Decluttering was the one topic that I never thought I would blog about until I started identifying myself as a ‘neat freak’ who couldn’t function in a room with the tiniest bit of clutter. While my family thought that I was obsessing too much over cleanliness and decluttering, I believed it to be something that sparked joy within me. In fact, decluttering my living space has helped improve my emotional health in more ways than I can imagine.
Let’s be real! Decluttering is what we’ve all accepted as a needed way of living our lives. But with all the decluttering information that we are absorbing on a daily basis, it can often feel overwhelming to implement everything that we read. Besides being physically exhausting, decluttering often ends up leaving little to no time for the hundreds of others tasks that are required to be completed.
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As important as it is to keep your living space decluttered, the time and motivation required is something that most of us lack. Don’t we all feel discouraged and demotivated when there’s a lot to be done? In fact, scalier the task in hand, more is amount of overwhelm. But let’s not make it a problem bigger than it actually is.
Decluttering can be a lot easier if you start looking at it as a compilation of little tasks that need not be completed at once. Start with small, high-impact decluttering tasks and focus your entire energy on getting them right.
Here are some high-impact decluttering tasks that won’t take more than 10 minutes of your precious time, and are sure to make your home look tidy and clutter-free:
1. Dig Through the Junk Drawer
Junk drawers are dumping ground for things that have no dedicated space in your home, and hence, junk drawers can end up collecting a huge pile of clutter if you aren’t going through them on a regular basis.
Cleaning the junk drawer won’t take more than 10 minutes but have a big positive impact on your home. All you need to do is throw away anything that’s not needed anymore and arrange the rest of the things in a manner that your junk drawer doesn’t end up looking like one big mess.
2. Clean the Bathroom Countertop
Another task that isn’t too time-consuming is wiping the flat surfaces in your bathroom. Just pick a cleaning rag, spray it with disinfectant and wipe off the mirror, the bathroom countertops and the sink.
3. Declutter the Kitchen Countertop
Cluttered kitchen countertop is such a vibe-killer! Not only does it make the task of cooking way more challenging, but also complicates the process of digging out the needed stuff from amid the huge pile of clutter. Even though it’s a hectic task, clearing off the kitchen countertop will take less than 10 minutes if you are motivated enough to do it.
Take the leftover food off the counters and store it properly in the fridge. I store all my leftovers, fruits and veggies in these leak-proof food storage containers that come with labels which makes it easy to keep them organized.
Pick up the kitchen appliances and tools and put them back in the dedicated kitchen cabinets. Trash away the things that are not needed anymore and put the remaining ones back to where they belong. Once you are done decluttering the countertop, take a damp cloth and nicely wipe off the kitchen countertop.
4. Pick the Dirty Laundry
Pick a laundry basket and take a home tour to do a quick laundry pick up. Take off the bedsheets that require cleaning and the clothes sitting in the living room chair waiting to be washed. Look through the blankets and pillow covers to see if any of them needs washing.
5. Clear Off the Flat Surfaces
Coffee table, nightstands, centre table and dressers attract clutter quicker than you can imagine. And it takes just 10 minutes to clear off the clutter in order to make your home look spotless. Take off the things that don’t belong on your furniture and do a quick dusting for a shiny look.
If you have time, put the decluttered items back in their proper places.
6. Digital Declutter
If you have time to kill, a small digital declutter is what you can get done with in order to make your digital life a little less chaotic. Open the phone gallery and delete those photos that you’ve never even looked at. Also, go through the files and documents and get rid of those that are duplicates or won’t be needed anymore. Once you’re done deleting stuff from your phone, organize the remaining items into folders and categories in order to make it easier to find them.
7. Clean the Fridge
This is the one task that I absolutely hate. Cleaning out the fridge, although boring, is quite necessary to be able to effectively utilise the purpose of owning it. Take out the stale and expired food items and keep only the ones that are consumable. The goal is to free up some space and to keep the insides of the fridge clean and refreshed at all times.
8. Clean Out the Pantry Shelves
Pantry cleaning is a task that can’t be completed within 10 minutes, but you can try and do it one shelf at a time. Throw away the items that have run out their shelf life and the ones that won’t be eaten by you and your family in the near future. Don’t forget to donate consumables, if any. Once you’re done decluttering the pantry, organize the remaining items in a manner that the ones that are used more frequently are arranged at the front of the shelf and put the rest of the items behind them.
9. Pick Out the Random Stuff
Take a walk around the house and pick anything lying aimlessly on the floors of the living room and the bedroom. Pick the items lying out of their dedicated place and return them to where they belong.
Once you’re done implementing the above stated decluttering strategy, take a home tour to find out if there’s more to be done. While these 10-minute decluttering tasks are sufficient enough to make your home look spotless, they can even motivate you to kick-start a bigger decluttering journey. Whatever be the case, remember that decluttering shouldn’t end up becoming yet another tedious task on your to-do list. Do what works for you while ensuring that you enjoy it.