Letting go of clutter is never easy, but it’s something you need to do if you want to improve your life and your home. If knowing how to do it is difficult, then here are the five top tips to get you started.
1) Small Steps
Letting go of clutter can seem like a never-ending task if you try to do it all in one go. To make it easier on yourself, start small by picking a small area of your home. Once this area is finished, start on the next section. Doing it in this way stops you getting overwhelmed and also helps to keep you motivated when you start seeing the results.
2) Note Down Important Memories
We all have things that have memories attached to them – but that doesn’t mean you need to be attached to the things themselves. The best way to deal with this is to create a journal where you take photos of your items and make a note of what they mean to you and the memories you associate with them. Once you’ve noted everything down, you can get rid of the item itself but still keep hold of all the important memories.
3) If You Have A Lot of Something Similar, Keep Just One or Two
Some of us have many similar items, which suggests we could get rid of a few of them. But when it comes to special things like our kid’s drawings, this isn’t as simple. Use the same principle as above and take photographs of drawings you’d otherwise only keep in a drawer. Keep one or two of the best ones as a permanent memento.
4) If You Haven’t Used It For A Year, Are You Really Still Going to Use It?
One of the funny things about letting go of clutter is that we persuade ourselves we need to keep things for some strange reason. Sometimes, while clearing out our home, we find boxes of things we’d forgotten we had. You need to be strict with yourself in these situations: if you forgot you had it for a year, do you really need it? The chances are that you don’t. Just get rid of it!
5) Remember Your Ultimate Aim
There are always going to be difficult parts of getting rid of clutter – some of your emotional attachments will make you want to give up. But always remember your end goal – to improve your physical surroundings and clear some of that mental clutter, too. On top of this, remember how much good you’ll be doing when you donate old items to charity. You’ll have more space in your home, and you’ll really be doing something good!
Letting go of clutter can be stressful and challenging, but it doesn’t need to be. For some easy to follow advice on clearing the clutter, check out Clear Clutter Blog today.