The weather is finally starting to cool down and the holidays will be here before we know it. That means less outdoor get togethers and more gatherings inside our homes.

If you are anything like me then between festivals, and fairs and souvenirs from trips and fun outings, you have accumulated a lot of stuff over the course of the summer.

Now is the time to start decluttering some of these things so that our homes will be ready for guests in the coming months.

Paper

The one thing that seems to accumulate in all areas of our home is paper. No matter how much we toss out, more and more papers seem to keep coming in. Check out this post to learn how long you need to hold onto papers and when it is safe to shred them.

In order to stay on top of new papers as they come in, you can check out this post which makes use of the weekly basket system to organize your incoming paper. You can also check out this post with different products which I recommend for managing your papers.

The final post in regards to paper organization is this one on how to create a Home Management Binder to organize your home.

Living Room

Is probably the most important room to have cleaned out before guests come over. Messes in other areas may weigh heavy on our minds, but you can usually close the door and hid the mess. The living room however is often where we gather with friends and family.

In our house, the biggest culprit for living room messes is toys. If you need help in this department, check out this post on how to keep toys out of the living room.

Kitchen and Pantry

The next most common space to gather in is the kitchen. When food is filling the house with yummy aromas, the kitchen is the place to be. Check out these tips for cleaning or organizing your food storage areas.

Other tips are to make sure no food related items stay out of the kitchen and if you don’t use something every day, then it shouldn’t be on the counter.

Bedroom

If you don’t have a lot of time on any given day, the bed room is a great room to declutter in a few minutes a day. It’s just a matter of dividing and conquering. Check out this post on how to clear out the bedroom in just a few minutes a day.

Closets

Closets are another area that can be divided up into sections and decluttered little by little. For quick cleaning tasks for the closet, check out this post. If on the other hand, there is just not enough or the right kind of storage space in your closet, check out this post on organizing your closet.

Junk Room

The junk room is one of those rooms that always seems to get clutter. It often becomes a glorified dumping ground for everything that doesn’t have it’s own home. In order to effectively get rid of the junk in this room, check out this post.

Other Tips

Now that we have decluttered all of the various areas of our homes, we want to keep them decluttered. (at least as much as possible with crazy kids and messy husbands) In order to do that, we need to develop habits that will help our homes stay cleaned. Check out this post for 14 tips on how to make sure your newly decluttered home stays that way.

Finally, you should never feel like you are the only one responsible for keeping the house clean and decluttered. Check out this post on how to get your kids involved with decluttering. These tips may even work with your spouse too!!

Which room of the house could you use the most help with? Let me know in the comments!!

Cheers,

Emily