Waking up on a much chillier Monday morning, reality is setting in that fall is on its way in. As we get ready to be spending more time indoors, de-cluttering your home can help you become less stressed and more organized. With the kids in school and extra activities being added to the weekends, de-cluttering can make life a lot simpler for busy families.

Starting out small and slow is the best way to tackle the organization process. Start by making a schedule of fifteen minutes a day to organize. Slowly making progress everyday will keep you on track and keep you from burning out. Once you have figured out some time to work on organizing, get family members involved.Getting family members involved in this process is important. Helping your children de-clutter instills good habits early and will avoid learning bad clutter habits as they grow. Now that you have figured out when you will de-clutter your home and who is doing what, you must figure out how to begin.

Pick whichever room you want to start in and bring trash bags and some boxes. Figure out what you want to throw away, donate or keep. Separate these items into piles. If an item hasn’t been used or worn in a year, you’re less likely to ever use that item again. Consider donating or throwing out that particular item. After you have sorted everything, donate the unwanted items as soon as possible. Don’t let them sit around the house- that defeats the purpose.

When putting things back in place, try to arrange so that you are utilizing the space as best as possible. Installing shelves and hooks when necessary can help maximize small spaces. Also when using storage containers, proper labeling will help you avoid jumbling things together. It will also help your family to keep things in place.

Keep in mind the most necessary part of de-cluttering is getting rid of unnecessary items in the home. Less is more. Keep what is needed, get rid of what is not. These de-cluttering tips will surely make things a lot simpler not only during the fall/winter months, but also all year round.