When my Husband and I purchased our home my first instinct
was to fill up with as much stuff as possible. Over time, I realized
maintaining all these items were becoming quite the task. Once I had children I
quickly decided less is less: less cleaning, less organizing, and less time spent over menial tasks. I initiated my new philosophy by pairing down my decor by removing large
furniture pieces and boxing up nick-naks. I have however, held onto many of these
pieces in our garage which has now led me to declutter the place I sent my
clutter in the first place.
My approach is, if I haven’t looked at it since I boxed it
up I don’t need it. I open the box and decided Trash, Sell, or Donate. I try to
sell anything I can first, then after my gallant attempt at making a dollar I
pack up the items and immediately take them to goodwill. This is very important
for 2 reasons. First, if I pack them up and leave them in my garage I will
never part with them, I will lock them away in the back of my garage and my
mind. Secondly, there is no better time to donate your items then right after a
sale. You already know what you have and you will not need to go through the
boxes again. This will save you valuable time.
Another important tactic I used to declutter is to give
myself a goal. This could be a monetary goal or a space driven goal. My goal is
usually, if I sell $X then I can take my kids to Y. I have also used the goal
of clearing space to create a craft area or reading nook, etc. I try to create goals
that will motivate me to complete the entire process. My long term goal for no
clutter is: The fewer items in the
house, the fewer items I need to dust, pick up, or eventually get rid of. I use
this goal to evaluate if I want to bring something new into the house. This
method has saved me a lot time and endless amounts of money
I will be sharing some of my favorite techniques for declutter throughout the week. Best of luck to anyone trying to keep their less clutter resolution this year.
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