Last Updated on July 10, 2023 by
Whether you are doing it before moving to a new place or making your house more functional, decluttering your home is not an easy job. But one thing is sure: decluttering your house makes it more attractive and inviting.
Piles of stuff lying here and there makes the residents trip over and cause harm. A cluttered house also creates stress, making you feel that the walls are closing up on you.
Often it makes you feel that your life is no longer in your control. This might be why 75% of Americans engaged in one of the decluttering projects happening last year.
Though decluttering makes your life easier, most people feel overwhelmed when they think about actually decluttering their house.
Planning where you start your decluttering project can be the most important part of the whole exercise.
The easiest way to declutter your house is to move from one room to another and finish the entire process gradually. Purging the whole house together and managing so much stuff is impossible anyway.
Here are some effective ways to effectively manage your declutter drive.
Table of Contents
Rent a storage unit
As a result of your declutter drive, you will have a lot of stuff to manage. You will come across stuff that is occupying space but is not needed immediately. These include out-of-season clothes, old appliances, furniture cramping up the living room, etc. So, before you declutter, rent a storage unit for convenience.
Once you have all the stuff collected, you can send it to the facility. A mini storage unit will secure your belongings until you take them out.
Often, these facilities provide 24/7 access, so you can also access your belongings whenever you need them.
Moreover, their state-of-the-art security system ensures your belongings’ utmost safety.
Make a sorting plan
As a result of purging your house, you will find many things that require you to sort into different categories. For instance, you can make seven separate piles and label them as storage, put away, recycle, charity, mend/repair, trash, yard sale, and donate.
The storage category includes everything you can keep in a storage unit. These things are important, but right now, they have no function in the house except cluttering the space.
The put-away category includes the stuff that needs to be put in its proper place. It might include a coffee cup lying in a drawer or a shirt that belongs to your closet.
“Recycle,” as the name implies, includes everything you can recycle. This pile may consist of plastic, paper, or glass.
Mend/repair bin includes things that are broken or need tinkering. This pile consists of shirts with broken buttons, shoes, or trousers with stains.
Trash includes everything that can no longer be used. Make a pile, and then throw all the stuff into the trash bin in your house.
Donate/charity includes stuff that is in good shape and can be sent to a charity. Things include old clothes that no longer fit you or your kids, excess crockery in the kitchen, or old appliances.
Surprisingly, you will find many things in the house that you don’t need now or in the future. But someone else might need it badly. You can sell this stuff in a yard sale and make some money.
Declutter the bedrooms
Bedrooms are often the most cluttered space in your house. There is no surprise that they are often regarded as the dumping ground of the house. And why not? It is convenient to put everything in your bedroom drawers and forget about it.
To declutter your bedroom, start by opening the drawers on the bedside table and see if they have anything that does not belong there.
Repeat the same exercise with other drawers, such as on the dressing. If you have already made a sorting system, you can place the stuff in their respective piles (donate, storage, trash, etc.).
Once you are done, put the remaining stuff back in the drawers. Add dividers and small containers to avoid making a mess again. The more organized your stuff is, the easier it is to fetch everything.
Get rid of old clothes and shoes
This is hard to digest, but the fact is that we often have more than we need. Overconsumption and unnecessary buying have cluttered the houses with redundant stuff.
Clothes and shoes are the most frequently and needlessly bought items. So you will likely have a lot of old and unnecessary clothes and shoes cramming the much-needed space in the house.
Visit your closets and separate everything you can donate to charity or sell in the yard sale. You might also find a lot of clothes lying at the back of your closet asking for your attention. Take them out too. If you can mend them yourself, do it; otherwise, send them to your tailor.
Moreover, take out the seasonal clothes, shoes, and accessories, and put them in the “storage bin” to send them to the storage unit. This way, you will free up a lot of space to manage things you need in the current season.
Sort everything back in the closets
Once you have decluttered the whole closet, wipe down shelves, and remove any dust. Avoid stacking clothes and stuffing each compartment with more than it can manage.
Organize clothes in the closet so you can easily see everything without moving too much out of the way. The more stuffed your wardrobe is, the sooner your whole setting will fall apart. Use small boxes to sort things on the closet shelves.
You can also add hooks inside the closet doors to hang stuff. If necessary, add more shelves above the items placed on the closet floor.
Conclusion
With clutter all around, your house looks smaller and dysfunctional. Overflowing drawers and closets make it challenging to find anything. You also tend to lose more stuff in a messy house. So, keep the clutter to a minimum. Regularly purging your house for unnecessary things makes it easier to manage your stuff. Moreover, reducing consumption and overspending is essential to keeping your home in order
Read More: Tips For Renovating Your Closet
