February 2026 - Declutter and Organization
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2026 11:12 am
Have you ever gone along with the sisters Pam Young and Peggy Jones' lessons in decluttering for Sidetracked Home Executives? This was not the maintenance of just 15 minutes a day, of course, but (following getting comfortable with dailies, weeklies, etc.) included in the timeframes of heavy cleaning day and half-cleaning day, or whatever time you could give in your week.
Whether or not we've ever followed their exact lessons, we can learn from looking back at them. They made it clear that decluttering is a big job for ANYBODY. No one needs to feel badly if it seems overwhelming!
If you stall, or think you "should" be able to do this more easily and quickly, remember what the experts taught!
P and P, after suggesting starting at the front door and (skipping the kitchen) working clockwise, began to explain from their long experience teaching it, how long this might take. It was an eye-opener.
They said to expect it to take the average person 6 weeks as long as they were not also working outside the home, and then to expect it to take 12 weeks.
But only then did they advise starting the kitchen, after there was experience under the belt!
And after kitchen was decluttered, THEN and only THEN, it was time to tackle the upstairs.
( Had you remembered that.. ... that no one had even peeked up a staircase yet? )
So, depending on the house, the first floor could take even longer than you think.
After the upstairs was done they considered any basement or garage.
And then, finally, storage boxes that had been piling up were stored, with 3x5s to tell contents.
Next time you feel discouraged at the "creep" of clutter, remember that in P and P's classes, students found they were perfectly normal if decluttering at their house took more time and effort than expected.
Jump in and start with us! If it's "starting over again" that's cool - we've done that, too. We'll be tossing!
Whether or not we've ever followed their exact lessons, we can learn from looking back at them. They made it clear that decluttering is a big job for ANYBODY. No one needs to feel badly if it seems overwhelming!
If you stall, or think you "should" be able to do this more easily and quickly, remember what the experts taught!
P and P, after suggesting starting at the front door and (skipping the kitchen) working clockwise, began to explain from their long experience teaching it, how long this might take. It was an eye-opener.
They said to expect it to take the average person 6 weeks as long as they were not also working outside the home, and then to expect it to take 12 weeks. But only then did they advise starting the kitchen, after there was experience under the belt!
And after kitchen was decluttered, THEN and only THEN, it was time to tackle the upstairs.
( Had you remembered that.. ... that no one had even peeked up a staircase yet? )
So, depending on the house, the first floor could take even longer than you think.
After the upstairs was done they considered any basement or garage.
And then, finally, storage boxes that had been piling up were stored, with 3x5s to tell contents.
Next time you feel discouraged at the "creep" of clutter, remember that in P and P's classes, students found they were perfectly normal if decluttering at their house took more time and effort than expected.
Jump in and start with us! If it's "starting over again" that's cool - we've done that, too. We'll be tossing!
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