It is no secret that as we go about our lives, we keep accumulating things and creating clutter. Sometimes, we do it consciously out of a genuine need, and sometimes, we do it out of an impulse. Regardless, we keep filling our homes and workplaces with more and more clutter.
Below, we take a look at some of the most effective ways of organize and clean your space for a more stress free and clutter free.
1. Create A Checklist
It might feel a little overwhelming at first to start the decluttering process. After all, you might not even have a clue where to begin! This is where a checklist comes into play.
It will help you start the process without actually doing anything. What you need to do here is list out all the items that you remember that you could get rid of.
Do not worry if you don’t recall every single item. The idea is solely to kick things into motion.
2. Donate Clothes That You Never Wear
We all keep adding more and more clothes to our wardrobe. And somehow, we never seem to get rid of even the oldest of clothes. So, this could be one of the first places you start. You can pick out clothes that you never wear (or don’t wear often) and donate them to a charity.
This will not only help your wardrobe become clutter free, but it will also be a good deed. Something that is not of use to you will find someone who has a lot of use for it.
3. Ask A Friend/Family Member for Help
It is easy to procrastinate on something if your brain perceives it as “too much work.”
If this is stopping you from decluttering, well, it’s time to ask for some help. You could reach out to a friend or a family member who has the patience to help you organize and clean.
A great thing about this tip is that not only does the work get done faster, but it can also be a great way to spend time together.
“The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.”
― Joshua Becker
4. Use the Four-Box Method
This method is what professional organizers use to make any space clutter free. The idea is simple. You get four boxes and label them as trash, give away, keep, or relocate.
Each one is pretty self-explanatory. For any given item, you either throw it away, give it to a friend/charity, keep it as it is, or relocate it for better organization. Using this tip, you will go through your clutter as a hot knife goes through butter.
That’s because you won’t be confused about what to do with hundreds of individual items.
5. Use The 90/90 Rule
It is said that if you haven’t used something in the past 90 days, and if you are unlikely to use it for the next 90 days, then you don’t actually need that thing.
You can use this principle to decide whether to keep something or throw it away. If you are not comfortable with 90/90, you could go for a higher number.
The idea here is to make decision-making much faster.
6. Do A Little Bit at A Time
It’s understandable if you don’t get enough time to completely declutter your space in one go. However, it’s still possible to do it in pieces.
For instance, you could clear out one room at a time in your house, or one drawer at a time at your workplace. Another way to organize and clean your space would be to devote half an hour a week (preferably on weekends) to do some decluttering. Or you could give one item away per day.
That way, you would make considerable progress in a year!
7. Do It with Music
Have you ever cleaned your house while listening to some music? It is such a pleasurable experience, isn’t it?
Cleaning doesn’t even feel like a chore when you’re doing it while listening to some tunes. The same can be applied to making your space clutter free. You might be reluctant to do it because it might seem like a grand chore to you. So, you could put some headphones on, play some groovy music, and get started.
You will actually enjoy the process!
8. Practice the One-In-One-Out Method
This is a really ingenious method to maintain a state of equilibrium. In it, for each new thing you buy, you need to get rid of one other thing.
So, if you buy a pair of new shoes, you could donate a pair of jeans from your wardrobe. So, in a way, this will prevent things from accumulating over time, and you will always be decluttering when you buy new things.
9. Keep Only the Best Ones Out of a Collection
Many a time, we end up buying many quantities of the same thing without even realizing it. For instance, you could buy a kitchen towel at the mall without realizing that you already have a couple at home.
So, when you organize and clean, you might find a whole collection of the same thing. In such a case, you could choose the best one or your favorite one and keep it.
The rest would have to go. This would ensure that you still have all the useful things you need, but at the same time, you would reduce the clutter.
10. Deal with Junk Immediately
We all get tons of junk in the mail. It could be discount coupons, brochures, pamphlets, and other unwanted mail.
Many people have a habit of dumping these in a drawer or in a box somewhere. Over time, this becomes a part of the clutter. A better way to handle this is by throwing away any junk mail as soon as you get it. You just need to be sure that you won’t need it later on.
Doing so will prevent this type of clutter from accumulating in the first place.
In Conclusion
We don’t realize it, but this habit of ours can be quite harmful. Psychologists say that clutter can have a negative impact on our mental health. And we all know how devastating that can be for the quality of our lives. Therefore, it’s important to step back for a bit and declutter your space from time to time.