Are you thinking about moving? Is it time for a spring cleaning? Or do you simply want to get rid of a bunch of junk? We always wonder how to declutter our homes. No matter the reason, all these means is that you need to do some decluttering around your home. And as we all know, decluttering is a difficult and tedious job.
Sure, the prospect of an organised and junk-free home sounds fantastic, but it’s the question of how to declutter in the most effective way that confuses most of us.
The Many Benefits Of Decluttering
Well, what if we told you that decluttering your home comes with more benefits than just a clean home – and that the process doesn’t need to be as exhausting as you think?
Don’t believe us? Hear us out!
Truth be told – all of us have some amount of junk strewn around our homes. However, cluttered rooms (think: that countertop loaded with old flyers, bills, and other miscellaneous items) tend to look cheaper, giving the impression that the person living there doesn’t really care about their home.
(Which – since you’re reading this right now – we know is totally false!)
In addition to this, having a neat, decluttered environment means;
- You have less to clean – no more dust collecting in corners!
- You have fewer things to keep organising in the future.
- The thought of spring cleaning becomes less stressful.
- You feel more relaxed at home.
How To Declutter in 5 Simple Ways
Sounds good? Great! Here’s our guide to help you figure out how to declutter your home.
1. Make The Time
Allocate some time to this task. When you have fewer distractions, you’ll be able to work through this chore effectively. If this is your first start at decluttering, you should start slow. Try allocating a little time – even 15 minutes will do. This will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed and helps you build momentum.
2. Start With A Plan
Note down a few critical areas to start with and work your way up from there.
You can even divide rooms into smaller segments to make the decluttering process seem less daunting.
For instance, if you want to begin with your kitchen, then write down the different areas and start with the smallest ones – like your kitchen cabinets – and work your way up to bigger tasks.
Try clearing out storage areas in your home – or in each room first – before starting the decluttering process. This way, you will know exactly how much space you have at home and where you can store things away from sight in every room.
3. How to Declutter By Season
Instead of simply throwing away heavy fleece blankets used during winter in a bid to save space, designate an area where you can store these seasonal things. Then as each season passes, you can replace items as needed.
This means that you – and your family – will know exactly where things like blankets, decor, clothing, shoes etc. are kept. And at the end of winter, as you get out your springtime items – you can put away cold weather things into the same box!
In short: This helps you repurpose storage areas and reduce the number of storage containers you need to purchase.
4. Feeling Stressed Out? Ask For Help
Sometimes we aren’t sure of which items to keep and which to junk, and other times we simply feel too overwhelmed to do it on our own.
In these instances, you should ask friends and family for help. They can view your home as an unbiased third party to help you properly evaluate which items you need to keep and which you can throw away.
Also, the more hands on deck, the quicker and less exhausting this chore will be. Allocate a set of tasks to each person to keep the process simpler.
So play some music, and get some people together to get through this!
5. The Four-Box Method
The four-box method is a very well-known way to help people make decisions using critical thinking.
Here’s what you do:
- Get four boxes together and label them as
- Throw away: This box will contain items that you need to junk. They may be in bad condition or just things that no one can use. Ensure that you are sure that you need to throw them away, as some people tend to feel the urge to purge while they declutter.
- Donate or sell: This box will contain things that you would either like to donate to a charity or sell.
- Put-away – This box will contain the items that you use regularly. Things like pets or children’s toys, books etc that you need to put away to keep them from lying around your home.
- Storage – These are items that you rarely use, things like your christmas ornaments, fancy tableware etc. These items should be kept away neatly for later use.
- Then as you work your way room by room, place items into each of these boxes. Be sure to pick up every item. This will take a lot of time, as doing this for your entire home in one day is impossible.
- Then look through the items in each box and ask yourself if you truly need them, if someone else can make better use of them etc. This way, you’ll be able to make rational and well-thought-out decisions on each item.
The Finish Line on How to Declutter
Finally, when you’ve collected items that you need to get rid of, you will meet your next – and final – a challenge in the decluttering process. And that is – how to get rid of all that junk!
Junk removal can be a nightmare because it’s difficult to figure out how and where to dispose of each item. In this case, just to make the process as easy as can be, you can always hire a professional junk removal service to get you through to the end stress-free!
Professional services come with a lot of experience and knowledge about how to declutter and get rid of junk quickly – plus these services can be really cost-effective too!
