According to research, a cluttered and unorganized home makes people feel stressed and depressed as they struggle with anxiety and guilt. Truth be told, everybody enjoys clutter-free space. But how is it that we are often reluctant to spend valuable time combing through dirt and trash? Why do we feel deprived of our enjoyment the minute we have to deal with trash?
We’ve gathered some tips for you about how to decluttering your home and reduce the amount of junk that you have to deal with each time.
- Limit Your Unusable Items
Every item that later turns into junk was brought into your home by members of your family. Be prepared to constantly give these things away. Alternatively, limit the amount of promotional freebies you and your family members accept into the house. Promotional freebies include branded tote bags, coffee mugs, pens, keyrings etc. One other thing you could do is to determine the number of grocery bags you actually do use and return the remainder to the grocery store.
- Plan Purchases
Resist the impulse to buy things you don’t need, just like with collecting promotional items. Otherwise you will only keep increasing the amount of waste in your house. Prepare a shopping list before you go out and stick with it. Have someone go with you to the store for accountability purposes if necessary.
- Reduce Your Direct-Mail Subscriptions
An estimate was done of how many trees are cut down annually to create paper,and the number was found to be an alarming figure, over 100 million trees annually. You may not be able to stop the tree felling but you could do something else. Reduce the amount of paper you consume as well as the amount of paper trash you create. Remove your name from direct-mail subscriptions which make use of paper, and opt for electronic mail instead. Electronic mail include things like paperless statements from banks, financial institutions, credit card companies and utility companies.
- Rent Or Borrow, Don’t Buy
Some items are only needed occasionally. Consider renting or borrowing such items. Ask around first. It’s possible that someone may have this item in excess and is looking for someone else to lend ordonate it to. Such items include books or videos. It’s also a space-saving strategy to go for digital format of books and videos and music, like e-books and online streaming.
- Apply TheOne-in, One-out Rule
Be mindful of item traffic in your home. The number of items that come in at one time should be directly proportional to the number of items that leave your home. Be determined to keep this balance. As soon as you get a replacement for an old item, get rid of the old one. Think about the space the new item is going to occupy, and then sell off or donate or trash in the disposal bins those items which you no longer need in order to create room.
- Declutter A Little Each Day
Oh, this works! Many people have very tight schedules, and this is one of the reasons why junk accumulates. Set aside just about 20 minutes each day to sort through clothes, mail, toys and other household items. Breaking down the task of cleaning up into an exercise that lasts just a few compulsory minutes each day will go a long way to helping you avoid having to spend this long excruciating hours cleaning up your home. If it is not possible to create a daily routine, create a weekly plan for a declutter sweep. This will take longer than 20 minutes but it will still save you a lot of pain and frustration.
Final Note
We suggest a three-box methods:
- Keep:identify items you need to hold on to and store them safely and neatly in well-labeled drawers.
- Get rid of: identify items you want to sell or donate or give away, and store them temporarily in a mini bin until you’re ready to dispose as planned.
- Storage: create a storage area where you can keep items you find valuable but have no immediate need of yet.
These tips are necessary to keep junk from accumulating again after you have done your decluttering.