The battle against clutter is a common problem in every household. We live in a time where it’s easy to accumulate things we only need for the short-term or things we never needed at all. Whether you own a home or rent an apartment, you’ll find that transforming cluttered rooms into usable space or free space is satisfying and stress-relieving. Wouldn’t it be great to bring back the functionality of key areas of your home? Like creating more storage or improving the accessibility to items that you frequently use. Or maybe it means walking from one room to the other without tripping or swerving. You may find that ridding yourself of piles of no-longer used items makes you love your home all over again.
Follow a Process
If you’ve been putting off the act of purging unwanted stuff, it’s probably because the task seems monumental. You just need a little help figuring out how to start. Don’t assume you can finish in a day or a weekend. Depending on your lifestyle and family size, decluttering is something that needs to be ongoing. Follow these steps to help guide you through the process.
1. Make a plan with specific goals. Having a plan helps reduce frustration along the way and gives you specific goals for which you can aim on completing one by one.
▪ Make a map of all the rooms in your house and use a coding system to show where the hotspots of clutter exist. Use a grading system (such as 1 to 3) to indicate most severely cluttered, very cluttered, or average amount of clutter. This will allow you to prioritize which areas to do first.
▪ Set completion dates for each area. Make sure your dates are attainable. Failing to reach most of your dates may cause you to throw in the towel early on. Allot longer timeframes for the most difficult areas, like a basement or garage.
▪ Do one room at a time. You may feel like you’re chasing your tail if you’re doing a little in this room and a little in that. Reap the satisfaction of achievement by focusing on one room at a time so that results are more noticeable early in the process.
2. Use a sorting system. You’ll want to use bins or trash bags that are designated as Trash, Donate, Keep, or Relocate. Your goal is to fill most items in trash and donate, not to further disperse unwanted items throughout the house.
3. Commit to get rid of stuff you no longer need. One reason it’s so hard to declutter is that we come across things we spent hard-earned money on or things that hold some sentimental value. You may need to do some tough talk with yourself about what purpose these things continue to serve taking up valuable space. Obviously you can keep things that you truly treasure emotionally, but resolve to donate or throw away things that you know you won’t use again. The money was already spent. Holding on to unused or no-longer used items doesn’t bring the money back. And if you have a collection of broken things that you saved to fix someday and use again, commit to fix them or toss them. Chances are, if you haven’t fixed something by now, you’ll probably never do so.
Creative Steps to Help You Get Started
If you need a little kick in the pants, here’s a list of quick things you can do to win a few small achievements. They’ll motivate you to continue. Randomly pick a few and start your decluttering journey.
▪ Designate a spot for incoming papers and practice the five-minute rule. Both mail and kids’ papers seem to accumulate faster than any other items. Create a single spot for these and commit to go through them every day for just five minutes. Recycle what’s not needed.
▪ Create a “Maybe Box”. The decision process of decluttering is no doubt the toughest. You’ll inevitably come across items you think you’ll still use one day. Put them in the maybe box and once it’s filled, store it out of sight. Set an automatic reminder for yourself for a date four or five months in the future. If you haven’t returned to the box since you filled it, get rid of the stuff inside.
▪ Make regular donation trips to your favorite charity. Pick a day, such as Saturday mornings, where you load up at least one or two boxes of things to donate to places like Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, or Vietnam Veterans. Combine this trip with your other errands so that it becomes a regular occurrence. By just doing one or two boxes at a time, you spread out the task so that the sorting and decision-making process isn’t nearly as overwhelming.
▪ Try the closet hanger trick. This one was popularized by Oprah. Start in your closet and turn all your hangers in the reverse direction. Each time you wear something, return the item with the hanger in the forward direction. After six months, look at the clothes that are still hanging on hangers in the reverse direction. This gives you a clear picture of what you no longer wear or need. Donate. If these clothes are still trendy or professional looking, you can try to sell them at a gently used clothing store such as Clothes Mentor.
▪ Clean out your medicine cabinet. Get rid of all the expired medicine and the creams you’ve stopped using. Simplify by leaving only the essentials. If you have medicines elsewhere in the house, gather them in one convenient spot where they can all reside.
▪ Pick up five things and designate a spot for them. These are things you use all the time, but they always end up in different places. Shoes, keys, rings, earrings, toys—whatever they are, find a spot for them and put them there consistently for at least a week to see if you have created a positive habit.
▪ Stop and think before you buy. Will you be using this item of clothing, jewelry, or toy a month from now? Is it something you’ll use frequently or are you probably going to tire of it quickly? Preventing needless purchases is an important step in forming the ongoing habit of reducing clutter in your home.
Even if you’re the only enthusiastic person in the family about decluttering, you’ll still need to enlist other members of the household. If you’re a parent, teach your kids about the importance of forming positive habits and set an example for them by doing what you wish them to do. Talk to your partner as well and come to an agreement on how he or she can help keep useless or short-term stuff out of the house. Recognize even the little steps that each person takes to make your home more functional and relaxing.