A decluttered home helps to ensure a welcoming and relaxing environment for yourself and guests alike. Decluttering is often thought of as a big project within the home, but to make your home its best, organization and decluttering should be a regular task–just like any other chore. Decluttering continually makes your home feel in control and ensures you never get overwhelmed with unnecessary belongings.
Break Down by Category
Category-based organizing and decluttering gives you an easy way to break down tasks to weekly or daily chores rather than one large project. Depending on your goals and your time, there are a few options on breaking down by category.
You can break it down by:
- Item Type: Tackle all like items at once throughout the home (ie: clothes, paperwork or books)
- Room-by-Room: Focus on each room separately to make your way through the home
- Attachment Levels: If you know some types of items will be easy to let go of and more difficult to go through, break them down by your attachment levels so you can tackle a lot at once and save the sentimental items for a day when you’re more ready. Starting with the easiest things first can give you the momentum to make harder decisions down the road.
Do it Daily
We often don’t think of decluttering as a daily task, but separating your decluttering project into a 10 to 30-minute chore each day can bring a very overwhelming task and turn it into an easily accomplishable daily habit. Decluttering every day provides the momentum to make harder decisions as you go and it helps you to be thinking about your home in terms of clutter constantly. This will translate into buying fewer items you don’t need. That cute handbag or handy kitchen gadget starts to look less appealing when you think about the need to declutter your home later.
Keep a Perpetual Donate Box
Make your decluttering sessions easier by simply decluttering as you go about your day. Did you pull that sweater out of the closet and remember you don’t love the way it looks? Put it in the box. Have your kids actually grown out of those toys in the playroom? Toss them in the donation box. Having a donate box ready at all times ensures you don’t put something back to deal with later, which can make decluttering an easy task that fits into your everyday routine.
