Declutter Fast in 5 Easy Steps

Have you ever looked at your house and said, "This place is sure a pig sty." Piles of unopened mail, laundry baskets full of unfolded clothes, and dishes piled in the sink all cause your house to feel cluttered. Not to mention what is lurking in your closet or in your garage. It makes you sad, right? You just want your house to feel organized and clean.

Unfortunately, with our hectic schedules, life happens and cleaning doesn't. But don't worry, you can clean up and declutter fast in just 5 easy steps.

The S.P.A.C.E. formula, recommended by organizing guru Julie Morgenstern, is an easy formula you can follow to give you a great start at decluttering your house. You can use this formula for any area in your home. But, we'll start with the incredible collection of mail that adorns your kitchen table every week for our example of how this formula works.

1. S – Sort your items into categories.
If you are dealing with mounds of mail on your kitchen table, go through it and sort it into smaller piles. Junk mail, bills, magazines, items that need a response, etc. Separate it out.
2. Purge – Throw away, (or in our case, place in a recycle bin) any item you don't absolutely have to have. You have to pay your bills, so keep those, but do you really need to keep a sales flyer from three weeks ago? Recycle it!
3. A – Assign a home.
The end of your kitchen table is probably not the most appropriate place for your mail to live. Find a space close to where you walk in with your mail. And designate that space as the mail area. A shelf or cubby would be fantastic.
4. C – Containerize and make it pretty.
Buy yourself some decorative containers or baskets and one recycling tub (if you do not already have one). Label your containers. Use one container for bills. Use one container for items that need attention (invitations etc.). And use another container for sales flyers, newspapers and magazines you want to go through. Recycle the items you don't need. You can buy as many containers as you need to keep it organized and sorted.
5. E – Equalize and maintain.
If you diligently sort every day when you come in with your mail, you will find that the clutter that once resided on your kitchen table has completely vanished. Instead, you have a manageable, organized system at your disposal. You will periodically need to go through the purge step to get rid of the items in the containers that you no longer need. For instance, if you paid a bill, file it. If the magazine has been read, recycle it. Don't leave the items in your containers for too long before tending to them.

So, you can see how the S.P.A.C.E. formula works. You can repeat the same process with your overflowing closet. Or your grungy garage. Simply sort, purge, assign a home, containerize and equalize. No more pig's sty. Every area will be organized and clutter free.

For more great tips on how to declutter fast, visit Home Cleaning Guru.