You’re really serious now about removing unnecessary items from your home. That’s good, because reducing clutter is essential for peace of mind.
A decluttering routine makes life much easier. You don’t need to waste time looking for items when you have a place for everything and actually do have everything in place.
Some people don’t realize that severe clutter can be a hazard, as it provides hiding places for bugs and other vermin. Over-cluttered homes can also make it harder for first responders to help during a fire or medical emergency.
You’ll be able to keep your home looking nicer when you get honest with yourself that it’s time to get rid of items causing clutter.
Here are some tips to help you stick to your decluttering routine. Use the time saved to pamper yourself!
1. Prioritize Decluttering Habits
There’s no need to feel overwhelmed. You can gain control over the situation by making a list of areas of your home that you feel need the most attention. Then prioritize them. If you have started working from home, your home office will probably be number 1 on your to-do list.
Don’t try to do it all at once. People tend to succeed when they begin by targeting a specific area that needs decluttering.
Set goals. That’s the only way you can see later if you are keeping up with decluttering. For example, you might want to vacuum the carpets twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday, but you routinely forget to do it on the weekend because you’re busy with errands. Maybe Mondays and Thursdays are best for this chore.
2. How Do You Feel About Various Items?
Examine all of your possessions and let go of items that you no longer need.
When you focus on joy, you’ll do better at minimizing clutter. Remember that cleaning your home is about keeping things that bring you happiness and joy. It’s no good to be chained to your possessions. Let go of stuff that doesn’t make you happy.
3. Remember to Take Advantage of the Digital World
You can save a great deal of space in your home when you think how easy it is to store entertainment in the form of digital files. Items such as computers and speakers are getting better as they become smaller.
Through digitization, you can store several rooms’ worth of CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and books in a few small hard drives. Many people even give up collecting recordings like this and opt to listen to music and watch videos only through streaming services.
Consider going paperless: One demonstrably easy way to get rid of clutter is to discard old papers and files. Use a scanner to make digital copies of documents that you must keep on hand.
See if your bank offers an online bill pay service. With an electronic method to pay bills, you save time and eliminate the hassle of checks and stamps.
4. Give Yourself a Break
If you stumble occasionally and forget to follow your decluttering routine, don’t beat yourself up about it. Just recognize that it’s human to get off-schedule once in a while. In time, though, you’ll become more accustomed to decluttering and it will turn into a good habit you wished you started earlier.
Thanks for sharing this nice and informative article. Loved It. Keep sharing and keep motivating. And now I will definitely take a break.
Very useful- I am working on motivation- small steps
Great post, needed to see this today! Love your tips
Something that motivates me to get going is taking pictures of the whole house, room by room, section by section. When I look at the picture I see it as others see it and I don’t like that. So I take one picture at a time and change it to how I like it to look!
I have given up! I gave up 3 years ago and have no motivation any more…
Hi Linda –
I am in that place now too. Finding motivation is so hard!
I agree
I needed this!!! Painting is the worse for clutter. Thanks
I don’t seem to Care anymore about organization and clearing out space in my place.
Though, when I do a little bit of tossing and organizing, I discover a sense of wonder about my space and life. My new, renewed feelings and sense of peace about doing things I want to do and finding stuff I need for my art is cleaning my soul.
Of course I get stuck, again, and can’t get out of bed, once again but when I walk through my living room and stand at my cleared off ceramics table I love the clean path to my balcony and find nothing blocking my pathway a joy.
Getting trapped into being happy about my start and crawling back into bed is a struggle. I just can’t manage to continue my organization and clearing out space.