Declutter your home!
Decluttering is about making room in your space for the things that matter. Many people enjoy decluttering because it tends to relieve stress by providing a sense of accomplishment. Decluttering provides a person with a host of benefits that includes less stress, less to organize, less to clean, less debt and more financial freedom.
Ultimately, decluttering gives you more energy for your greatest passions. With less debt, more financial freedom, and a clean home, you can now focus your energy on the things you enjoy instead of worrying and this will ultimately make you happier.
Here are some creative decluttering tips to get you started;
- Create a decluttering checklist.It’s a lot easier to declutter when you have a visual representation of where you need to get started.
- Start with 5 minutes at a time.If you’re new to decluttering, you can slowly build momentum with just five minutes a day.
- View your home as a first-time visitor.It’s easy to “forget” what your home looks like to a new visitor. Enter your home as if you’re visiting the home of a friend. Write down your first impression on how clean and organized the home is and make changes.
- Take before and after photos of a small area.Choose one part of your home, like your kitchen counter, and take a photo of a small area. Quickly clean off the items in the photo and take an after photo. Once you see how your home could look, it becomes easier to start decluttering more of your home.
- Donate clothes you never wear.To identify them, simply hang all your clothes with hangers in the reverse direction. After wearing an item, face the hanger in the correct direction. Discard the clothes you never touched after a few months.
- Take the 12-12-12 challenge. Locate 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate and 12 items to be returned to their proper home.
- Get help from a friend. Have a friend or family member go through your home and suggest a handful of big items to throw away or give to someone else. If you defend the item and want to keep it, your friend has to agree with your reason. If they don’t agree, it’s time to get rid of it.
- Use the Four-Box Method.Get four boxes and label them: trash, give away, keep, or re-locate. Enter any room in your home and place each item into one of the following boxes. Don’t skip a single item, no matter how insignificant you may think it is. This may take days, weeks, or months, but it will help you see how many items you really own and you’ll know exactly what to do with each item.
