How are those New Year’s resolutions coming along? How many of you are still working out and dieting? Or did you plan a different goal for yourself this year?
Last year, people were on the Marie Kondo bandwagon and organizing their clutter with a spin of positivity attached. I was one of those who heard about this craze but didn’t get caught up in it. So, what was the hullabaloo about? Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant and author. She advises to start by category, like clothing, books, etc., and if it doesn’t spark joy, then you can let go of it and get it out of your home.
That’s a great theory until you’re holding a pair of jeans that are too small that you swear that you’re going to wear again after you lose all that weight. I can’t be the only one who’s done this.
Some Decluttering Tips
If the Marie Kondo methodology isn’t realistic for you, don’t worry. It’s not for everyone. But you don’t have to be a Kondo fanatic for you to declutter and organize your home. Here are some tips on how you can get your home to look the way you want.
Begin Small And Then Fill An Entire Trash Bag
Start with five minutes at a time. Start small and see what you can go through in five minutes. It’s not much time, but you’ll be able to determine what needs to go and what can stay. You’d be amazed at what you can go through in that amount of time.
Give away one item each day. This could be something to a friend, or maybe you add this to your pile of things to be donated to a local thrift shop like Goodwill or Savers.
Fill an entire trash bag. Does this mean that what’s in that bag is trash? Not necessarily. I put clothes, sheets, and other cloth items in a trash bag when I donate. It’s just an easy way to have everything together and not be fumbling with those items. But if you have lots of paper or other things that can be thrown away, then the trash bag is perfect too.
Donate Clothes And Make A Decluttering Checklist
Donate clothes you don’t wear anymore. This is a great idea! We all have clothes in our closets that we’ve stopped wearing for one reason or another. It’s good to go through your closet and drawers at least once a year to see what you don’t wear anymore, or even some items you never wore. This will give you more space in both areas and make you feel a little better.
Create a decluttering checklist. I’ve actually done this one. I made a list of all the rooms in my house and what needed to be done in those rooms, whether it was dusting, vacuuming, or going through the junk in a room. When I completed certain tasks, I’d scratch them off the list, and it was a great sense of completion and satisfaction. So, I strongly suggest that you don’t write off this idea. Like what I did there?
View Your Home As A First-Time Visitor And Take Before And After Photos
View your home as a first-time visitor. This is another great idea! Take a look around your home and ask yourself what someone might think of your home if they were coming over for the first time. I did this during quarantine, and it really opened my eyes to what someone might think. It inspired me to clean my house from top to bottom and clear out any clutter and junk that made my house look disheveled. It’s a constant work in progress, but it’s definitely helpful and insightful.
Take before and after photos of a small area. This could be fun and interesting! It makes me think of home makeovers where a crew comes in and cleans, paints, decorates, and then they show the before and after look of the home. There’s something to be said for the wow factor in this approach. It gives you an honest perspective on what you started with and what the finished product became.
Get Help From A Friend
Get help from a friend. Sometimes a project is just too big for one person. Need help moving that couch to feng shui your living room for a better chi? Call a friend over to help you move around the big furniture, or even to help you clean and organize. It could also be helpful to have a second pair of eyes to look at what you have and to ask you if you really need certain items. Plus, you can hang out with your friend! Sounds like a win-win to me.
Decluttering Isn’t Just For The Home.
Now, don’t think that decluttering your life is just for home. Granted, most of us are spending more time at home, which has become our new office. But if you’re like me and spending some time at the office, too, then you may need to go through that workspace and clear out any junk that’s still lingering. This could be papers or materials that you no longer need and just organizing your desk, so it’s more functional. Whatever helps you to be productive!
You can take decluttering to the digital world by deleting emails that you no longer need, moving emails to designated subfolders, and deleting memes and pictures off your phone and computer. This will help you free up some much-needed digital space that could be used for something else.
Does your schedule need to be decluttered too? If so, you can try prioritizing what absolutely needs to be done versus what you’d like to accomplish. I’ve done this before too. I’ve had to look at my schedule and what needs to get done and what I’d like to get done but can wait. I set out to accomplish what I can on certain days, and it makes me feel better that I got some items scratched off my proverbial list, and I can rest a little easier knowing that I got something done.
We’re Decluttering At Work, Too!
The team with Albuquerque Plumbing Heating & Cooling has been slowly but surely decluttering their workspaces, both at home and at the office, as well as their lives. Hopefully, we all can purge the unnecessary items from our work and personal lives and breathe a little easier this year. We’ve deserved a breather!