Tips for Decluttering Your Home

When your home is full of clutter, you may become overwhelmed and depressed just looking at everything that is sitting around. You envision a clean and clutter-free home where you can relax and enjoy your surroundings, but finding the motivation to tackle the clutter may just depress you that much more and cause you to seek out other places to go to avoid the clutter that you face each day. Often times that other place ends up being the store, where you inevitably end up spending money that you really shouldn't spend on more things that will inevitably add to the clutter you already have in your home. It can be a vicious and seemingly endless cycle.

Tackling the clutter is not as easy for some people as it is for others. Some people can go through things and have no problem getting rid of things that they have acquired. Other people have a harder time letting go of even the smallest of things. Regardless of which category you may fall into, having a plan and a vision of what you want your home to look like, are the keys to finding the motivation to de-clutter your home.

When formulating your de-cluttering plan, think of where you should start. I would suggest starting with the room that will be the easiest to tackle. I say this because by tackling the easiest room first, you will quickly gain a sense of accomplishment and will find that it helps motivate you to continue on your journey to a clutter-free home. For example, let's say that you have a smaller storage room that is cluttered and unorganized. It probably won't take you very long to go through this area and get rid of things, but, at the same time, you will be able to go back to this room after it is finished and see just how nice it looks and re-gain any lost motivation.

Now that you have decided on a starting point, set yourself a goal. Give yourself a specific amount of time to get through the room that you are working on. For example, give yourself one day to de-clutter the small storage room. Make your goals reasonable. You do not want to give yourself too much time nor too little time because doing either could actually harm your progress. Giving yourself too much time to de-clutter one room will give you too much time to decide to hold on to unnecessary things; giving yourself too little time will make you feel as if you are failing if you are not completed when the time is up.

The next thing that you should do is to make sure that you have large trash bags and empty boxes. Use the trash bags not only for trash, but also for those things that you will be getting rid of. Use the empty boxes to put things that you will keep. Label your boxes so that you know what is in each one. Make yourself another goal to get rid of more than you will keep.

When going through your things, ask yourself a few questions. Ask yourself if the item is something that you use on a regular basis. If it is not, decide whether it is trash or if it is something that someone else may use. Put the item in the appropriate bag. If it is something that you use on a regular basis, put it in the appropriate box. Move on to the next item. If you come to something that may be sentimental, ask yourself why you are holding on to it. Is the item important to you, or merely the memories you have when you see the item. If it is nothing more than a memory, feel free to get rid of it. Remember, no one can ever take away your memories and they cannot be held in an inanimate object. If you feel that getting rid of the item will bother someone else in your family, set it aside and discuss the item with that person. You may find that they would really like it themselves, or you may find that they are okay with letting it go.

As a general rule, it is okay to get rid of any clothing that you have not worn within a year. For example, you may have had that pair of shorts since you were in high-school, but if you didn't wear them last summer, get rid of them. Clothing that is ripped up should be thrown away. Don't hold onto the ripped up stuff thinking that you will mend it later or turn it into rags. If you haven't done it yet, you probably never will. Since we are talking about clothing, it is only fair to talk about shoes as well. Think about what you really need when it comes to shoes and keep only those that you really need. I cannot think of one person who really needs to have 10 pairs of shoes, shoot for a smaller number; somewhere between 3 and 5; that covers all the basis, dress, casual, comfy, and weather appropriate(sandals and boots).

Paper items take up a lot of space and tend to be what many people have too much of. Keep things that are obviously important; social security cards, marriage license, birth records, death records, any legal papers. If you are one that wants to keep old bills as proof of paying them, only keep those for the previous 12 months. When you come across those cute little things that your kids may have made for you as they were growing up, decide what things are most important to you and your kids. Even better, put each child's things into a box labeled individually with each name and allow them to go through their own things. You may find that they really do not care to have those things anymore. Other paper items, such as old newspapers and magazines probably will not be useful to you anymore and can be gotten rid of. If you find that you help on to the newspaper or magazine for a specific reason, ask yourself what that reason is and decide if the item is needed or not.

As you fill a bag full of trash or things to get rid of, get them out of your house. Do not keep those things that you want to get rid of lying around with the intention of selling them later on, chances are that you won't get around to selling them or you will second-guess what you are getting rid of and decide to keep things that you already decided to get rid of. Donate those bags of items to an organization that can either sell them to others or give them away to those who need them. As soon as your vehicle is full of things to get rid of, take a drive and get rid of them. Take the bags of trash out to your trash receptacle and make it your goal to not only fill, but to over-fill your receptacle with trash to get rid of.

Another perk to removing bags as you fill them is the satisfaction you get when you walk back to the room that you are de-cluttering. You know that you are doing the job, but walking into the room after taking things out can help to keep you motivated as you can visually see the great job you are doing.

When you have finally gotten down to the end of it all and all of the things that you are getting rid of our gone, you will be left with multiple boxes of those things that you have decided to keep. Of those boxes, you should now take the ones that belong in different rooms of your home to the appropriate rooms. For example, if you found a box full of things that belong in your kitchen you should take that box to your kitchen.

Once all of the boxes are in the correct locations, you can now clean the room that you were working on. Dust from ceiling to floor; sweep the dust bunnies out of the corners, pick up all the dust and debris. Then, wipe down any and all shelves you may have, wipe down the walls, and mop or vacuum the floor. You may also choose to use this time, when everything is out of that room to clean any carpeting that there may be. This would also be a great opportunity to paint or do any other repairs or remodeling that you have wanted to do. This way, you are starting with a completely clean space when you begin to put things away.

Once the cleaning is done in that room, put the boxes of things that belong in that room into the room. Do not put anything away just yet; as you go through the de-cluttering process in other rooms in your home, you may find that you want to get rid of more things that you previously thought you wanted to keep. It is much easier to get rid of things later, as you are putting things away than it is to get rid of things that you have already put away.

Repeat the de-cluttering process going from one room to another in your home until you have gone through your entire home. Now, your home will be clean and have significantly less stuff in it and it is time to put those things that you have kept away in their proper places.

As you are putting your things away, your goal should be to only keep things that you have the space for. In other words, you only want to keep the clothes that will fit nicely into your closet and dresser. You may consider making use of decorative baskets to help you organize things such as make-up, pens and pencils and hair care items. This helps you keep your home free of clutter and looking good. Don't be afraid to get rid of more things as you are putting your stuff away. If you don't have the room for it, you don't need it and it will only end up cluttering the home that you worked so hard to de-clutter in the first place. You may surprise yourself and find that you want to get rid of a lot more as you put things away.

Now that your entire home has been de-cluttered and cleaned, any repairs or remodeling has been done, and everything has been put away in its proper place, sit back and enjoy your home. Chances are that not only does your house look great, but that you feel great as well, and you should. De-cluttering your home is about more than just getting rid of things in your home; it is also about regaining control over your home and in the process, clearing out your mind and finding peace within yourself.