Everyone has a bit of junk lying around the house. Household clutter may seem harmless, but many people feel stressed and feel like life is out of control when they surround themselves with things they cannot manage.
Decluttering your home and taking care of the mess will not just make your life better, but have good overall health. A decluttered home can help manage stress and boost your health as you learn the principles of getting rid of clutter and restoring a sense of order to your home.
Why Should You Declutter Your Home
When your home is organized and clutter-free, you’ll feel a sense of control and accomplishment. Having unwanted clutter in the house makes them feel stress, it also makes them feel embarrassed whenever someone comes to their home. Getting rid of the clutter frees up extra space in the home. You’ll be surprised how much space you can recover from getting rid of the junk in your house.
Whether you want to downsize or home or simplify your life decluttering is no easy task. The best way to do this is to tackle it in stages – focus on one room, space or a zone in the room, complete the job fully, and move on to the next space. In this way, you’ll be motivated to do more as you experience visible success at each step.
How to Start Decluttering
Before you get started, you need to make a plan. No matter how many or few the clutter is, you need to have a plan and it should start with specific goals that will help reduce frustrations and roadblocks. Here are some things you can consider:
- Draw or write down areas of your home that have clutter.
- Give each space a rating based on the level of clutter to help prioritize your time.
- Tackle one space at a time.
- Set realistic goals on when to get the task completed. Creating a decluttering game for yourself helps avoid frustration as you’re doing it.
- Plan out the times to work on areas where you expect decluttering will take several hours to complete such as the basement or garage.
You need to set up a system for sorting items. You can use the popular three-box method for this. In this method, you gather three boxes and label them as keep, get rid of, and put in storage.
- Keeps are items useful in your daily life.
- Get rid of items that you no longer have use for.
- Put in storage are seasonal or sentimental items.
Now that you have a lot of items in your “get rid of” box, here are some ways you can dispose of it.
Have a garage sale. You’ll not only get rid of this clutter but also make money in the process.
Recycle. Recyclables such as glass, plastic, and paper go straight in the recycling bin and are picked up by recycling facilities. You can also drop off your recyclables at the nearest recycling station.
Donate. Have peace of mind knowing that something you no longer need will be in the home of someone who does need it. You can donate shoes, clothes, or other household items that are in good condition to local charities.
Throw in the dumpster. Not everything will be in good shape to be sold, donated, or recycled. Throwing it in a dumpster should be your last resort when all other options have been thought of.
