Being a clean and organized prepper can be difficult at times. You want to accumulate and keep all the things that you might need. You want to be sure you have everything you need. You want to be sure to have everything you might need. You aren’t sure what you will need or not need though.

Pretty soon, you have a lot of stuff, not enough room, and can’t find anything. Not being able to find what you need which a situation arises can be disastrous. You need to declutter and get organized.

Easier said than done, right?

I am here to help you. While I may not be the most organized person in the world, I have a few ideas on what works for me to be organized and declutter at the same time. What I do will not overwhelm you because I don’t deal with being overwhelmed well. I like simple and easy methods that will help me find what I need easily.

First of all, before you even start decluttering and organizing your life and your preps, you need to know what you are preparing for. If you don’t have an idea of this, you will have no idea what you need to keep and to discard. You can try to be prepared for anything and everything if that is your wish, but you need to know that ahead of time. When you have an idea of what you are preparing for, you can better decide what to keep and what not to keep. You can organize your preps better and with a purpose.

Five Tips on How To Declutter and Get Organized While Still Being A Prepper

1. In order to do this right, you should de-clutter your whole home. However, this should not be a weekend project. This should be more like a 1-3 month-long project. You do not want to be overwhelmed and quit before you are done (or even really started). The end result of decluttering your whole house is that you will create more room for your preps. You will have a better idea of what you have on hand.

For me, the easiest place to start is the clothes. Cleaning out the closets and dressers of clothes is usually satisfying and can free up a lot of space quickly. If you have clothes you have worn in the last year or so, you should probably think about getting rid of them. From there, you can move to the linen closets and so on.

2. What should stay and what should go? This is your stuff. You should be the one to make the decision, but there are ways to deal with the stuff. First of all, do you use it? Honestly answer that question. We keep a lot of things because we think we might need it someday, but we don’t. Outgrown clothes, broken things, and more need to find new homes. We also keep a lot of things from old hobbies and collections we are no longer interested in. They also should find new homes. We need to keep an open mind about keeping things for preparedness, but you have a lot of items that will not serve you in an emergency or after an SHTF. You should find new homes for those things.

Second of all, if you have things that you are holding on for memories, think about finding a better home for those things. Again, no one can tell you what to do with these items, but you are probably not using them. Sometimes they are not worth holding on to, but that is your decision. If you are that attached to the item, keep it. If you are attached to the memory of the item, think about it.

Lastly, how many of one item do you need? Sometimes we have a lot of one item and it is taking over a closet. However, you only need and use just a few of that item. You should probably find a new home for the rest. At one point, I have three desktop and two laptop computers. All but one of the laptops ran, but I only used one desktop and one laptop. The other two were cleaned off and recycled and the non-working laptop was recycled.

3. Organize as you declutter. If you just got done decluttering a closet, organize the closet so you can clearly see what you have and where it is. Organize your things into totes, baskets, and buckets so you can easily grab them and go. Label all the totes and stick to keeping in the tote what the label says. You can make printer labels, but I use either the super-sticky Post-It Note labels or chalk labels for easy removal and reuse.



4. Buy the baskets, buckets, totes, labels, and shelving. I know they say that if you properly declutter, you won’t need to buy these things. That is rubbish. You need these things to be better organized and see your preps better. You do not need to purchase these things new, however. My local thrift shops often have basket, totes, and shelves on their shelves. If they are in good condition, buy used. I use buckets and gamma seal lids for my food storage and I usually purchase these new. You can find them at local bakeries and restaurants and they often will let you take them for free or a small price.

5. Put together your kits and bug-out bags now. While you are organizing, you should be putting together your first-aid/emergency kits and bags. This way, you can be organizing them too while you go. Make a list to put with the kits and bags so you know what is in them and what you need to buy for them. Find a closet or designate some of the shelves for these kits so you can easily grab and go.

Again, this is how I like to organize and declutter. I do not hurry and push myself to get it done. I also find that I have an easier time putting stuff away because I know I have a home for it already. I also stop myself from bringing more stuff home that I may not need because I know I don’t have a place for it or will not need it.

How do you like to declutter and organize your preps?

Thanks for reading,
Erica

(Yes, there are affiliate links in this post. The extra income which cost you nothing helps support this blog and this writer’s family. Thanks!)

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