ABCD

So this post is in response to JillyBean who asked if I had any tips for decluttering in response to this post.

The Relief Society activity that I went to had lots of good ideas about organizing and I bought home lots of info for Mason, but the main tip I got from it was ABCD.

This way of organizing you give everything in your home an A, B, C, or D rating.

A items are things that you use everyday and are very important, like your car keys, dinnerware, computer, TV, paper, pens etc. These items should be easy access and should be in sight.

Next is your B items which you might use every couple of days so it to should be in an easy place to get but not necessarily as easy to get to as your A items. B items can be scissors, glue, cleaners, vacuum, etc. B items you don't use as much as your A items but more than your C items.

C items are usually seasonal items like your winter clothes, holiday decor, summer toys, camping gear, etc. These items are stored away and not necessarily easy to get to either the whole year or for certain seasons. 

Lastly is D items. D items are junk and should be thrown out or given away. If you are not sure whether to throw it out, store it away in a box and if you don't use it or look at it for a year, throw it out without looking at it. I follow a website called unclutterer.com that Mason introduced me to. In one comment a guy rejected this idea saying that you should look into the box because you might be like him and throwing away important information like your marriage certificate, social security card, warranties, titles, insurance info, etc. My response to this is that these items are IMPORTANT and NOT JUNK and so they should NEVER be thought of junk items. They should be stored in a secured, organized location where you know its location and know not to throw it out by accident. These items don't really follow the ABCD method, but have their own category.

So basically with this method you are prioritizing items and how you choose to priorize your items it will be different for each person.

Mason and I haven't really started on this method. We have just started deep cleaning and throwing out stuff we don't want or need. I think that the organizing will come next. It has been amazing how much room we already have from getting rid of stuff that wasn't useful to us.

I did find it interesting that for most people, we only used 20% of clothing 80% of the time. The sister's mom also suggested that every time you buy one clothing item throw out 3 clothing items that you already had.

P.S. to Molly- If I find some more clothes that I want to get rid of, I'll swing them by your way first :)