It’s week 10 of the challenge and we are over halfway through the challenge! This week we are headed into the dining room!

The Dining Room

• remove everything from the table, chairs, buffet, side tables, drawers, shelves, china cabinets, etc.
• Move everything out of the dining room
• Set up your piles – “keep”, “donate”, “sell”, “discard”, and “remove”
• Sort everything into your piles
• Questions to consider when decluttering:
  • Do you need it?
  • Do you have duplicates?
  • What is the worst thing that could happen if you get rid of it?
  • Do I use these items or am I keeping them because I feel guilty or obligated?
    • If I don’t use it, is there someone else in the family who would?
• Give the room a deep clean including behind all of the furniture. Dust everything
• Categorize your “keep” pile. Some categories include disposable dishes, napkins, place mats, table cloths, beverage drawer, cutlery, serveware, seasonal, etc.
• Use containers to set up your zones and if you have little storage and need to use drawers and cabinets to house multiple categories.
• Once everything is organized, proceed to put back in their proper place everything from the “remove” pile.
• Discard any trash and remove the “discard” pile immediately from your home.
• If you stored anything one month ago, now is the time to add it to your “donate” pile. The “donate”pile then should be taken to your preferred donation site as soon as possible.

The Sweep

Now it’s time to continue to evaluate your systems and implement a regular cleaning routine. We’ve added quite a few rooms and/or spaces to go through, although we aren’t done yet. Don’t forget that once per day you need to walk through all the rooms we’ve refreshed. Take a basket and put anything that does not belong into the basket. Put away anything that is out of place and clean anything that is dirty. Take you basket and put those items back in their proper place. Make any adjustments (like categories, zones, etc.) you need to your spaces. Continue to evaluate your changes each day you walk through the house!