There was a time when despite living in a 6 BHK, our family never seemed to have enough space in the closets. Every room of our house had a big closet to keep our stuff in and yet it wasn’t big enough. The dining table always had random stuff sitting on it and no matter how often we cleared it, it would attract every bit of clutter back in no time.
In June this year, while getting the home renovated, we decided to do an extreme declutter of our stuff and managed to let go of tons of bags of clutter. Apart from getting rid of the unwanted clothes, containers & jars and kitchen utensils, we also tried to focus on items that often went unnoticed but were a huge cause of clutter. One of these items was furniture. We downsized our 7-seater sofa set into a 5-seater, and also removed the entryway bench because it hadn’t been of use for years. The changes we made were extreme but left a huge impact on how our home looks today.
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Extreme decluttering can be hard and requires you to be a lot mindful about what you should keep in your house. But at the same time, it has the power to simplify your home in a way that you will feel glad about having done it.
Today, I am sharing few of the best decluttering tips that have worked for our family with the hope that these can turn out to be useful for you as well:
1. Declutter Like You Are Moving
Now that we’re talking about extreme decluttering, what’s better than decluttering like you are moving.
Decluttering when you are moving requires a different mindset where your goal is to carry along less stuff and find new ways to organize. This will require you to purge extensively and keep only the things that truly matter and add value to your life. If you are currently living in a 3BHK apartment, imagine that you are moving into a 2BHK apartment that might require you to cut down on some of your belongings. You can start with cutting down on the décor or excess furniture items or kitchen utensils. Make sure that you don’t lose track of the mindset with which you are decluttering in order to keep going.
2. Adopt The 20-20 Decluttering Rule
Extreme decluttering requires you to take extreme measures to keep your home clean and tidy. The 20-20 decluttering rule states that if you can replace an item for less than $20 in under 20 minutes, it’s best to let it go for now.
I remember getting rid of a pile of my makeup products all of which costed less than $20 and even though it seemed like a scary idea, I never actually needed to find a replacement for them. It can often be hard to get rid of stuff no matter how cheap it came but once you get rid of it with the 20-20 rule in mind, you will realize that you can do fine without them. And even if you happen to need a few of the items you’ve discarded, it won’t be expensive to replace them.
3. Never Ever Keep Other People’s Stuff In Your House
Now this step might need you to say ‘No’ more often but it’s sure to prevent your home from being piled up with stuff that’s not yours to begin with. If your kids or friends or in-laws are asking you to keep some of their stuff in your home because they don’t have much space in theirs, reject the idea in the politest way possible. If they insist, tell them that you are going minimalist with your home and don’t want to fill it up with things that will leave it cluttered.
4. Declutter Things You Love
Extreme decluttering means that you don’t just want to stick to decluttering the easy areas anymore. Sentimental clutter often ends up taking a big chunk of space in your house because they are the hardest to declutter and pile up quicker than you can imagine. So let go of the guilt, fear, sorrow and nostalgia and get rid of anything that is holding you back.
Get rid of gifts that you received from a toxic ex.
Donate any clothes that remind you of your high school prom night or the farewell party that happened a decade ago.
Ditch the heirloom you got from your grandma and that old jewellery your mother-in-law gave you.
Although difficult, getting rid of sentimental items will help you release yourself from the shackles of your past thereby making way for new memories and experiences.
5. Declutter With The Intention Of Earning
Money can often be a great motivation to declutter some of your stuff. Consider decluttering your home with the idea of selling the unwanted stuff and you will automatically find yourself purging like crazy. Anything that isn’t worth having a place in your home will find its way to the garage sale or the thrift store and you will end up making some money in the process. Is there a better deal than this?
6. Stop Making Some Common Decluttering Mistakes
Being intentional about not making these common decluttering mistakes is one of the most important tips to make decluttering easier. Some of the common decluttering mistakes you should refrain from making are:
- Not taking out the garbage immediately after decluttering.
- Decluttering without a plan or a goal.
- Not using a sorting system to sort the stuff.
7. Ditch The Duplicates
Duplicates, no matter how useful they are, aren’t worth holding on to if they are taking too much space in your house. Get rid of any duplicate measuring spoons, shoes, underwear, socks, utensils, etc. The only duplicates you should allow yourself to keep are a couple of extra comforters, sheets, stationery items, a cooking ladle, a knife and a whisker.
That’s all about extreme decluttering! No matter how difficult it seems to go the extreme way to declutter your home, don’t refrain from doing it if your home needs it. And when you do it, I hope these tips come to your rescue and help you accomplish a tidy and clutter-free home.