I was kept pretty busy back at home cleaning up my house since my family is moving, and I wanted to share five quick tips for decluttering your abode. 🙂
- Work on one room or space at a time. You’ll get overwhelmed if you try to tackle the entire floor of your home at once, especially if you have years of clutter that has built up over the years.
- Have a ton of large plastic bags ready. Focus on three types of garbage bags: one for regular trash, one for recycling (separate the plastic/glass/metal from the paper), and one for donations.
- When you go through your items, organize them based on a common theme! I came home for winter break to help my family move, and I had over 20 years of clutter to sort through (imagine my shock of the endless amount of items I was looking at). We had items such as stuffed animals, arts and crafts, kids’ toys, etc. I organized them into categories such as these, and for the items that were good enough to be donated, I set them aside.
- If you’re in a time crunch and need to clear your home quickly, Craigslist is going to be your best friend. Within days, and sometimes hours, I was able to donate bags of assorted items to people who [I hope!] will put them to good use for their families.
- if you do have the time, you can definitely list items for sale on Craigslist or eBay, but since we needed to move things out FAST, listing them for free was the most efficient way to go!
- When you go through your clothes, look at each item and decide if it’s something that “sparks joy”, as the KonMari Method describes. I really like this article that describes the importance of joy when going through your closet and picking out the clothes that bring you joy. The article describes how there are different ways to bring joy, and that the initial joy in purchasing the item can wear off and it is okay to let it go.
If you haven’t seen, used, or thought about the item you happen upon while you’re decluttering your home, chances are, you don’t need it! That’s the best advice I can offer you after going through three floors and one basement’s worth of stuff x_x
What are your methods of decluttering your home?
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