One heaping portion of decluttered home.
It’s time to Mari Kondo it up. Yes, again! There are a lot of reasons to declutter and generally organize now. Here are a few…(1) In the third trimester you will be more tired and may not have the energy to do it (2) When the baby comes you’ll be in the house a lot. It’ll be so much more pleasant if you’ve already spruced up a bit (3) A lot of “baby proofing” is really just decluttering. For a baby, everything is a toy and all toys go in the mouth. If you have a lot of stuff just laying around or things that don’t really have a home, ohhhhhh man good luck once they start crawling! (4) You will not have time/bandwidth to look for things and yelling to your partner “where the %*^$&! are the ^!@&$%!ing sponges?!? and the like five times a day will not be conducive to a harmonious family life. Figure out where the sponges should go now. (5) And perhaps the most obvious: babies come with stuff so get rid of some other stuff now to make room.
Short Reads
Stanford Article, “How Less Clutter Can Reduce Stress”
New York Times Article, "The Gurus of Tidiness"
Mari Kondo’s Website, About the KonMari Method
Today Article, "What is Swedish Death Cleaning and Should You Be Doing It?"
The Fly Lady Website, “How to Declutter”
Long Reads
Books by Mari Kondo, The First One, The Second One
Book by Margareta Magnusson, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Make Your Loved Ones’ Lives Easier and Your On Life More Pleasant
Book by Gretchen Rubin, Outer Order, Inner Calm
Do
Clear off one cluttered surface in your home.
If the space you’d like to declutter is feeling a bit too messy to start, that can cause overwhelm. Check out this 4-minute video.
Schedule the first decluttering day.
Invite a friend or family member over to help with one room or category.