Spring Cleaning: 5 Ways to Declutter Your Home

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Spring is here, and you know what that means! Spring cleaning! While this can seem like a daunting task (especially if you’ve developed a habit of keeping everything), we’ve got some clever ideas to help you declutter your home and make spring cleaning that much easier. Whether you’re keeping old books, furniture, or miscellaneous household items, here are five ways to declutter your home.

1. Planning

A good plan can go a long way, and a project without a plan usually isn’t as efficient. As you begin your spring cleaning, it’s vital to identify problem areas and objects that need to be removed. Take a look at each room and make a list of things you want to move (or remove). Making this list will help your mind to begin thinking about what things you need versus what you want. Decluttering your home may mean making some hard choices, but in the end, it’s all just stuff. Peace of mind, a clear and clean space, and a sense of clarity are certainly worth ditching a few old items. You don’t have to throw anything away, either. You can donate any discarded items to thrift or second-hand stores to ensure they see further use. There might be someone out there who needs that old dresser more than you do.

2. Organize Your Shelving

We’ve all got shelving in our house somewhere that is disorganized and cluttered. Reorganizing just one shelf can have a huge impact on the clutter of the entire room. Let’s say your pantry is incredibly disorganized. Now imagine that you organized all of the food and canned goods, and suddenly you’ve got two extra shelves available! Shelving is a great organization tool, but after months of continued use, it can be difficult to keep things in order. Try using containers with lids to organize items on the shelves to better maximize your space. This will not only help organize similar items together but also free up precious square inches on the shelf. Adding shelves in strategic spots can help you organize your items like books. If you have a large book collection, you can start by getting rid of any books you don’t want or use (like old college textbooks). Go here to learn where to sell used textbooks. Fruit crates act as great stackable shelf options and even work as portable bookshelves. You can stack or attach them to the wall and fill them with books or other items. When it comes time to move the shelves, you simply flip the crate upright and use its built-in handles to carry it wherever you need it to go. Simple, easy, and portable.

3. Figure Out What You Actually Need

This is quite possibly the hardest part of decluttering. Deciding what you need to keep versus what you want to keep can cause indecision, and therefore stress. In order to get around this, it’s important to remember that everyone is different when it comes to saving items. Some people save out of worry that they’ll need items in the future, others save because they spent money on the object and don’t want to part with it. If you’re serious about decluttering, you need to identify why you have saved the items over the years. Ask yourself a few questions when going through your clutter:

• Is there an emotional attachment to this item?
• Does this item serve a purpose other than aesthetic value?
• Could I live without this item?
• Could I benefit from removing this item from my home?
• Is there any good reason not to get rid of this?

These questions will help you sort through some of the reluctance you may feel when you begin the declutter process. Once you’ve identified the value of the item, you can decide whether or not it’s worth keeping in your home.

4. Enlist Help

Asking a close friend or family member to assist you in your declutter process can help you purge items you’d otherwise have trouble parting with. A third party opinion is often quite valuable in this type of situation. When you think you need that Mickey-Mouse themed alarm clock, a third party can remind you that you already have two other clocks on your dresser. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and let your help know ahead of time if you think you’ll have trouble parting with your household items. This lets them know what to expect when going through your personal items (this can get pretty dicey sometimes).

5. Commit to Daily Decluttering

Once you’ve finished your spring declutter, it’s essential that you maintain a routine on a daily basis to ensure your decluttering process continues throughout the year. Letting items build up to the point where you have to do a spring cleaning to sort through them can cause stress and anxiety. Each day, go through your home with a trash or recycle bag and pick up any trash, loose paperwork or letter, etc, that may be lying around. Be sure to keep things like shelves and containers organized and always put things back in their proper place after use.

Conclusion

Decluttering your home can be a simple process, as long as you’re prepared to part with certain items. Be sure to ask yourself the questions we provided in our checklist to separate needs from wants and don’t be afraid to ask for help when the job seems too large to handle on your own.

Courtney P.

I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!

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