Purging your items can feel like a daunting task but I’m going to give you some tips and tricks on how to declutter your home and relieve some of that stress. First, lets talk about why you should do it to begin with. After that, we’ll discuss the method behind my madness. Finally, I will go over how to properly donate your items.
Why You Should Declutter Your Home
Your home should be a place where you feel relaxed, at ease, and not a place that brings you stress and anxiety. Clutter is scientifically proven to raise your stress hormone which is not good for your health. Don’t feel like you need to purge your entire house in one day or one week. Take it slow if you want, and just start out with three items a day no matter how small or big they are.
Another reason you should declutter your home is you need more space. We are a family of 4 living in a 1400 sq. ft house and we have very little storage space. The main reason we don’t feel cluttered in our home is because we don’t have an overabundance of items filling up every nook and cranny.
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Questions To Ask Yourself When Decluttering
The three questions I ask myself when I’m decluttering are:
- Do I use it?
- Does it have a purpose?
- Do I love it?
Yes, there will be some things that make an exception like family heirlooms, momentos, and important paperwork. For items like that I have a system in place so they aren’t just floating around the house and adding to the clutter. We will talk more about that in a little bit.
Which Room To Declutter First?
That is personal preference as there is no right or wrong room to start decluttering first. If you are feeling overwhelmed, maybe start in the smallest room and work your way from there. You could even start with a small section of a room, like your office desk. If you slowly declutter in sections if keeps everything more organized as you go.
How To Know If It’s Trash or Donate?
Use your best judgement here. Don’t donate anything that can’t continue to be used for what it was meant for. If it is damaged or missing key components to it, it probably isn’t salvagable. If you are ever questioning if an item is donate worthy, you can show it to the employee who is taking the donations at which ever establishment you choose.
When I begin to declutter a room I make three different piles.
- Donate
- Recycle
- Trash
Where Can I Donate Clothes & Other Items?
Any clothing that I’m decluttering I tie up in plastic bags and I like to specifically donate those to the clothing drop boxes that you can find on the side of the road. If there is an option for me to give it to a charity instead of a non-profit, I choose the charity.
Another great option is to donate clothes to shelters in your area. You can call ahead and see what they are in need of or what they will accept. If you have unopened toiletries they usually will accept those as well.
Any household items including furniture you can donate to Salvation Army or Goodwill. If you have a decent amount of furniture, you can call Salvation Army and they are usually willing to come pick it up at no cost to you.
Donating Gifts
There are so many holidays and special events that you will recieve gifts for, and the truth of the matter is, you probably won’t love all of them. It is hard to declutter items that were gifted to you because you might feel guilty donating them, but if it is sitting in a closet does that really make it better?
As Marie Kondo says, “[T]he purpose of a present is to be received”. If you want to read her book,” The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” you can find it HERE. If you opened it, used it, and it still isn’t bringing you joy, you have permission to declutter it.
Escape Consumerism!
It is so easy to want the next best thing that is out there. Do yourself a favor and change your way of thinking. What do you actually need vs. what you want? You will save so much money! Impulse purchases were a big one for me and most of the time once I brought it home, that joy that I had slowly turned into guilt, all because I didn’t take the time to ask myself if I really needed it. In all honesty, a lot of the items I donate have been impulse purchases. Before you head off to the store to make your next purchase, swing by the thrift store to see if they have what you need first.
To read a great post on how to escape consumerism go HERE.
Things To Declutter On Your Phone
- Apps
- Pictures
- Social media accounts that you don’t want to be following anymore
- Emails you don’t want to receive anymore
- Old contacts
How To Organize After Decluttering
For family heirlooms or momentos I have two tupperware containers designated for these items. A smaller one to hold letters and small trinkets and a bigger one for everything else. As for important paperwork, I use a plastic filing system and have everything labeled accordingly.
Here are some more items that might help you get organized:
Pin It For Later
Thank you for reading ,”How to declutter your home”. If any of these tips and tricks worked for you let me know in the comments below!
You can read my,” 8 simple habits to a happy mom” HERE.
Until next time,
Ellen
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