Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been slacking on the declutter challenge. Last week was back to school and it took us a hot minute to get back into the groove of things.

Suffice it to say, I’ll be doubling up on tasks this week so expect to see a ton of decluttering over on my social platforms!

Home Decluttering – Week 4

This week’s tasks are pretty simple in comparison to the previous weeks, so if you’re feeling pressed for time, this week shouldn’t add too much to your plate.

Sort through your cleaning products:

We keep our cleaning products under our sink and I don’t know about you, but sometimes it can become so disorganized and a collection of half-empty bottles.

For today’s task, take everything out of your cupboard and give it a wipe-down. Now it’s time to sort through all your products. Chuck the expired ones and if there are two products of the same that are open, combine them.

If you have little storage baskets, those work really well for sponges, etc, and kitchen towel holders work like a charm for rubbish bags! Place everything back neatly and Bob’s your uncle.

Organize your handbag and wallet:

If there was ever a dumping group, this is it. Slips upon slips, lipsticks upon lipsticks, general odds and ends, and about a million hair elastics, am I right? Honestly, the easiest way to do this is to literally dump it all out and then divide it up into piles: rubbish, belongs somewhere else, make-up, hair stuff, kids extra clothes, etc.

Once you’ve done that, put it all back neatly. You do pretty much the exact same thing for your wallet, remember to go through all your loyalty cards and destroy the ones that no longer apply or you don’t use anymore.

I’m pretty sure your bag feels a million times lighter now!

Deoderise your mattress:

Honestly, the easiest way to do this is to get the professionals in, they can steam clean and deodorise your mattresses, and while they’re there, why not just get them to steam clean your lounge suite at the same time.

If you want to deodorise your mattress yourself, it’s a bit more effort and you need to do it over a few days but just one of those things you gotta do.

The first thing you want to do is vacuum your mattress to get rid of any dust and debris. Next, mix up equal parts of white vinegar and water into a spray bottle and lightly coat one side of the mattress, once it’s dry, do the same to the other side. Make sure not to completely saturate the mattress.

Once both sides are completely dry, sprinkle some bicarb on one side and leave overnight, vacuum off in the morning. Do the same to the other side and then you’re done!

This is especially important to do if you have a little one night time potty training, there are bound to be accidents that the waterproof doesn’t catch.

Clean up your junk drawer:

I’m pretty confident that every home has one of these, the place where you just chuck everything that doesn’t really have a place; batteries, random cords, receipts, that sort of thing.

I really think that there will be odds and ends that don’t really have a home of their own, so a junk drawer is important, but it can still be neat and tidy.

Empty your drawer and give it a wipe down. Group like items together and put them into separate containers if you can, so batteries all together, etc, and then place it all back into the drawer.

Spring clean your social media accounts:

This is a little bit of decluttering for the soul and is just as important. Social media has the ability to make or break us and can have a massive effect on our mental state if we let it.

So, today go through the accounts and people that you follow online, if they make you feel inadequate, rotten about yourself, or even annoyed, hit that unfollow (or mute) button.

Do the same for accounts that you don’t really interact with, just declutter your feed so that it becomes a happy and positive place to be.

Clean your car, inside and out:

Oh my word, I am actually embarrassed at how disgusting my car gets, anyone else? I feel like I spend so much of my time in there but when I get out I don’t have enough hands to carry children and groceries and handbag and and and… And then the thought of going back to do a second trip flies out of my mind as soon as we get inside.

And so the heap of utter rubbish just piles up in my car; clothes, toys, water bottles, hair accessories, you name it, it’s probably in my car.

To clean it all up, I head out to my car with two bags and my handheld vacuum cleaner. I start in the backseat; take out the car seats, give them a quick vacuum and then vacuum the seats as well.

All the chaos is usually on the floor so I go through everything one by one, throw the rubbish away into one bag, and put things that don’t belong in the car into the other bag.

We have a little box in the car with a few goodies in it (coloring in stuff, books, raincoats, wet wipes, etc) and so I make sure that that is all stocked up and neat and tidy. I do the same in the front seats too. Don’t forget to go through your cubby hole!

Then, if you’re feeling full of energy, you can give your car a good wash, but if I’m honest, I’m just going to take mine down the road and get it washed while I have a coffee, so much easier and enjoyable, don’t you think?

Can you believe that there are only a few days left of the declutter challenge?! And in the last week I may have a little surprise for you…

If you need to play catch-up, here are the previous posts: