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No matter how small or big your space is, at some point clutter will build up. Here is how to declutter your home and your life - while still ensuring a practical living space with the items you need at hand.
All too often, decluttering enthusiasts imagine you either have infinite storage space in your home - or that you don't truly need most of your items. For most of us, this couldn't be further from the truth. So here are life hacks for decluttering that are actually practical, do-able and will make a real difference in your living space and your life.
1. Mail - put it in baskets on top of the fridge/freezer
Most of us grab the mail as we haul in our groceries, hustle to cook dinner and then move on to the next thing. Who has time to file the mail as it comes in?! No-one! So ignore the people who talk about the "one touch rule" where you deal with each piece of mail when you come in. Unless you actually have time for that, of course! Instead, get two unbreakable shallow baskets. Ideally, don't buy anything new - simply re-purpose a couple of existing kitchen or office baskets that you don't use. If not, Dollar Tree, discount stores or Amazon has baskets.
Then place a removable sticker on one and label it Bills, and the call the other one Other Mail. Put both the baskets on the top of the fridge-freezer or anywhere else out of sight but near where you first walk in. In your laundry room would also be good if it's near where you walk in. Think up high to be easily out of sight.
Now when you collect your mail, you don't need to even open anything unless it looks important or urgent or if you're not sure what category it's in. From the handful of mail you got from your mailbox, throw out any junk mail, then put bills in the Bills basket and other mail (e.g. bank statements) in the Other Mail pile. Then move on with your evening.
Of course, you do need to remember to pay your bills from the Bills pile, so set a repeating reminder to go every two weeks on your phone to check the Bills pile and pay bills. If you wish, you can make this even easier by setting up your bills on auto-pay if that works for you. Regardless, put a once a month reminder to go through your Other Mail pile, where you open each piece of mail and deal with it when you're not so rushed. It's so much more efficient to do it all at once like that instead of having to stop your entire evening to go through mail.
2. Do one room at a time
Once you've dealt with your mail, start decluttering one room at a time. This keeps it manageable and gives you a clear goal. You'll also see results faster.
3. Keep an ongoing donate box in a closet
Use an old packaging box (e.g. from Amazon) in a hidden-away location like a closet. Put anything to donate in there. When the box gets full, make a trip to the charity shop to donate the items. This is a good long-term strategy to use so that there is a clear path and system for you to get unneeded items out of the home.
4. Make a point of decluttering shoes
Because shoes don't "go bad" when not being worn, it's all too easy to hold onto them, but try to limit down your shoes as much as you can. Look at and touch each pair one at a time. The best question to ask is whether you have worn them in the past year. If the answer is no, it's probably time to donate them.
That said, shoes that you truly need but don't wear often (think dress shoes, water shoes) should be stored in Zip-lock bags. You can still store them next to your other shoes, but this way they do not accumulate dust or become a home for bugs while you're not wearing them. You can get especially large zip-lock style bags from Amazon such as these, which will hold most shoes.
5. Use any amount of time, no matter how small, to declutter
No-one has an hour at a time that they can (or want) to use for decluttering! So start smaller. A spare 10 or 15 minutes is all you need to make a dent. I bet you can declutter your sock drawer in well under 10 minutes, for example. Or for a higher-impact result, I bet you can identify a bunch of unwanted books you can donate.
To make the most of these bits of time, set a timer. Even if you have more than 15 minutes available, it can help to limit it to 15 minutes at a time just to ensure it doesn't get too boring or overwhelming. Use a timer. Once time is up, you stop. However much you get done in that time is what you get done. You don't need to make a declutter schedule, just use spare moments.
6. When doing an entire room, touch every item
Don't make the mistake of ignoring items that are inside drawers or in other furniture in the room! Unpack and touch every item before deciding what can go and what you should keep. This means decluttering drawers that you might think do not need to be decluttered. But it really doesn't take as long as you think!
Otherwise, if you don't touch every item, you'll simply wind up hiding everything inside containers without actually bothering to think whether you really need the item. Decluttering is more about getting rid of unwanted items than it is about hiding everything away.
7. Do not have more of an item than you have normal storage for it
For example, the normal storage for a book is a bookcase or shelf. Therefore, if you have more books than you have space on your bookcase or shelf, that should raise a red flag when decluttering. In that situation, you have 2 options. One is to get another bookcase or put up another shelf, although you may not have the money or the space to put it somewhere. The better option would be to get rid of however many excess books you have, until all your books can fit in your bookcase.
Do you have handbags sitting around and taking up space? Get one of these cheap handbag hangers from Amazon that hangs on your normal closet railing, taking up very little space and is the perfect storage for handbags. This is what I myself use.
8. When deciding where to put an item, don't ask yourself where can it go
Instead, when deciding where an item should go, ask yourself where would you first look for it if you are trying to find it? As in the previous point, if it doesn't fit in that space and if you can't make more space, some items in that space will have to go.
9. Periodically go through your pantry, spices, fridge for expired foods
Throw out anything that is past its due date. There is no point holding on to foods you will no longer use.
10. What to do about old towels that are otherwise OK
If you have some old towels taking up space that you don't use or need, but you don't want to throw out or donate, here is what to do. Move old towels to the trunk of your car and spread them out there. They are good for catching small spills or bringing home messy items (e.g. a plant in a pot). The towel also works well as an emergency throw-it-out towel to mop up a major water spill in your home.
11. Adopt a one-in, one-out mindset
When buying a new item of clothing, make a point of getting rid of an old one that you don't use anymore. The same can be applied to books. It doesn't need to be absolutely exact and you don't need to get legalistic about it. But it should be a goal that if something new is coming in, something old should go into the donate box.
That's your home sorted out, but how about you? If you're stressed out and having trouble sleeping, here's how to quiet your mind to sleep.
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