A stock of old notes, childhood toys, gifts, sale purchases, and souvenirs—when you break down the items in your home you can see how the current cluttered mess you have is something that took years in the making. Family and friends who visit and stay over can be another contributing factor to your growing hoard.
Start you 2019 right by decluttering your life. These items will never go anywhere until you take the first step. Here are steps you can take to clearing your house and life:
Identify the things that you need every day.
The first thing you should do is to sort. Separate the items according to who owns what if you are living with other people. It keeps them responsible for the things they own. After you have sorted them out according to ownership, set aside items you use every day. Office supplies and kitchenware are examples of what you should set aside.
Discard items that have no use and purpose.
As you separate your house into different categories, you are bound to unearth bits and bobs that have no purpose in your life. How do you identify objects that should be discarded? There are three subcategories you should make: (1) trash, (2) faulty/broken items, and (3) dated/not relevant.
Trash is literally trash: old take away boxes, bottles, cans, and small candy wrappers are examples of garbage that slip your notice on a day to day basis. Gather them to one side and throw them away after you finish sorting.
Faulty and broken items can be things that you keep out of guilt. You could say that they can still be used if you found the right time to have them repaired. However, the fact of the matter is you haven’t. If it has been years since its last use; you do not need it. You can sell your old car to ScrapMyCarScunthorpe.co.uk for recycling and old appliances can go to the junkyard, letting go allows these items to be repurposed into something useful.
The last category is dated items; here the term is used loosely. They could be antiques or last season’s coat if you aren’t using them, it’s best to let them move on into new homes through second-hand stores or donations to charity organisations.
Edit your collection down to items that give you meaning.
When you are taking on the challenge to declutter, first just do a catch-up clean up where you take out the rubbish. The next step is to make space. It allows you to make full use of what you have and provides you room for upgrades. Old clothes that aren’t your style anymore and reference books you memorised like the back of your hand should go to a new home.
If you are struggling to let go, think about it like this: you don’t use everything in your closet, but you still visit stores. Five or ten years from now the clutter you are trying to clean up will revisit you. It becomes a cycle that never stops. Create a limit that you are comfortable with and follow it.
While it is hard, remember that these items hold you back from living your best life. It may not be evident at first, but you notice that you are carrying things that do not add value and it takes up the space of something that potentially can.
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