Summer is almost here! Or, if you’re in Georgia like I am, it’s really already begun. We’ve pulled out the water toys, and I’ve made the first peach cobbler of the season. One of my favorite things about summer is the way it calls us to a simpler time. To days filled with sunshine and bare feet, ice cream and sno cones (or watermelon for Joel and Katherine!), pool fun and lightning bugs. Summer makes me want to savor each day.
For me to truly be able to make the most of summer, I have to simplify. I need to declutter so that I can spend time enjoying summer rather than dealing with so much stuff every day. I’ve decided that’s the real benefit of spring cleaning – making room to enjoy summer!
But I need it to be quick and easy. There have definitely been some adjustments in having 2 kids now, and one of them is that time goes by faster and faster. With having a 3 year old and a baby, I can’t spend hours and hours sorting through stuff. I need to be able to knock it out at the beginning of nap time or right after the kids go to bed and still have a good amount of time left to do other things.
Here’s my plan, and I want to share it with you! We’re all busy, and this can help you make the most of your time. Here are my quick and easy ways to declutter to make room for more summer. We can do this!
This post is sponsored by Chapes-JPL.
Closet Cleanse
Go through the closet and toss things you haven’t worn in a while, you don’t like, or you know won’t fit anymore. For me, I’m 8 months postpartum, and my body is still changing. So, I’m not going to try everything on and make it a long process. I’ll take about 30 minutes to flip through my closet and clean out the items that I know I don’t need or can’t wear anymore.
And go through your kids’ closets too. Store or donate anything too small. I just finished doing that in our house, and I already feel so much more organized. Plus, with Katherine old enough to start picking out her own clothes, it’s much easier if everything in her drawers actually fits!
Simplify Your Jewelry
If you’re like me, you often find yourself wearing the same jewelry over and over. So, I’ve found this to be a really quick and easy decluttering project. Go through your jewelry and pull out those items that (1) you don’t wear anymore and (2) aren’t sentimental. What’s great is this can also be a good opportunity to sell the items you don’t need.
If you’re finding jewelry like gold or diamonds that you don’t want or even scrap earrings, you can get an appraisal from Chapes-JPL and consider selling it to them. This can be a lot easier than trying to find an individual buyer yourself. One of their big things is Rolex watches, so if you’re ready to sell Rolex in Atlanta, they can help you. They’ve been appraising and buying jewelry for over 38 years, so they have a lot of experience.
Go Through Toys
The fewer toys you have, the less time you’ll spend picking them up this summer! I know it’s easier said than done, and we’ll always have a lot of toys around at our house. And that’s okay with me. But I do want to make sure I’m only dealing with toys that we actually need and use. Now that it’s been a few months since Christmas, it’s the perfect time to do a run through of your toys. If anything isn’t needed or used anymore, donate or toss. I just finished doing this, and clean up is already faster in the evenings.
(Tip: I put everything in a bag in “toy purgatory” in the garage for 1-2 weeks, or until I remember it’s there. This gives a chance to see if we’re okay without it or if Katherine ends up asking for it.)
Summer Toy Review
On that note, see if there are any summer toys to donate or toss. If you’re like me, you put up summer toys really quickly at the end of the season without really going through them. Now that it’s been a year, make sure you only keep the things you need.
Miscellaneous Drawer
We all have one. The infamous drawer that holds anything and everything – and then some. As much as I love the concept, it can get out of hand quickly. And ours is absolutely to the stressing point where we have to dig to find anything and then shove it all back. Since we use this drawer ever day, it’s weighing on me. Here’s the plan – take 30 minutes to sort through as much as possible and remove what doesn’t need to be there.
Decluttering does take some time, but breaking it up into quick and easy projects makes it doable for our busy schedules. Now, you’ve got more room to pull out all the fun summer stuff. And you have more room in your days to spend time enjoying summer while it’s here. Happy Summer!
Photo credit: By Netfalls / Canva
