You can always find time to declutter, no matter how chaotic and hectic life becomes. However, sometimes it is helpful to have strategies at your disposal that will assist you to clear out clutter and organize your things more quickly. This will make you more productive and provide an overall relaxing environment.
When we approached professional house organizers for advice on how to arrange and declutter our space and we received some extremely intriguing advice that we would like to share. Cleaning up your home doesn’t simply mean tossing things away; it also means creating the breathing room we all need to be more productive.
“Clinging on to the important stuff and clearing out the mess”, is the golden rule of decluttering your house. But Sometimes getting rid of the mess itself can get a bit messy and you don’t want that to happen. This is why it’s important to have a plan in place to help you figure out the process. So we have compiled a list of tricks and tips from the pros to help you better organize your space.
2023 is knocking and what better way to start the year than by cleaning your mess?
Why declutter your home?
Having too many things around can create a lot of mess. It can cause distraction and sometimes it is hard to find things that you actually need. Most of us have junk in our houses and it is hard to live in a mess like that. Living as a minimalist sounds great with less stuff around. But often people find it difficult to live with owning less stuff. Sometimes we all need a little mess in our life. Not because we like it. It’s because we want things to be around even if it is no good to us.
While cleaning up your house can be a lot difficult and stressful, once you do it and declutter your house and see the empty spaces, you will feel lighter and relaxed. Decluttering your home will also declutter your life and create peace and calmness in your mind. It will give you more space to think and relax. You can finally put up that artwork on your wall that you wanted for so long. Cleaning your house is always a tough job to handle. But once you get to do it you will see numerous benefits of decluttering your home.
Benefits of decluttering
The key to decluttering is arranging the items you need and getting rid of the ones you don’t. Your productivity will go up and your stress level will go down once you have fewer things to worry about and tidy up. Not only will organizing your house provide you with more room, but it will also give you more time.
There are a lot of benefits to decluttering and cleaning your house. Owning fewer possessions will help you a lot. Here are some benefits to cleaning unnecessary stuff in your house.
- Less stuff to clean
- A lot of free space
- Less to think about
- Easy to organize
- Less stress
- Easy to clean
- More financial freedom
- Boost Productivity
- Save Money
Decluttering your home is something that needs to be done at some point in time. It doesn’t have to be painful and you don’t actually have to throw out all your stuff. You will just have to create space by keeping things in order. Here are some tips on how you can declutter your house and create more space.
Following the organizing tips below will speed up the decluttering process by 20, 30 or even 70%. The reason for this guide is to help you organize easily so that you can stop stressing about the junk in your house and have one less thing to worry about in your busy life.
1. Remove junk ruthlessly
The first step of decluttering your house is getting rid of all the unnecessary junk. This is the most difficult part of cleaning your house. Your idea of cleaning will not work at all if you are attached to these tiny pieces of junk and keep holding on to pieces you should be getting rid of.
Yes, it is a difficult task of eliminating things from your home and throw them in the trash especially if it is something that you bought with your first paycheck. Or your baby’s stroller that you kept with a lot of emotions attached to it while your baby is driving a car.
You will have to be committed to getting rid of all the unnecessary items in your home. Although getting rid of your possessions can be a challenging task, you will feel a lot better once you see your house clean.
2. Be consistent on removing trash
You will have to be consistent when it comes to decluttering and getting rid of unnecessary stuff from your house. Lay out what you think you will need and then edit ruthlessly. Think twice about everything that you want to keep. Is it necessary and can you work it out without that stuff? Look around you and think about the things that you don’t use anymore and get rid of those.
Be clear about what you will keep, sell, donate, bin, etc., and follow through on all items. If something is broken and you are too lazy to fix it, just get rid of it. Don’t stash those scraps for another month gathering in the dust. If you haven’t used an item in a while and don’t intend to use it now get rid of it.
3. Stop spending money on useless items
Most of the time we buy things that are really unnecessary. It just cost us money and takes up a lot of space. And every now and then we have to clean those stuff and take good care of those items. If you keep on buying things that are totally unnecessary, your home will always be cluttered.
So instead of buying a lot of stuff, save yourself the hassle and start buying things that are necessary and simple. Think twice before you bring out your wallet to buy another stupid item for your house. Make sure to ask yourself, if the item that you are thinking of buying will enhance your way of living and add value to your life. If you don’t love that item and it doesn’t serve any purpose why even bother buying it and filling up precious your space?
4. Clean up your bathroom
We always have unnecessary things in our bathrooms. As it is the smallest place in your whole house it is better to start with it. Bathrooms are the most common place for clutter to accumulate. Be it in the cupboard or on the counter.
Start clearing all the expired stuff that you have in your bathrooms such as sunscreens, medicines, lotions, body wash, etc. Take out the trash immediately. Get rid of things that you don’t use anymore or things that you don’t need. Organizing all the remaining items into categories and storing them neatly away in cupboards and drawers, keeping the counter clear.
5. Organize your wardrobe
Organizing your closet is easy if you can let off the clothes that you don’t like or wear anymore. There is no point in keeping clothes that don’t fit you anymore. In this world of fast fashion, we all love to buy more clothes than we actually need. Your closet might be filled with clothes that you don’t even like wearing.
So why linger on these old clothes? Just give it away and start fresh. Only keep those that you love to wear and a pair of clothes for each occasion. Sometimes it is very sentimental of letting go of your clothes like your wedding dress or the suit that you wore at your wedding. No, you don’t have to give away those important pieces of souvenirs but get rid of all the rags and old jeans that you don’t wear.
6. Declutter your bedroom
Organizing your bedroom is really easy and keeping it clean will make your mind ease and relaxed. Take out everything that has been sitting under your bed for a long time and start organizing them. Also, take out everything that you don’t need. If you forget about something that has been under your bed for a long time, chances are you don’t need it after all.
Take out the remaining important things and keep them in a separate container and label the containers. Why let them rust in the dust right? It will help you to keep your stuff clean and organized so when you need those items it will be easy to find.
Take out all your clothes laying on the floor of your bedroom and put them in the closet or in your laundry basket if they are dirty. The next step is to clean your dressing table. Arrange everything on your dresser and keep all the things that you don’t use frequently in a drawer.
7. Organize your kitchen & keep it clean
Your kitchen is one of the most important parts of your house. Keeping your kitchen clean will ensure good hygiene and health. Organizing and decluttering your kitchen can be a tough job. Once it is done, cooking will be much easier and more fun.
By separating and cleaning your cabinets you will have less trouble searching through items and you will find easily what you need.
Start by separating pots and pans and stack them together from largest to smallest and save space. Keep all your lids in a separate area. Next, arrange all your containers. Keep them together in a different cabinet.
Make sure to keep the smaller containers in front so you don’t have to take out all the containers when you need them. Throw away any extra bottles or containers from your kitchen. Take out everything that you don’t use every day and put them in your storage space. It will help you declutter your kitchen.
8. Find & Use Hidden Storage
Hidden storages are perfect for decluttering your home. It creates extra space for all your belongings. If you are thinking of buying new furniture make sure to buy multi-purpose furniture and furniture with built-in spaces. Using separate storage cages and basements/attics can all be useful areas to hide items you don’t want right away.
This will help you save a lot of space and your house will look hassle-free and decluttered. But don’t make all this hidden storage a place for your junk. Also, don’t push all your junk under your sofa or bed. Don’t fill spaces with unnecessary items that you don’t use just because you have extra space.
There’s no point in clearing your house of clutter only to move it to a new space, so be mindful of what you keep in these places. These places are important to store items that you don’t use often. It’s not for things that you don’t use at all. So keep it clean and minimal.
9. Conceal & organize the cables
In this modern era of science and technology, it is very normal that our houses are covered with cables. It is very important to keep your cables and wires tidy and safe. You probably don’t want to tangle in wires and get electrocuted. Although cables are very important, often it can get really messy. It is very important to organize them.
If done properly, it is easy to manage cables. Keep your gadgets organized to keep all the cords together. You can use a cable tie to keep all the necessary units tied together. Try to use smaller cables so that you don’t have anything extra lying on the ground.
If need be, you can even install extra power sockets to avoid the need for extension leads to cross rooms. Cable management is very important to keep things tidy until all our gadgets become cable-free and we don’t have to worry about tangling them together.
10. Clean your shelf
Often times we forget to take out the unnecessary stuff from our shelves. We tend to keep all the old magazines and newspapers that are totally irrelevant today. So take a good look and remove all the unnecessary old newspapers and magazines. Not only it takes up space but it makes your house look old and rusty.
If you are stacking those old magazines for something important make sure that you think twice and keep them if it’s really necessary. Otherwise, it’s better to throw them away and clean your space. Also, try to give away old books to your friends or family or someone who likes reading books if you have read them over and over again. It will encourage you to buy new books to read and someone else will get to read your old books.
Here are some additional tips and tricks to make the decluttering process easier
The decluttering process can sometimes be frustrating and you might struggle to get your home cleaned up. To make it easier, you will have to be creative so that you don’t feel bore doing it. To get you started here are some quick interesting tips on how to declutter your home:
- 5 minutes cleaning marathon
Don’t overdo your cleaning practice. Try to do it 5 minutes in a row every day. It will slowly help you build momentum and you won’t get tired with all the cleaning. - One room at a time
If you are new to decluttering try to divide your cleaning, one room at a time. It will help you clean out each of your rooms thoroughly and you will be able to see instant changes. - Fill an entire trash bag
Get a trash bag and fill it as fast as you can with things you can donate at Goodwill. - Do weekly cleanup
Don’t just restrict yourself to cleaning up and decluttering your home once a year. Try doing it every week and take out the unnecessary stuff that you don’t need anymore. - Clean your wardrobe
Don’t pile up the clothes that you don’t wear. Rather donate it to people who need it. - Create a decluttering checklist
A checklist makes your job much easier. Create a revised checklist and you will have an idea of where to get started. - Take before and after photos of a small area
Not only it will give you an idea about your space but it will also boost your confidence to remove unnecessary items from your home. - Get help from a friend
Have a friend or family member go through your home and suggest a handful of big items to throw away or give to someone else.
Remember being simple doesn’t mean boring. Decluttering your home and removing all the unnecessary items will not only create space for your room but will also free your mind. Your home can become more peaceful. You can view your home as a space for rest and comfort, instead of a source of stress.