter. I didn’t think we’d find much to get rid of – maybe a few bags of clothes for donation and a couple of toys. Boy, was I wrong! After six days of decluttering, our home was 49 trash bags lighter!

Now, in 2015, I thought something similar: I’ve decluttered my house two years in a row. I’m (usually) better at maintaining a cleaner house now than I used to be. Surely there won’t be much to get rid of this time.

Well, the girls and I filled 5 trash bags with things to donate or toss, just during our first cleaning session this year. So once again, I’m realizing that maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s more to get rid of than I think.

Maybe decluttering is something that should happen on an annual basis, at least in my house.

And this year, I’m trying something new. For the first time ever, I’m decluttering my home in nearly live-time. I thought maybe it could help some of you to see before & after photos of the cleaning sessions that are slowly transforming my home back to a clutter-free state.

Secret Announcement!

AND! T0 make it easier for us to keep in touch so we can encourage each other better, I started a private Facebook group! In this group, members are able to support and encourage each other, share before & after photos, and ask questions about their specific situations.

To be in the private group, just click here to request to join!

I know that we can free ourselves from the chaos as we turn our homes into soft & relaxing places to land. No mess is too small and no house is too far gone. So will you join me this winter?

Let’s work together as we cheer each other on!