How To Start Decluttering Your Home
Does your home have too much stuff? If you want to understand and take action on how to start decluttering your home, then you are in the right place.
There are so many different ideas to declutter your home. Often these are confusing and the process involved. Please don’t panic, let me break it down into easy steps that you can follow to make your home easy to manage and clean.
I want to take you on a journey to discover how simple and easy it is to tackle the clutter in your home. The most difficult part often surprises people because of its emotional effect. It can wipe you out, and make you feel exhausted and drained.
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What Is Clutter?
Clutter is something you don’t want or need in your home. It can be things you’ve used but last used a while ago. It can also be paper that has come into your home and just has yet to be dealt with when it’s no longer needed.
As time passes and we change, the things we need around us change too. When we have a young family the things we need change as the children grow and their needs change.
So clutter can look like:
- Things you don’t want
- Broken items
- Things you don’t like
- Items you no longer need
These can all be clutter. If you haven’t decluttered as you move through life you will have a lot of things that you no longer need in your home. Now is the perfect time to go through and sort out the clutter.
How To Declutter Your Home
The most important step is to have a plan for what you are going to do with the items you declutter from your home.
Create categories that you can assign each item of clutter to.
- Sell
- Trash
- Donate
You will need time for each of your decluttering sessions. Don’t pull everything out of a room with the hope of decluttering within a few hours. Go small, start with a shelf or a drawer, and set a timer for 10 – 15 minutes. You will be surprised how much you can get done in that time but do account for the memories that each item will bring up.
Enlist family members to help declutter, especially if it’s their things. They should be the ones spending the time decluttering the things they own.
What Is The First Thing To Do When Decluttering?
You must get rid of the trash first, this will make decluttering so much easier if you haven’t got trash just sitting in the way.
Grab a trash bag and just go around your home picking up the trash, you will be surprised how much you can pick up. Empty the trash cans in each room as you go.
This will help you get motivated to get as much as you can out of your home.
Related article: Top 10 Simple And Easy Decluttering Tips To Try Today
What Is The First Rule Of Decluttering?
Just keep only what you want and need, don’t keep things because they were a gift but you hate.
You have to use and like the things in your home. If you keep things for the sake of keeping them you are just keeping clutter and this isn’t going to help you or your home.
Just because someone gave you something, it doesn’t mean that you have to keep it if you don’t like it. Give it to someone who does want it, sell it to a collector, or if no one wants it consider trashing it.
You only want the things that you want and need in your home, it’s not a home for all the things your family doesn’t want in their home.
Simple Tips To Start Your Decluttering Journey
The most important thing to realize is that the clutter in your home didn’t appear overnight and it’s going to take time for you to get the clutter out of your home.
Take time with your decluttering, go through items slowly as decluttering is emotionally draining. Don’t empty the contents of a room and hope to have it decluttered in a few hours.
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Take it one section at a time. Perhaps a handful of papers, one section of a drawer, it doesn’t matter how small your section is, the most important thing is that you have started your journey.
Have boxes labeled with sell, donate, and trash, this will help you to know where the items are going when they leave your home. You have a plan, you just need to stick to that plan.
Living In A Clutter-Free Home
There are so many benefits to living in a home that is clutter-free, not just for the aesthetics but so much more.
- Less to clean and keep tidy
- You can feel proud of your home
- It’s less stressful when people come around
- More space, you don’t have to fill every cupboard or space in your home with things
The Emotional Side Of Decluttering
Decluttering is emotional, you touch things that you have in your home can bring up memories. It’s these memories that we attach to objects that make throwing something out hard.
The truth is that objects don’t have feelings, they can’t hold memories it’s what we associate with an item. We give that item emotional value to help to trick us into thinking that we need to keep it.
But the truth is, we don’t need to keep things that we don’t like or don’t want in our homes. If you want to have a memory of something, an image can help spark that memory. You don’t need a houseful of things to help you remember something.
Especially if you don’t like the item.
Tips To Help You Start Decluttering Your Home
Don’t rush into a decluttering session. Always plan your sessions with time to explore the emotional attachment to an item or items.
You will want to have a place for the items you are getting rid of. Don’t just leave them without a plan of what you intend to do with them.
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Focus on the benefits of a decluttered home, and how it makes you feel. This will give you the encouragement that you need to carry on.
Family and friends will notice that you are happier in your home. Embrace those emotions and enjoy how it feels to be clutter-free
More Information On Decluttering Your Home
There are many tips and ideas on decluttering you have to find things that you understand and follow. Not every tip you read will resonate with you. This is why I’ve included some more information on decluttering below.
- Top 10 Simple And Easy Decluttering Tips To Try Today
- 15 Things To Declutter Before Christmas
- 20 Things To Declutter This Winter
- Top 10 Simple And Easy Decluttering Tips To Try Today
That’s a good idea to get rid of things when you buy new ones. I feel like that would be a good way to reduce clutter. I’ll have to start doing that if I decide to get someone to help me declutter my house.