The Big Spring Clean – 4 Easy Ways To De-Clutter Your Home
With lighter mornings and longer evenings, spring is in full swing. The improved weather often motivates people to finally get round to clearing out their home and embarking on a big spring clean.
There are many studies that show the positive effects that a decluttered home has on improving mental health and general wellbeing – with people less irritable, less distracted and more productive in an uncluttered and organised environment.
Understandably, it can feel like a mammoth task at first, so if you’re not too sure on where to start, Mehran Charania, Director of Ready Steady Store shares four of the easiest ways to declutter your home for spring.
Take it one room at a time
If you want to declutter your home in the most efficient way possible, try not to overwhelm yourself when it comes to starting. Tackling the entire house at once can feel overwhelming, often discouraging people from even starting.
A great way to overcome this is by breaking down the decluttering project into manageable chunks – focus on one thing at a time, whether that’s one room or even one drawer, and slowly make your way through the house section by section.
Prioritise the most cluttered areas or those you’ve been avoiding for a while. This will not only kickstart your spring clean in the best possible way but also help you feel more productive as a result.
Create piles as you go
When decluttering or reorganising any space, it usually gets worse before it gets better, so don’t panic! To help reduce the mess, it can be useful to divide your belongings into various piles such as ‘keep’, ‘throw’ and ‘donate or sell’.
By incorporating this method, not only will it help you visualise what you actually need to keep and ensure that you’re not hoarding things that you no longer need, but it will also make it a more enjoyable process.
Selling or donating any unwanted items can help you make some extra cash whilst benefitting the community, making it an even more productive use of your time.
Organise and store
A good way to make sure you don’t revert back to old habits is to put things back in a way that makes sense for your lifestyle. For example, if you only use something once or twice a year, organise these belongings accordingly so that they don’t take up valuable space or block access to other items which you use more often.
With seasonal decorations or clothing, it can be worth using self storage to free up more space in your home and make more efficient use of the space that you do have.
Self storage can be a great alternative for decluttering and opening up your home, but also keeping to hand the belongings that you still need and don’t want to throw away.
Recycle or upcycle
Decluttering your home presents the ideal opportunity to get creative. Recycling or upcycling old furniture and clothing gives a second lease of life to belongings that were otherwise taking up space or not being used.
Not only is it a chance to test out your DIY skills, but you can even make some money by selling any repurposed items. It’s an environmentally friendly solution that helps to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill, whilst providing a new home for your unwanted belongings.
Decluttering helps resurface old items that may have been forgotten about, whilst making you aware of the items you do have, and in turn, what you really want and need to keep.
Final thoughts…
Not only does decluttering your home improve your wellbeing and reduce distractions, but it can make your space feel bigger and more refreshed, allowing you to enjoy it again and make full use of the belongings you actually need.
Make sure to be realistic about any spring cleaning goals and don’t try to do too much at once – breaking the job down into manageable chunks will result in the most effective use of your time and energy.
Throw open the windows, let in the fresh spring air, and start transforming your space today!
Top photo by Orgalux on Unsplash
