Declutter Your Home in 4 Easy Steps: The Ultimate Guide to a Cleaner House in 2020
For most people, the thought of a simpler life with a clutter-free space seems very attractive, but knowing how to declutter your home can seem overwhelming or impossible. Where should you begin? Which steps should you take daily to make this part of your routine? Should you get a professional organizer to help? When should you start to declutter?
These questions and more may swirl around in your head even before you take the first step. Not having all the answers makes the process a little daunting, but cleaning out your home doesn’t have to be a painful process. It can even be rewarding, fun, and stress-relieving, as you start to clear out your space and, as a result, your mind and maybe even your spirit.
In this guide, we will answer some of your questions, give you helpful tips to declutter your home and give you guidance on how to maintain the organizing process in your daily life.
It’s a perfect place to begin, with easy steps that can help you make a positive change and take you to a simpler and happier place in your life. Now is always a good time to get back control and free yourself from clutter!
How to Declutter Your Home
Step 1: Think about what you want to accomplish. Imagine what you want each space to look like. What items do you want? Which objects are useful to you? What seems unnecessary or damaged?
You can make a checklist of the things you want to reduce and the items you want to take out completely. A great way to do this is by dividing the list into different spaces and rooms in your house that need decluttering. This will help you fully understand what you want to accomplish and what are your main objectives, making the process run smoothly.
Step 2: Set aside time. An important aspect of decluttering is understanding and evaluating how much time you can invest in it. Observe yourself and be honest about the steps and goals you can take every day and over time.
If you are a beginner, you can decide if you want to take five minutes daily to start, if you want to clear one item every day, or even if you want to set the objective of filling an entire garbage bag every day. For some people, the best way to declutter is to tackle the project room by room, finishing one room before starting the next. It’s up to you to choose what works best for your schedule. Little steps can make a huge difference for your home over time, and you can benefit in surprising ways as you start to see improvement.
Step 3: Get Going! When you have your checklist and schedule figured out, you can begin the process of actually decluttering. Start with the room of your choice, you can focus on the items you have on your list, or you could also begin to sort everything out right away.
The 12-12-12 Challenge. Another efficient idea for beginners is making it a game by playing the 12-12-12 challenge. That way, you locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home.
The Three-Box Method. You can sort these items out by making a system that seems fit to you. We recommend the Three-Box Method, but you can personalize it as you like or simply divide the boxes between things you want to keep, get rid of, and store. You could also adapt it to things you want to recycle, donate, and throw away. This last option could help you out with our next and final step!
Step 4: Clear Your Space. Finally, after you have cleared your space, you must decide what to do with all the things you have chosen to declutter your home from. There are several options for all of these things:
- You can either recycle objects made out of plastic, recyclable glass, paper, or even some electric items.
- Donate items like books, clothes, shoes, and bags
- Have a good old fashioned garage sale to see if your items can be useful to others
- Or find a place for storage to protect those items you don’t want at home, but you wish to keep
- Items to shred
Step 5: Maintain Your Space. There’s nothing more satisfying than stepping into your decluttered home and easily finding everything you need! Once you finally have a clean, visually appealing, and functional space at home, you must apply a monthly follow-up to maintain your home’s organization. All you have to do is go through your rooms and spend 15 minutes or so scanning each area. Make sure you have a broom close by in case you need to do a little cleaning!
Decluttering Quick Tips
Here are some more quick tips to make things easier during the decluttering process:
- Start with small decluttering projects before committing to an entire room and see how you feel after!
- Donate clothes you never use.
- If you haven’t used something you come across in the last six months, you should probably get rid of it.
- Write down your first impression when you walk into your home. How clean and organized it is and what changes you wish to make.
- Take before and after photos of a small area. You can see the difference and be proud of how your home looks after that. This can also motivate you to do the rest.
- Get help from a friend. Friends and family can help you see which things to keep or not, and they can also go through your home and give suggestions to improve.
- After creating your checklist, pick any 5-10 items from the list to start and you will be amazed at how quickly momentum builds up.
- Do I need a professional organizer to help me get rid of clutter? You don’t need a professional, you can do it by yourself. It can even be a fun family activity!
- How can I declutter quickly? Can it be done in a day?
- Decluttering takes time, but even working on it one day at a time is a big step! It’s something that can be done over time and may even need to be done on a semi-regular basis. The best thing you can do is keep yourself motivated to do even a little every day. Good music can help and schedule on your calendar every day helps you get 1% better.
- Keep constant track of the items you actually use.
- Watch out for countertops, shelves, and other flat surfaces. These are clutter-magnets. Keep track of those and make sure that you have only what you need. Only keep the essentials!
Great Work!
Congratulations! You have officially decluttered your home and your mind. You can be proud of the steps you have taken to lead a simpler and happier life. Getting rid of the clutter is an exceptional way to regain a sense of strength, relaxation, and self-confidence. You should feel energized and ready to take on any task that comes your way.
After making this great effort to regain control of your life and declutter your space, it’s time to relax, contemplate rediscovered treasures, and enjoy family bonding time. Of course, clutter will always accumulate, so remember to set aside regular decluttering time at cadence, whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly, that suits you, your family, and your lifestyle.
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