In recent years, there is a greater focus on owning less items and decluttering your home. Decluttering is not about getting rid of all your possessions. Instead, it helps you prioritize what is important to you and helps you stay organized. Decluttering has many practical benefits, such as making it easier to clean and freeing up your space.
Reducing clutter is also a good way to get rid of your stress. It gives you more control over your space and makes it easier to decorate and fill your house only with items that bring happiness. Decluttering your home may seem intimidating, but there are several tips to make the process easier.
Finding the Time
Depending on the size of your home and how much you accumulated, the idea of decluttering may seem impossible. For many, finding the time to clean is already a challenge. Decluttering typically takes longer because you must evaluate the value of your items, and it often involves rearranging parts of your home. If you feel overwhelmed with the idea of cluttering, do not approach it as a single act. Instead, work on decluttering throughout the week.
Take five to ten minutes each day to go through a small area of your home and decide whether you want to keep the items. For example, a common place to start decluttering is the closet. Remove all the outfits you have not worn in years or know you do not want to keep. With a dresser, you can even do one drawer at a time.
Focusing on Storage Spaces
At a glance, your home may not appear to be cluttered. Not all homes have their clutter out in the open. Instead, it is pushed away into closets, drawers and similar locations. Each room typically has one or two areas that attract clutter.
In the bathroom, a common place that gets filled with unnecessary items is the cabinet. Removing clutter in the bathroom is not only good because it creates more space, but it may keep you safe. Go through your medicine cabinet and check for expired items.
With bottled medicine, if the bottle was originally opened years ago, consider tossing it, even if it is not expired. This mostly applies to items like cold medication that have the potential to spoil.
In your bedroom, focus on closets, drawers and vanities. If you have a nightstand or similar bedside table, check what items are on the surface. Removing clutter is not always about clearing away big items. Even getting rid of old pens or broken chargers from a table is an effective way to remove clutter.
Clearing Clutter
In many homes, the reason clutter occurs is there is nowhere to put the items. Smaller items are relatively easy to dispose of because they can be thrown away or recycled, but this is not always an option. If you are unsure where to take your clutter, there are a few options
Depending on the item, you may be able to donate it. Clothing is the easiest option, but there are some charities that accept common household items, including bulkier pieces like furniture. In most cases, you are responsible for delivering these items to the charity.
Another option is to run a garage sale. As long as you set reasonable prices, you should not have any problem getting rid of your clutter. You can also use websites like Craigslist or OfferUp to advertise your items. Either for sale or giving them away for free.
