Tips Decluttering with a Baby

baby decluttering minimalsm Feb 15, 2021

New mums need minimalism

Being a new mum, you are responsible for another human's life 24/7, looking after a house and the people in it, and whatever else you have going on, too. It can all get overwhelming just managing all the things we need to manage, let alone managing all the things we really don't need. Mums have 1000 things on their minds to manage every day already and cannot afford clutter robbing us of any more of our time, mental space, money, and happiness. We need to simplify.

Understand what you will gain by letting go

Before trying to declutter (especially with how hard it can be getting it done with a baby), we need to get clear on our 'why?'. You need to know that by letting go of all that doesn't serve you, that your life will be filled with SO MUCH MORE JOY. Almost every task in your home will be simplified and take less time and mental processing. Decluttering will make your home feel so supportive instead of feeling like you are in an endless battle to support it. You are able to sit in your home and be surrounded only by items that you love. You just have to go through a big process to get there.

Get help

I am not going to pretend that it is easy to do a huge declutter and transition to a simpler life while you are looking after a baby. But I will tell you that AFTER a huge declutter and transitioning to a simpler life, your life looking after a baby will be SO MUCH EASIER. If you have people you can reach out to for help, please do! Whether it's having your partner, friend, or family member watch your bubba while you smash out an hour of sorting or if it is having someone help you manage to entertain the baby while decluttering at the same time. There are likely people in your life that are happy and willing to help you transition into motherhood and this is one of the best ways they can assist.

Maybe send a message saying something like "Over the next few weeks I will be doing my best to go through my house and simplify, simplify, simplify! Since becoming a mother I have realized what is really important to me and how much all the clutter in my home is making my job as a mum more difficult. If you are free sometime for an hour or two for baby cuddles while I smash out sorting all my crap out, that would really help me get it all done quicker".

Have a method

What you don't want is to be endlessly decluttering because there was no method to your madness, or getting super overwhelmed during the process and ending up with a mountain of stuff you don't want anymore in piles around your house with nothing to do with it. Work with checklists and have a plan. Prepare a little decluttering kit with donation bags, dusting rags, rubbish bags, etc, and know where you want to send your stuff after you decide to let it go. If you are interested in taking decluttering as a big project that you complete entire and revolutionize the way you live in your home, definitely sign up to the waitlist for Cut Clutter & Cultivate Joy. It is a program I am in the middle of creating with dozens of lessons walking you through each step in each room, talking the overwhelm out of the process.

Get clever with making use of your time

If you are dedicated to this process, you can find time to declutter many times throughout the day. You can use nap time, time your partner or someone else is minding the baby, time the baby is distracted for 10 minutes with toys or under a play gym. Make decluttering a priority and you can get creative with how to distract your baby with an activity while you multitask. If you learn this productivity skill and implement it through the whole simplifying the process, after you have simplified, you will have more time on your hands anyway and be able to use it more effectively, too!

Complete whole categories (even if it's not in one go)

We all know that when you have a baby, completing the task in one go is not always possible with the interruptions of a needy (but adorable) human. When you tidy, your space can get messier in the sorting process so what you do not want is your whole house getting messy because you got interrupted in every area you started decluttering. WORK ON ONE CATEGORY AT A TIME! If you are cleaning out your linen closet, finish it completely before moving on to the next cupboard. That way, when you get 10 minutes of productivity time here and there, you can keep going back to the area you are tiding until it is done.

Go Easy on your self

The reason you wanted to declutter in the first place was to make things easier for yourself so don't be hard on yourself for not being as successful as you intended. You are doing one of the most important jobs in the world; caring for the next generation in their most dependant period of life! If you really want to declutter, you will do it when your time and energy allow it.