I hope y’all are loving my new mini-series “How to Detox Your Life”! In the first post, I covered everything self-care and called out all the skincare products I’m loving right now. But for today, we’re switching gears and I’m diving into detoxing your home!

When I came home from Portugal (I know I keep mentioning that in these posts, but it’s when I realized I needed to detox my life), everything felt like a mess, including my house. It’s not that I left dirty dishes in the sink or stuff scattered all over the living room, but it just felt… cluttered? I found myself wanting to purge everything and start fresh, ya know?

I won’t sit here and tell you I’ve cleaned out my entire house or anything because I definitely haven’t, but if you come home from a trip or even just wake up one day and feel like you need to detox your house, this is what I would recommend:

Purge

I haven’t made it to every room yet, but I did start my detox with a good purge sesh in my closet. I was standing there looking at my workout pants, and thought, why the heck do I have SO many pairs?! I just had to go through all of them right then and there. I widdled my collection down to what I actually wear, which felt INCREDIBLE. Almost…empowering if that makes sense?

After getting such a high from only tackling a section of my closet, I knew that if I was going to talk about how to detox your life from a housing perspective, I had to suggest starting it off with a giant purge. I purged my bathroom at the beginning of the year and wow did it feel GOOD. One of the spaces I’d really love to tackle next in my house now is my kitchen. Somehow I’ve managed to build a massive collection of Tupperware and utensils that I’m not even sure I need. Anyways, I haven’t totally solved that problem yet but I want to get my kitchen back to this organized amazingness so that’s on my mind.

But anyway, I’d start with whatever space is feeling the most cluttered to you. For me, that’s my bedroom slash closet and the kitchen. Just don’t tell yourself you’ll do your entire house in one weekend because I’ve done that before and you’ll just end up with more of a mess than you started with. Tackle one room a weekend and see how you feel afterward.

And if you’re new to the idea of purging, I’d start with making three piles – keep, donate, trash. This way things aren’t going to waste if they can be reused. If you’re doing your closet, you could maybe even make a few bucks by selling what you don’t want!

Organize

If you’ve been reading BTD for a while, then you know I love organization. Organizing my house is seriously like a hobby for me (except sometimes I put it off). But even though I enjoy it doesn’t mean I keep my house super organized 24/7. Especially after a good purge session, my house tends to look a little crazy. Which is why organizing is the next step!

Because I’m organization-obsessed, I’ve already written tons of posts filled with tips on organizing various rooms in your house. I do have a post on organizing your kitchen from a few years ago (maybe I should update this once I work my way through my kitchen?), but my favorites are this one for organizing your pantry and this one on cleaning out your fridge. If you’re starting out in your kitchen, I suggest checking those posts out ASAP.

For your bathroom, which was a huge project for me because of all the beauty products I get sent for work, check out this post. I actually worked with a professional organizer when I initially set up my bathroom so I could really learn how to make it best function for me and my lifestyle. There are some great tips and tricks in there so definitely read it, k?

If you’re starting your home detox journey in your bedroom and really want to simplify slash organize it, you have to read this post! I shared seven easy tips that will help you declutter and just make your bedroom a space you want to spend time in. Who doesn’t love that idea?! And don’t forget about the closet! I went all out when setting up my closet to help keep me organized, which I do a decent job of, I just have to purge at least once a quarter to keep it looking nice.

Other organization posts worth reading include this one and this one!

Maintain

In order to keep that “detoxed” feeling, you’re going to want to try your hardest not to let the mess build up again. I know, this is wayyyy easier said than done. I struggle with it just as much as anyone, but being a little more mindful and intentional about what you bring into your house will help your house (and you) feel like it’s in order.

I have lots of great tips on how to actually keep your house clean in this post, but from a self-care perspective, I think one of the biggest things that will help is to check in with yourself often. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed or burnt out is usually when my house starts to look and feel like a disaster zone.

Touch base with yourself often, take some time for self-care and your home will reflect how well you’re taking care of yourself – promise!

And stay tuned for next week’s installment of the series where I talk all about how to detox your work life!