Decluttering is a word which many homeowners or renters will know the importance of, yet it’s a task that can still be difficult for many people.
There are many great benefits to decluttering, whether you do so on a large or small scale. These include:
- Having more space in your home
- Giving to charity
- Earning extra money if you sell your items
- More peace of mind
- Less stress and maintenance
- Fewer responsibilities
- A tidier and healthier home
So how can you best get started with decluttering?
6 Decluttering Hacks
1. Do One Room at a Time
Decluttering can be an overwhelming job, and especially if you have a large family home. Taking it one step at a time, room by room, is a good way to stay organized and avoid too much stress. You may want to start from the top and work your way down or start with a room you don’t use that often, like a spare bedroom.
2. Separate into Piles
When decluttering, you don’t need to make a final decision on certain items there and then. It’s much better to start by simply separating everything in order to keep track. You may want a pile of items you definitely want to keep, a pile you’re not sure about, or a pile you definitely want to sell or donate.
Once you know what you’re keeping, you can return to the other piles and sort.
3. Ask Yourself the Reasons for Keeping an Item
A cluttered home can easily happen when you’re feeling sentimental or guilty about getting rid of certain items. When decluttering, it’s important to be brutally honest. If you’re keeping an item you never use or don’t even like simply because there’s some emotion or guilt attached to it, reconsider why it’s worth keeping that item and how you would feel if you got rid of it.
4. Use Self Storage for Anything You Want to Keep
Successful decluttering doesn’t mean throwing out absolutely everything. A good declutter means making more space at home and surrounding yourself with only the things you need. This still runs the risk of not having enough room in your home to comfortably store or keep what you need, especially if you don’t have attic or cellar storage.
A self storage facility can be the perfect solution if you need to store certain items. This means you can still keep them but store them away from home and out of sight.
5. Stay Organized
The less organized you are with home routine and storage, the more likely it is for clutter and mess, whether it’s stacks of boxes or piles of clothes. Not only that, but the less organized you are, it may be that you risk rebuying and storing items you already have, simply because you couldn’t find them or couldn’t see that you had them.
So try to have a good storage and organization system in place for every room.
6. Let Yourself Replace and Buy Again
Decluttering may not necessarily mean getting rid of a particular item completely. It may just mean getting rid of a version of an item you simply don’t use or like.
You’re allowed to buy new items to replace old ones, especially if that means you’re going to love and enjoy your new item when the old version may just gather dust and take up space.
