Decluttering can be exhausting and time-consuming. It’s a lot of work, given that it requires you to take decisions about the stuff you own. So, it’s very normal to find yourself procrastinating or delaying the task for weeks or even months.
You can be an absolute pro at decluttering and yet find it hard to tackle the mountain of clutter lying in front of you. Although it’s more of a mental roadblock, it certainly isn’t something that should hold you back. All you need to do is find ways to make it a little bit exciting and enjoyable.
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Now you might have been wondering how something as overwhelming as decluttering can ever become fun. And you’re partially right. It’s never fun to get rid of things that took you a lifetime to accumulate. There are emotions and memories attached, and those little things in your house have the power to make you feel secure and happy.
If you want to declutter your home with an approach that allows you to enjoy it, you need to start looking at it as a game rather than a chore. Now this may sound ridiculous, but it’s totally possible with a little bit of a mindset shift.
Here are some very easy ways to make the monumental task of decluttering so much fun that you’ll want to do it more often:
1. Celebrate Your Successes
Decluttering will become so much fun if you create a rewards system to celebrate what you’ve accomplished. After purging your home of all the unwanted items, treat yourself to something that you love – an ice cream, a spa session or a hot water bath.
Whatever it is that you treat yourself to, make sure that your reward doesn’t include buying something that may add up to the clutter.
2. Consider It A Game
It will become easier to tackle the clutter if you can somehow manage to make a game out of it. You can go on a decluttering race with your family members to see who declutters the most items in a given time frame. You can even also come up with a pre-decided prize for the winner to make the game more interesting. Here’s a list of decluttering games you can play to make decluttering fun.
3. Find Company
Let alone decluttering, any task in the world can become fun if you have a companion on the journey. Get a friend to join in as you set out to declutter your living space. This friend can also be your accountability buddy who will make sure that you don’t lose focus and accomplish your goals within the stated time.
You can also have an arrangement where you help each other declutter your homes on alternate weekends. Your decluttering buddy can make it a game for you to get rid of the stuff that is holding you back by constantly pushing and encouraging you to keep going.
4. Take A Fun Decluttering Challenge
If you’re someone who likes to challenge themselves, try taking a challenge to declutter your home. You can go for a ‘30 bags in 30 days’ challenge or ‘40 bags in 40 days’ challenge or a fairly short ‘7-day decluttering challenge’ to get rid of items that aren’t serving a purpose in your home.
5. Put On Some Music
Many people cite it as their favourite way to declutter because music has the power to soothe your soul like nothing else. Music will make you enjoy the task in hand and will keep you energetic. If you’re not too much into music, go for a fun podcast or an audio-book that excites you.
6. Organize A Garage Sale
Imagine how exciting it will become to declutter if you could earn money out of it. The prospect of making money out of the unwanted items in your house can be a huge motivational factor to declutter.
If you don’t have the time and energy required to organize a garage sale, try dropping these items off at a thrift store to earn some money.
7. Document Your Journey
If you don’t find decluttering fun, start documenting your journey from start to end. You can begin by taking some ‘before decluttering’ pictures and save them in a specifically labelled folder in your smartphone. As you go on to declutter every corner or area of your home, take pictures at every step as a reminder of how far you’ve come.
8. Donate, Donate And Donate!
Your home has a lot of items that haven’t been used in ages, but you’ll be glad to learn that they can be a lifesaver for someone in need. Decluttering won’t seem like a chore if your stuff ends up in the right hands and brings a smile on someone else’s face. You can even bring your kids along as you drop your stuff at the donation centre to have them experience the joy of giving.
9. Declutter With A Timer
Setting a timer as you declutter your home is a great way to make it fun. You can simply work in small, 10-minute timers and see how fast you can declutter in the given time frame.
For instance, if you are thinking of decluttering your makeup, set a timer and start going through your makeup collection to find anything that’s expired, contaminated or useless. Once the timer goes off, count the number of items you have been able to declutter. Now do the same as you begin to declutter the knick-knacks in your home and see if you have made some progress this time.
Now there you have it! No matter how difficult you may find to let go of things that once added meaning to your life, it shouldn’t make you afraid to declutter. Adding a little fun can take away some of the overwhelm that comes with decluttering and make it easier for you to accomplish the bigger tasks with a smile on your face.
And if you still feel stuck, don’t forget to remind yourself about the life-changing benefits of decluttering.