5 things to declutter to ensure this summer is no sweat
If you declutter before the season begins, you are sure to have a stress-free summer!
Summer is almost here, and it is going to be a scorcher! The last thing you want to do on a blistering day is tear through your home looking for the beach towels. The kids are out of school and restless, and you have the seemingly endless job of making sure they are entertained and taken care of. You don’t want to find out you are out of sunscreen — or even worse, that you used expired sunscreen and the kids come home burnt to a crisp!
Here are five things you can declutter now, before the height of summer begins, to ensure that this season will be a breeze.
Clear out the water bottles
How many water bottle trends did you fall into? Do you have 10 Stanleys, 7 Owalas, a Hydro Flask, and a Nalgene? Somehow, water bottles seem to make their way into my house on a regular basis! I don’t know how we always have so many, but every summer I do a round of decluttering to get my cupboards in check.
Take stock of the ones that you actually use every day and get rid of the ones that you don’t like, use, or lost the lid for. And if you have a water bottle you love but have lost the lid, see if you can purchase a replacement lid instead of buying a whole new bottle!
Pare down outdoor games
Did you leave your cornhole boards outside all winter and they got ruined? Did no one in your family touch the dusty croquet set last year, or the year before? What about the kid’s slide that is sun bleached and cracked beyond repair?
Get rid of the outdoor games that are no longer used or needed before they tumble down on you like a giant Jenga tower.
Sort your pool and beach towels
Go through your closet and find the towels with rips that you can fit your hand through and the ones with the stains you just can’t get out. Set aside a few to use as emergency flood towels, and keep an extra in your car just in case. Then you can take the rest to your local animal shelter and donate them to a dog near you!
Trash expired sunscreen
This is an easy one to make the cut on. Sunscreen does in fact expire, and you want to make sure your skin is protected from the harsh sun! Nothing ruins the summer more than a peeling sunburn.
Sunscreen is only good for two to three years — the exact length of time depends on the type of sunscreen and whether it has been stored properly (meaning not rolling around in your hot car). Gather up all the sunscreen you have, figure out what’s old, what you don’t like, and toss ‘em!
Storing winter clothes
As the weather warms up, you can pack up your winter clothes. While putting your coats and scarves away, declutter what you didn’t use this winter. Did your kids grow out of their snow pants? What about that scarf you knit but still haven’t worn for three years in a row?
Donate what you don’t use and put the rest in a bin or bag. You can then shove that bin or bag to the back of the closet, so you can free up the front for the summer stuff you will be using. You want your pool noodles to be easily accessible; you don’t need your snowshoes getting in the way!
15 minutes a day keeps the stress away
If you take 15 minutes every day for a week, you can have these knocked out before you even put your sunglasses on! Rome wasn’t decluttered in a day, and you don’t have to stress about getting everything done at once.
Set a timer, do what you can, and know that you are gifting yourself a serene summer. If that timer goes off and the excitement of a spacious closet is fueling you, keep decluttering! Whatever clutter you can clear will leave you feeling refreshed and ready for the months to come.
Tracy McCubbin is the founder of dClutterfly, one of America’s top decluttering companies. Tracy looks at the root of our clutter to find the real cause and ways to find real solutions.