With January here, it’s time to declutter your home! Clearing it will allow you to lead a more simplified, uncluttered life, as well as leaving your house open for new experiences. Don’t know how to start? Here we list eight easy and creative ways to start clearing your house of unnecessary things and start your journey into a better and simpler way of life!
He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Give Yourself 5 Minutes
Let’s start this list with the easiest, most simple way of decluttering your home: by giving yourself 5 minutes a day to do it!
How to:
- When you have some free time, take 5 minutes to focus on decluttering your home. If you don’t have the time, make it! It can be after waking up, while there are commercials running on the TV or before going to sleep.
- Select a small area to focus. It can be the bedroom, the kitchen counter, the bookshelf, a drawer, anywhere. Try to focus these 5 minutes solely on clearing and organizing the space, throwing away things that you don’t use and putting objects in their right place.
- Repeat every day!
One Item a Day
Another very easy way to start decluttering your home is by giving away one item each day. It’s a very simple task that will slowly transform your house! Put a reminder on your phone and commit to throwing away or donating an item every day. It doesn’t matter how big or small it is.
Keep in mind:
Whenever you go shopping, try discarding the same amount of clutter at home as the amount of items you purchased. If you got three new objects, look for three things at home to discard too, so the clutter doesn’t grow and the method works no matter your shopping habits.
You’ll soon start seeing your house cleaner, brighter, and more organized without much effort!
Fill One Trash Bag
If you want a declutter project that will instantly transform your home, then you’ll love this idea. Grab a simple large trash bag and don’t stop adding things until it’s completely full. You can use this idea to throw away things you don’t need, but also to fill a bag for charity!
In your journey towards simplicity, you’ll find it super fun to quickly fill up the trash bag and get rid of things that are only cluttering your life!
Closet Hanger Experiment
If you’ve ever felt like you needed a bigger closet, then you have to do this experiment. Do you really use all the clothes you own? Try the Oprah Winfrey Closet Hanger Experiment to find out and get rid of clothing items that are only taking up space.
How to:
- To identify wardrobe pieces to clear out, hang all your clothes with the hangers facing the other way, in the reverse direction.
- After you wear a clothing item, return it to the closet with the hanger facing the correct direction.
- After six months, you’ll have a clear picture of what items you actually use and which clothes you can easily discard.
Isn’t it super easy?
Make a List
It couldn’t get any easier than this: simply make a list of places and areas in your home that need decluttering, starting with the easiest. You can add to the list areas like:
- Rooms (like bedroom, bathroom, etc.)
- Closets
- Shelves
- Medicine cabinet
- Drawers
- Utility closet
- Pantry
- Etc.
Every day or week (or when your schedule lets you), commit to decluttering and organizing that one area, until the list is finished. You can make the list as easy or as difficult as you want, depending on the areas that will make up the list. Just make sure you don’t spend more than a week without completing at least one area!
12-12-12 Challenge
The 12-12-12 challenge is an easy way to quickly organize 36 things in your house. It consist a simple task: locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate and 12 items to be returned to their proper home.
Make it super fun and exciting by creating a little competition with your S.O. to see which one finishes first! You can also invite the kids to participate, and make it a monthly challenge with the family.
4 Baskets
One of the most common methods of decluttering your home is by using the 4 baskets technique. It consist on using four baskets or boxes when decluttering and organizing an area: one for trash, one for donating, one for recycling, and one for keeping or relocating. Each item and object in every room is placed into one of the categories, with no items passed over.
Change Your Perspective
Ok, this may not be the easiest method out there, but it’s definitely worth a try.
We are so used to the way our homes work and look that we may not notice the amount of clutter we keep. Use different strategies to help you change your perspective, see your home with different eyes and begin to notice some clutter you may have missed.
Ideas to try:
- Take photos and videos of your house. Seeing your house through the camera’s lens will allow you to pick up clutter that your own eyes may have missed.
- Invite some friends over. Knowing that people will be coming to into your home will allow you to see your place through their eyes.
- Hire a home stager to come in and explain to you how he or she would clear the space to put it on the market. While you may not follow all their advice, they can offer a clear idea of where your home needs some work done.
Which of these easy decluttering methods will you try first? Let us know at our Facebook page or in the comments below!