Are you overwhelmed by the number of unnecessary items in your home? It might just be time to declutter. In today’s consumerism-driven culture, it’s easy to accumulate things you don’t need. Such items tend to pile up and soon become a nuisance, an inconvenience that could increase stress levels.
While the thought of a house free from excess stuff may sound appealing, decluttering can be a challenge, especially if you have difficulty letting go of items. Here are some tips on how to go about decluttering your home:
1. Set Timelines and Goals
It’s essential to know what you want out of your decluttering effort before you get started. The goal could be as simple as making more room in your bedroom or as lofty as clearing out your entire home of unnecessary items.
Having a clear goal in mind will keep you motivated and focused as you work toward it. You can also schedule the various steps of your decluttering process with realistic due timelines to avoid frustration.
2. Start Small
It can be daunting to declutter your home, so starting small is essential. You could start with a small manageable area or room like your home office or garage and work gradually through the other parts of the house.
That will make the process less daunting and motivate you to keep going once you get started and see the results of your effort.
3. Sort Items
You may want to devise a method for categorizing the items you find as you move from room to room. Categorize your items into “keep,” “donate,” “sell,” and “discard” as you declutter. That can be useful in determining what to keep and what to throw away.
Evaluate each item to determine if you truly need or use it, and if not, be prepared to part with it.
4. Take Your Time
It’s easy to get distracted while decluttering because the process is time-consuming. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to get rid of everything at once, and don’t be hard on yourself if you have trouble letting go of some things.
Conduct the process at your own pace, don’t be ashamed to put off the activity until later. Thankfully, you can rely on professional cleaning services like eMaids they offer house cleaning, commercial cleaning and vacation rental cleaning services.
5. Apply the 80/20 Rule
You can apply the 80/20 Pareto rule to clothes. According to this rule, the average person wears only 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time. Using that logic, you should easily declutter at least 50% of your wardrobe.
You could also apply this rule to other household items as well. If you’re having trouble letting go of some unnecessary things, remember that you probably only use 20% of them 80% of the time.
6. Let Go of Sentimental Items
It’s never easy to let go of sentimental items because oftentimes they are associated with someone dear or bring back fond recollections of special times.
However, it is essential to remember that memories aren’t stored only in material things. You don’t need to retain the actual object to do this, so you could consider taking pictures of these keepsakes instead of letting the sentimental items gather dust.
Conclusion
Decluttering your home can be a therapeutic and freeing experience. You can create a more organized and stress-free living space by setting timelines and goals, sorting items into categories, and decluttering in segments.
Similarly, apply the 80/20 rule to determine what needs tossing out, and take pictures of sentimental items, which allows you to get rid of them without losing the memories.
Remember, if you need expert help cleaning up afterward, contact eMaids for your quote today for exceptional house cleaning services.
