Most of us desire to have a decluttered life, even if our homes don’t indicate it. Part of the problem with clutter is that it tends to accumulate. After a while, the amount of things we know we will never use yet somehow can’t part with can become overwhelming, and the thought of having to clean it can be equally so. Here are some ideas for how to finally deal with the clutter. We will discuss 7 unique ways to declutter your home.
Have a White Elephant Sale
White elephant sales were popular in the past. They were a way for communities to get together to support a common goal. Each family would try to find items that could be put out for a community garage sale. The items might be antique, outdated, or unused.
The advantage of a white elephant sale is that sometimes decluttering is easier when you do it as a group. The proceeds can be poured back into the community, or given to a favorite charity.
Design a New Closet
If you are like many Americans, you have so many clothes that it’s difficult to remove them from your closet. The result is that many of them are wrinkled before you even get a chance to wear them.
Reorganizing your closet is a great step to declutter your home. Take a look at the amount of space you have in your current clothes closet. Try to decide what items of clothes you use all the time, and what items of clothes you only use once in a while. Figure out the total number of each type of clothing that would work best for you. Whittle down the number of items in your closet until you get to that golden number.
Love Your Local Donation Center
Many donation sites are willing to bring a truck to your home to pick up donated items. All they need is a phone call to schedule the visit. Plan a set day each month to schedule a visit from your donation center, and write it onto your calendar for each month. Knowing that the donation center will be paying a monthly visit will force you to think about what items you can give away on a regular basis, and it will divide your cleanup work into smaller, more manageable units.
Buy One Only if You Get Rid of One
This is a way to declutter your home is by eliminating future clutter. If you have a tendency to shop till you drop, start a new resolution. Only buy an item if another item of the same kind is given away. Be sure to pull the old item out of your closet and put it into a donation bag as soon as the new one is in place.
Motivate Yourself with Photos
Take a picture of the cluttered room you love to hate and place it on a refrigerator or other prominent location. Next to this photo, place another of a home that is clean, tidy and gorgeously designed. It should be a picture of someplace you would really like to live. The disparity between the two photos should be motivation enough to get you started on your summer cleaning.
Compartmentalize Your Life
Sometimes the problem is not too much clutter; it’s simply that there is not enough storage. Make a visit to your local hardware to purchase different types of storage compartments, such as shelf dividers, wall shelves, under bed storage units, and portable wardrobe units. Try to find storage products that will fit neatly out of sight.
If your space is just too small to even consider storage products, consider renting a storage location at a place such as The Storage Center. Storage units are securely padlocked and climate-controlled. Find a storage location that is near your home for the easiest access.
Call a Junk Removal Service
This is guaranteed to work for terminally cluttered homes, particularly for borderline hoarders. Many people are finding the services of a junk removal company very helpful, since these companies will do all of the hauling, sorting and transporting of things classified as junk, and they even clean up your home afterward.
Decluttering your home can be a little painful at first, but once you’re finished, you’ll be glad you did. You may even feel like you have moved into a beautiful new home.
