Everyone has some form of clutter in their home. But, if you have an increasing amount of mess in your home and are looking to minimize it, there are steps that you can take. Follow these 12 tips below on how to declutter your home.
1. Create Goals
Before you start decluttering and minimizing your home, you have to create a plan first. You can do this by setting up a few goals that you want to complete to avoid overbearing your workload.
Here are few things to keep in mind before decluttering your house
• Create a map
Circle all of the clutter spots in the house that you want to take care of.
• Set deadlines
For each part of your cleanup, set up deadlines and make sure that they are reachable, there’s no point in setting yourself up for failure.
2. Take Care of One Room at a Time
Instead of wandering around your home, cleaning up one mess after another, you should instead work on taking care of one room at a time. This way, you can get more done in less time. However, once you’ve broken down your home into specific areas to declutter, you can further break it down into smaller zones that you can clean up easier and stress-free.
3. Develop a Sorting System
Have a sorting system in place for the items you locate. Try using a four-box sorting method: keep, trash, donate/sell, and store.
4. Donate Your Items
Just because you don’t need an item doesn’t mean that you have to trash it. Instead, donate items, such as shoes, clothes, or household items, to a charity in your local area. You can also post an item online if something in your home that isn’t accepted by charity. As they say, your trash is another’s treasure.
5. Have a Garage Sale
You can always make money from the items you don’t need or want by hosting a garage or yard sale. Before you set a date, make sure that all your decluttering is completed.
6. Ask Yourself if You Need it
If you find something that you haven’t used in over a year, it’s probably wise that you get rid of it. If you forgot that you had the item in your possession, then you definitely don’t need it hanging around.
7. Make Sure it Works
Before deciding to keep an object, make sure it is fully functional. There is no point in keeping a gadget that doesn’t do what it is made to do. If it does not work, throw it out. If you really want to fix it, you can, but make sure it doesn’t just sit around in your home.
8. Clear off All Flat Surfaces
Flat surfaces are always a magnet for unnecessary clutter. Shelves, tables, countertops and other flat surfaces always seem to get covered with mail, magazines, bills, papers and other objects. Create a new space for these objects, whether it’s a filing cabinet, shelves or drawers. Doing this will help you to keep your flat surfaces clutter-free.
9. Clean Out Your Closet
Did you know that most people only wear about 20 percent of the shoes and clothing they own? If you cannot decide what to keep and what to donate or toss out, ask yourself these three questions:
• Does it still fit me?
• Is the item damaged, torn, stained, or faded?
• Have I touched it within the last year?
If shoes or clothing items don’t fit, are damaged or worn, it is safe to say that you can ditch them.
10. Sort through Papers
Do you have a lot of papers in your home? Typically, this includes bills, receipts, school papers, old magazines and more. Separate your papers into three piles: file or scan, to do, and recycle or shred. Once you have your papers sorted, you can start managing them. Recycle or shred the papers you do not need. File or scan important papers that you need to keep. Put your to do pile in a designated spot so you can start addressing it.
11. Buy Less
Don’t replace all your old stuff with new stuff, this makes decluttering efforts pointless. Buy fewer things and cut off the flow of new items into your home.
12. Don’t Keep Items Because of Guilt
Your home should only be full of objects you love and actually use. Resist the urge to keep things out of guilt or obligation. Other people should not decide what you keep or give away. It’s your home, your possessions, and your decision.
