Tips to De-clutter and De-stress

Are you familiar with this situation? You would like to have a clutter free home but you just have so much stuff. It would take ages to sort through everything and you just don’t have the time. So you leave it until you have time ‘one day’, and in the meantime the amount of things you have just keeps on growing, and the job becomes larger and larger.

If you want to get on top of clutter you have to be ruthless and firm, pack your sentimentality away, visualize the beautiful room you want, then go ahead and get it! Here I share with you some top tips for clearing away the clutter, and keeping it away.

Don’t feel like a huge spring clean? Try 15 minutes de-cluttering each day. Target a different area each time – a drawer, a shelf, a closet. With small daily increments like this, you can achieve amazing results.

Don’t feel bad about throwing things out. Donate them to people who need them much more than you. Give all your unused blankets, pillows, and sheets to homeless shelters. Gather up all those toys your kids outgrew years ago and give them to a local preschool or daycare center. They will likely be thrilled with your generosity.

Create a ‘one in – two out’ rule. Every time you bring something new home you have to chuck two things out. At first you can make it easy on yourself by throwing out two old mouldy things from the fridge. But once you get into the hang of it, you’ll enjoy looking for what to throw out.

Have a clothing cut off date. How long will you keep something in your wardrobe without wearing it? This can be a tough one for many women because we love our clothes, and they are often attached to memories. Sure you wore that sweater when you went out on your first date with your husband. But you ended up marrying the guy, do you still need to keep that ancient sweater? And while we’re at it, do you really think those green lycra pants from your aerobics days in the 1990s are going to come back? Donate them now! You’ll always have your memories, you just don’t need to hold on to the clothes you were wearing when you made them.

Like to make some money? You could make a tidy sum from all those unused things sitting in your basement. All those bits and pieces you dumped down there because you didn’t know where else to put them, and now they sit unloved gathering dust. Go through what’s still in good condition and list it on ebay, or even have a yard sale. People may pay good money for things you no longer need (or never even used) and you get to clear out your home in the process.

Have a cup of tea rule. For as long as it takes to boil the kettle, cruise around the kitchen and pack things away, clear surfaces, and wash dishes. Hey presto – 3 minutes later your kitchen looks remarkably better and you can enjoy your cup of tea more.

Have a dedicated spot just for papers. Put all your mail, bills, school notices, brochures and receipts in one place always. If you do this all the time you will immediately know where to look, and won’t have to rummage around looking for a lost bits of paper.

Remember that de-cluttering is an on-going process. Once you get on top of it, stay on top of it, and you’ll never have to make a big job out of it again. I’ll leave you with this quote that I love by William Morris, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

Image: Flickr

Feature photo courtesy of Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_apostolou/5351598474/