Clutter makes me go anxious, so much so that I sometimes wish I lived in an empty house with no stuff needing to be organized. But that’s not how it goes. You need stuff to live your day-to-day life and stuff can’t do without a home.
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As a kid, I used to assign a particular day of the month for decluttering my entire room. Right from putting the books back into the shelves to arranging the cupboard, everything was supposed to be done within the assigned day and I used to feel happy about getting to stay in a clutter-free room for the next few days. But growing up comes with more stuff and less time to clean it. My whole body goes numb at the sight of all the clutter that piles up in the house with the blink of an eye. In order to make it easier, I have finally decided to go back to square one and mark the dates for decluttering.
When you have too much to declutter without any motivation to do it, you are bound to feel overwhelmed. What’s more difficult than actually decluttering your home is to know where to start. It’s hard to push yourself ahead when every corner of the house is a complete mess and you have no idea what it is that you need to do in order to clear it.
Thankfully, there are some very practical ways to declutter your space without letting it eat away your entire weekend:
1. Just Start Somewhere
Well, let’s just start by accepting that decluttering is the most basic need of a house. And while decluttering your living space might sound like a great idea, it can be too overwhelming to actually get into the execution part. Those messy counter-tops, dirty bathroom tiles and all the visual clutter can easily shift your interest from decluttering to wanting to just sit back and relax and binge-watch a web series. In short, the entirety of the mess can make you give up even before you start.
In order to motivate yourself to declutter your living space, you need to start somewhere right now. Be it getting rid of the visual clutter or downsizing your cupboard or eliminating the paper clutter, starting with a small task can help you give a head start. You can then find your motivation in the efforts you just put in to go about decluttering the other areas of the house.
2. Use A Timer
What often feels overwhelming about decluttering is the amount of time it takes to do so. You think that you will never reach the finish line if you go about cleaning your house because that’s how big a mess it is. But setting up a timer before carrying out the decluttering tasks can turn out to be extremely helpful. When you set a timer of half an hour for decluttering your cupboard, your mind will be clearly focused on finishing the task in hand before the time runs out. And trust me, it’s fun when you set a timer for every small decluttering task as it will feel more like a game than a stressful task. Besides, you won’t realize how fast you have finished cleaning the mess by allotting every task a definite amount of time.
3. Get Rid Of The Visual Clutter And Clean Flat Surfaces
When I feel stressed out about having too much clutter in the house, I start off by eliminating visual clutter and cleaning the flat surfaces. I simply take a big basket and pick everything visible to the eye that’s lying out of place – toys, remote control, books & magazines, cell phone charger, food wrappers, etc. Next, I go on to clean the flat surfaces – kitchen counter-top, dining table, coffee table, living room floor, study table and bedside table. Cleaning flat surfaces helps to get rid of the visual clutter as it is more likely to make the house look messier than it actually is.
4. Plan It Out
After you’ve gotten rid of the visual clutter and cleaned out all the flat surfaces, plan out the next decluttering tasks in a way that it doesn’t look like too much of a load. For example, prepare a checklist of tasks that you need to complete as a part of your bedroom declutter such that it doesn’t end up eating away your entire weekend. Your decluttering checklist can look something like this:
- Go through the physical mails and discard the ones not needed.
- Clean the cupboard and get rid of the clothes you don’t wear anymore.
- Eliminate paper clutter
- Declutter the bathroom counter-top
Once you are done decluttering one room of the house, move to the other room with the same checklist. There comes a sense of accomplishment with keeping a part of your house clean that will motivate you to go about cleaning the rest of it.
5. Get Your Family And Friends On Board
If you think that you won’t be able to do the decluttering all alone, ask your family to help you out. Ask kids to put their toys back in the toy chest and declutter their clothes. If you have friends that are known for their decluttering skills, ask them to come over for a couple of hours to help you. Take all the help that’s available and you’ll be done tidying up your house in no time.
6. Find Decluttering Inspiration
I have always looked up to bloggers and writers with experience for decluttering inspiration. Decluttering is one strenuous task and can make you feel all overwhelmed, but there are thousands of articles and books available that can provide you valuable insights from people who have been doing it perfectly through the years. Some of the books that I still go back to when decluttering stresses me out are The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and Decluttering At The Speed Of Life by Dana White. You need to remember that we are all sailing in the same boat and there’s no shortage of resources that can guide you towards a clutter-free house.
Nothing compares the warmth of a clutter-free home. Not only are you able to focus better on things that are truly important but there’s also a sense of peace that comes along with a properly organised living space. Of course, it takes efforts to reach there but it’s totally worth the results you’ll get.