Decluttering Your Home in Time for Spring Cleaning
While there’s never really a bad time of year to declutter a home, most people tend to wait until a spring cleaning fever takes hold. Why spring? Maybe it’s the fact that spring represents a time of birth and renewal, or maybe it’s simply the fact that the long winter is finally beginning to wane; whatever the reason, the act of purging our homes of unwanted and unneeded items not only helps us to maintain a clean place to live, it can also be very cathartic.
To help get you started, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you jump start your decluttering efforts.
Create a List of All the Areas You Want to Declutter
When you’re ready to begin the decluttering process, it can be tempting to just pick a room and get started. While this strategy can work for some, this approach could lead to things quickly spiralling out of control. The moment you feel overwhelmed is the moment you begin questioning whether or not you’ll be able to achieve your goal. With that in mind, there are four things that you should do before you start going through your possessions to increase your chances of success:
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Start with a list. As with all important tasks, it’s easier to complete it if you break it down into smaller, manageable chunks. In the case of organizing your home, start with a list of the areas within your home that you’d like to declutter.
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Plan. With your list in hand, consider your plan of attack. What is it you want to achieve? Are you looking to thin out your possessions or are you looking to start fresh? Knowing what you want to achieve and writing it down will help you achieve what it is you’ve set out to do.
- Subdivide. Once you’ve got a list and a plan, you can further compartmentalize your list by diving your tasks by each room.
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Go for the easy win. With such a monumental task, it can be easy to get discouraged if you don’t see progress right off the bat. When it comes to decluttering your home, the first area you target should be one that you can declutter with relative ease. This approach will allow you to witness the fruits of your labour early on and keep you motivated as you progress to the more time-consuming areas of your home.
Tips on How to Declutter Your Home
Since decluttering your home is a much more personal task than say, running errands or completing your weekly chores, you shouldn’t be looking to get it done as quickly as possible. Remember, pretty much everything you’re going to be sifting through and parting with was once a prized possession, and should be treated as such. Take as much time as you need when deciding to let something go.
When keeping items, you’ll want to make sure that the item is accessible and can be used, and that means you need to think about the organization. There’s very little point to taking the time to declutter your home if you aren’t considering how the space will be organized once the decluttering process is complete.
As you encounter an item you aren’t sure about, there are several questions that you can ask yourself to help you determine whether or not it is worth keeping, namely:
- Does the item have sentimental value for you?
- When was it last used?
- Does the item have an expiry date (only relevant for perishables)?
- Do you have a duplicate or similar item?
As you approach any room, you can categorize the items therein into the following categories to make the decluttering process easier. It also helps you to keep stock of the items that will remain in your home:
- Items you want to keep
- Items that are in good condition you would like to donate to a charity or second-hand store
- Items that are in good condition you would like to sell
- Items that can be recycled
- Items that can be thrown out (these tend to be items that are damaged or won’t be of value to anyone else)
- Items you’re still on the fence about (these are items you think you can get rid of, but you might want to revisit them later)
How to Declutter Your Living Room
Since so much of our lives transpire in our living rooms, this space tends to become overburdened very quickly. With that said, this room can also be one of the easiest to declutter. When it comes to shelving, go through many books, CDs, and DVDs that you’ve collected over the years and ask yourself the questions listed above. Finding a home for gently loved media is relatively easy; if you aren’t able to sell them you might be able to donate them to a local library. You can even digitize movies and music so you can get rid of the physical copies.
Take some time to examine any children’s toys and/or board games that no longer get used and consider getting rid of them. For the toys and games that are still being used, an ottoman or coffee table that offers hidden storage is a great way to neatly store these items.
Decluttering in the living room doesn’t just mean examining whether or not it’s time to get rid of any knick knacks or collectibles, it’s also a good time to re-evaluate your decor. If your living room decor doesn’t accurately communicate what you want it to, it might be a good idea to begin evaluating the room’s non-essential pieces.
How to Declutter Your Kitchen
Everyone knows that the kitchen can be a catch-all for all types of utensils and appliances. To get organized in this room, start by going through each drawer and remove any duplicate utensil that is not needed. Then, logically organize each drawer with similar items so they are easy to find.
For things like baking essentials, spices, canned goods etc. discard any expired items and organize the cupboards so that like items are kept together. Make sure not to overfill your cupboards so that rotating your stock to maintain freshness is not an impossible endeavour.
Remove any expired coupons, newsletters, old menus and other brick and brack from your fridge.
Designate a specific area for all cleaning products.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom
Avoid leaving excessive items on your sink or in the shower. Adding small baskets to drawers will help you organize similar items like makeup and will keep them easy to find. Responsibly discard expired medications that are no longer needed. If space permits, place a laundry hamper in the bathroom to remove the temptation of leaving discarded clothing on the floor.
How to Declutter Your Closets
For many homeowners, an overstuffed closet is a source of unlimited frustration. Begin by going through your clothes and determine which ones you no longer wear. Clothing that is in good condition can be donated and put to good use (for example https://outofthecold.org). Once you’ve thinned out your wardrobe, organized your clothing by season and use vacuum seal bags to store clothing without taking up much space. Introduce shoe racks/baskets to keep the floor of the closet equally organized.
How to Declutter Your Bedrooms
The space beneath your bed is a valuable piece of storage real estate. There are a number of bin and baskets solutions that can be used depending on the size/height of your bed. Ideally, this space can be reserved for the storage of out of season clothing, bedding, or pillows. Alternately, consider adding pieces of furniture with built-in storage like a chest, to store extra blankets, linens, and towels.
- Tags: Storage Tips & Tricks