I love to declutter. Why do I love to declutter? I love how “light” I feel after decluttering my home. I love how focused I am and how clear my mind is. The feeling I get after I “let go” of my belongings that I no longer use or need is a feeling of freedom — the freedom to do the things I love and more time for the things in life that matter. I love a simple life. The less stuff I have, the happier I am. Less stuff = more time.
How much clutter is lurking around your home? Decluttering is certainly not an easy task, so understand that decluttering your home will take some time. If you have a vision and a goal during your decluttering process, this will make the job easier. Please note that I do personally consider “decluttering” and “organizing” to be two different things. This article focuses on decluttering – by definition on Google meaning “removing unnecessary items from an untidy or overcrowded place.”
Use these 10 tips below to declutter your home!
10 Ways to Declutter Your Home
1. Take some time to sit down with your significant other and/or other family members. Discuss your goals and visions for how each of you want your home to look or feel when you walk in the front door every day. I think it’s great to get the kids involved, too. You may be surprised to hear their ideas! (For example, I ask my husband what changes he would like to see in the house to make his day feel less stressed when he comes in the door after work. Because we are a “team,” I value his opinion and often times ask for his help in my decluttering process! He is usually very happy to help when he knows the changes in our home will be a positive change for the whole family!)
Related: Four Surprising Benefits of Decluttering (and one book that can help!)
2. Get an idea of how large your decluttering project will be before you start. Walk around your house and look at each room. Study it for a minute or two and ask yourself, “Does this room serve it’s purpose? Is there too much clutter in this room? How can I make this room better? Does this room make me happy when I look at it?”
3. Make a list of the rooms or areas you’d like to declutter first. Be sure to also jot down the closets, drawers, cabinets, junk drawers etc. that you’d like to declutter in each room.
4. Come up with a plan and goals for your decluttering project. Try to give yourself plenty of time. There’s no need to rush. Just be sure that you are serious enough to complete your goals in a decent amount of time so that you can start living a less cluttered life! Jot your plans down on a calendar if it will help you stay motivated to complete your decluttering project.
5. Decide what you will do with your unwanted belongings. Do you want to have a yard sale? Do you want to consign items? Do you want to donate it all? Make sure you know exactly what you want to do with your items so that you’ll know where to place them during this process. If you are having a yard sale, make sure you have a designated spot for all of these items.
Related: 5 Easy Steps for Throwing the Perfect Yard Sale
6. Put your plans into action! Once you feel like you have a good plan, let’s put some of these plans into action! To get a jump start on your decluttering project, find a large trash bag. Go around your home and try to find 25 items to place in the trash bag. These items can vary in size and can be small objects or larger objects. This will be your first bag that you’ll donate to charity or set aside for your yard sale. Are you having fun yet?
7. Gather boxes and bags. For the remainder of your decluttering process, you are going to want to have several bags or boxes handy for the items that you plan to toss, sell, or donate. Once you fill a bag or box, place it in your car right away if you are giving to charity. Try to drop the items off as soon as you can. The reason I tell you this is because this will keep you from second guessing yourself on whether or not you should keep an item and you may find yourself digging in the bags and wondering if you should keep the items! Plus, this allows more space in your home and you will feel you’ve made more progress once the bags are gone!
Related: Why I’m Giving Away Most of My Stuff
8. Ask yourself the following questions as you go through your belongings:
- Have we used this item in the last year?
- Do I love this item?
- Does it make me happy?
- Does this item make my life easier?
- Does this item match my style?
- Does it fit?
- Do I have another item that serves a similar purpose?
- Is the item broken and if so, it is worth fixing and do I have the time?
- If I needed to replace the item, would it be expensive to get another one?
- If we had to move today, would I want to take this with me?
- Is there someone out there that would enjoy this item more than me?
9. Appreciate your decluttered home. As you let go of items in your home that are no longer useful to you, you will most likely start to feel a bit “lighter.” As you see and feel your home open up with more space, you may get the urge to declutter more! This is a good thing! You’ll begin to appreciate your clutter free home more! Continue to declutter until you feel that your home is where you’d like it to be as discussed in tip #1.
Related: Five Ways Decluttering Can Actually Save You Money
10. Decluttering your home should be an ongoing process. Try to go through your home at least once a month and assess your space again, tossing out items that creep into your home or items that no longer serve a purpose in your home.
Once you declutter your home, enjoy the benefits of a decluttered home: more space, more time with friends and family, and more time to do things you love to do!