The environment we live in has a significant impact on our mental health. You can only adopt simple living ideas if you only keep what you need. In the year ahead, one of your resolutions should be to declutter your home. This process should be pain-free and fun.
A disorganized home can cause a feeling of overwhelm and helplessness. On the contrary, a well organized home helps create a happier and productive mindset.
6 easy tips to make it easier to declutter your home
Here are tips for decluttering your home in the year ahead.
Keep Your Goal in Mind
Decluttering usually means keeping what you need. While minimalism is a brilliant idea, others like keeping many items, and they are happy about it. When planning to declutter your home, keep your goal in mind not to get rid of too little or too much.
Break Down the Task
Attempting to declutter your home without a plan will leave you frustrated, overwhelmed, and confused about where to begin. Break down your decluttering job into smaller sub-tasks in order to derive a sense of accomplishment along the way.
Make a list of your rooms and create a schedule for what to declutter on a particular day.
Separate Trash and Donations
Before diving into your decluttering job, have a place to store things that you’ll donate and trash bags for items you want to dispose of. If your house was renovated recently, consider getting skip bins where you can throw away debris as you declutter your home.
Check Surfaces
You need to pay special attention to flat open surfaces such as countertops, coffee tables, nightstands, and laundry room counters where junk piles up quickly. If you are struggling with junk on flat surfaces, consider buying a junk box where you can place small items such as wallets, nail cutters, keys, and other things you need in day-to-day life.
Create Natural Declutters
If you find a “junk problem area,” come up with an effective way of solving the problem. Set up a recycling bin in the area to avoid clutter accumulating in the area. That way, you will avoid junk building up in the area in the future. You will naturally toss the junk in the bin before it piles up.
Make Decluttering a Habit
Even after a thorough declutter project, clutter will start accumulating again. You have to accept that clutter is normal, and the only way you can keep your house tidy is by decluttering regularly.
Cleaning out your home can work wonders for your mental health. Start off the new year with a clean slate and consider doing a deep declutter in your home.
About the Writer: Emma is a freelance writer based out of Boston, MA. She writes most often on health and education. When not writing, she enjoys reading and watching film noir. Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2
