Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, you will no doubt have spent a lot more time than usual in your home. This may have resulted in you having generated a lot of clutter as you try to find things to keep yourself entertained, and you might have found yourself reaching crisis point with the amount of clutter in your home. With household mess and clutter having a negative impact on stress levels, now might be the right time for you to go through your home for a deep clean. Here is a short guide to decluttering your home.
1. Organize disposal options
Do you know exactly what you will do with the unwanted items you sort out during your decluttering? Ensuring that you have disposal options in place will speed up the decluttering process and help you to avoid last-minute second thoughts. Any items that are still perfectly usable, such as clothes, books, and ornaments, can be donated to a thrift store to be sold on for charity. To deal with trash items – broken objects, old newspapers, and magazines ripped clothing – you could hire a dumpster for the length of your decluttering project. Doing this will help you to avoid multiple trips to the landfill, as the dumpster will be hauled away again when you have finished using it for the trash to be sorted and disposed of appropriately. Check out Jordan Disposal for more information about hiring dumpsters.
2. Have a decluttering plan in place
Decluttering can be an emotionally difficult task, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by your possessions. As such, there are a huge amount of guides out there that claim to help you with the decluttering process. You might, for instance, decide to follow the popular KonMari method made popular by decluttering expert Marie Kondo or work your way towards practicing a minimalist lifestyle. However, if you would prefer to keep your decluttering plan simple and straightforward, remember to keep one key point in mind: how often have you used the item in question recently? If you have not used it during the last six months, and have perhaps even forgotten that you owned it, then it might be time for you to dispose of it.
3. Try not to get overwhelmed
Decluttering can be a daunting task. You might become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of your possessions. Or you might come across objects that you have not used for a while but which hold very strong memories for you. These might be sentimental items such as photographs of an ex-partner, the dress worn at your 21st birthday party, or items your children made at school. The important thing to remember is that, while the overall aim is to organize your home and reduce your possessions, do not feel pressured into disposing of emotionally charged objects simply because you have no use for them. You will know when is the right time to let go of such objects, if at all.