How To Declutter & Downsize Your Home

With a new year upon us, it’s time to take care of that task you’ve been putting off: decluttering.

You might choose to organize your belongings for a few reasons. For one, the excess of things in your home can contribute to your stress levels. You might want to free up space so that you have more room to breathe. If you’re planning to downsize your living space, you’ll need to cut down on your furniture and clothing. Another reason to declutter is that it’s hard to find items when you have to sort through so much junk. Finally, you may just want to improve how your home looks. Clean walls and floors are a lot prettier than ones teeming with things!

No matter the reason that you’ve chosen to declutter, we’re here to help. Check out these tips that can help you eliminate anything that’s no longer necessary in your home:

Get Organized.

It’s helpful to create discrete piles of your belongings so that you can visualize where they belong. Try sorting your clutter into different categories, like:

• To Keep: These are the items that you can’t live without. But before you throw something in this pile without a second thought, take a closer look at it. Do you see yourself using this item again? Does it hold important sentimental value to you? Or would you even notice if it were gone? These questions can prevent you from keeping too many things.

 

• To Donate: Your old items may have some use—just not to you. Consider donating to a local charity or shelter. It’s a great way to give to those in need and organize your life at the same time.

 

• To Throw Away/Recycle: Not all of your things can be passed on to someone else. Broken TVs, ripped clothes, and used notebooks are all at the end of their life cycles. Remove junk from your home to free up space in your life. Read up on what can be recycled in your area to find out what belongs in the dumpster, and what can be repurposed somehow.

 

Take Breaks.

There’s a reason you’ve put off going through your old belongings—it’s a lot of hard work! When you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and start organizing, remember not to overexert yourself. Take a break whenever you need it, and try to divide the work over multiple days so you aren’t too exhausted. With each decluttering session, you’ll be one step closer to your goal of a junk-free life.

 

Go Through One Room At A Time.

The idea of decluttering your entire home might seem intimidating. That’s understandable—it can help to break this job up into manageable sections.

On the first day, take a closer look at your kitchen. Do you really need all those appliances? Sure, you might feel lost without your coffee maker, but what about your rice cooker? Use a pot on the stove instead, and free up the space that the appliance takes. Be honest with yourself—is that juicer getting much use? You’ll have a lot more space on your countertops when you eliminate unused appliances.

Next, make your way to the bathroom. Get rid of those half-empty lotion bottles that you don’t expect to finish, and the perfume that expired a year ago.

Don’t forget about your bedroom. Having less clutter in the place you rest your head each night can actually improve your sleep quality. Start by cleaning off your end tables, sorting through your wardrobe, and downsizing your DVD collection (that movie is probably on a streaming service!).

 

Clean Up.

Once you start freeing up space in your home, you might notice one thing:

There’s a lot of dust lurking in your belongings. Now that they’ve been taken away, the dust is free to fill the air and coat your floors. It’s time to clean to make this decluttering complete.

When it comes to choosing the right cleaning products, you might decide to no longer use traditional cleaning agents. The benefits of green cleaning products are quite substantial. Make sure to choose the right products when you’re cleaning surfaces, or else you can damage the finish of your furniture.

 

Purging your old things can give you an exhilarating sense of freedom. It’s time to give up that storage locker you’ve been paying for. Get rid of anything unnecessary in your life to bring down your stress levels and improve the appearance of your home. Things will go more smoothly when you aren’t tripping over clutter. After these steps, you’ll be ready to move into a downsized space or enjoy the newly-organized areas in your home.