Tips for decluttering your home

Whether you are moving, downsizing or just want to make your life simpler, decluttering is a way to go. Although it is always a great idea, this project is also a big job. You will need to go through all your belongings, make a selection, plan what to do with the things you don’t need and clean afterward. It’s an exhausting and time-consuming process, I’ll give you that. But with a little motivation and creativity, it can even be fun and definitely worthy. Keep the image of your clean and minimalistic home in your mind and let’s get started. Here are some tips for decluttering your home fast and easy!

Clean room with table, monitor, chair, shelf and big window after decluttering your home
Imagine your home clean and minimalist, that will give you the motivation

Decluttering when moving

Relocation is a wonderful opportunity to get rid of all the things you don’t use for a long time. If you are like most people, you probably have a bunch of items you keep just in case. Well, when you are moving house, you just have to be ruthless in decluttering. Because you don’t want to pay for transferring the things you don’t really need, right? Neither you want to fill your new place with piles of old things. If you are moving to another city or even a state, you better travel as lightly as possible. Most state to state movers rates are based on the weight of your cargo. So, play it smart – declutter and save money!

If you need to move on short notice, don’t skip decluttering your place. Instead, you can ask full-service movers New Hampshire to help you out with that. They can help you by transferring your belongings to recycle center, storage or donation drop off locations. Although you are in a hurry, getting rid of the clutter will make your life easier later, so try to find time for it.

Think of the last time you used it

Decluttering your home is full of hard decisions. If you are having trouble deciding whether you should get rid of something or not, there is an easy way to speed the things up. Just think, if you haven’t used an item you come across in the last six months, you should get rid of it. Because believe me, you will not use it in the next six months neither. And you know that moment when we find something and say: “Oh, there it is!” you should probably get rid of that too. Because you lived without it a long time and didn’t even notice. And if you didn’t even know you still had something, you should definitely get rid of it, you won’t miss it.

 

Orange and green basket
5 baskets method will help you get rid of the clutter with ease

 

5 baskets method for decluttering your home

One thing is for sure when you start decluttering your home, you will need a system! If you have already come up with some of your own, good for you. But if you don’t know where to start, you can try out our 5 baskets method:

  1. Recycle basket is for all things that are no longer usable. They should be later sorted as paper, plastic or glass.
  2. Fix or mend basket is for items that need further tinkering, such as a pair of boots that you love but which need to be cleaned.
  3. Trash basket you should designate for items that are simply trash. These are the things that are unusable, damaged or broken and torn, but they can’t be recycled. They can go to the trash immediately.
  4. A donation basket will be your basket of kindness. Designate it to charitable organizations or someone specific, if you like. These should be items that are usable, in good condition, but you no longer use them. If you can imagine another person wanting or needing it, donate it! One person’s trash is another one’s treasure, so be generous.
  5. Put away basket is for things you don’t want to get rid of, but you don’t want them hanging around the house either.

While cleaning our home, let’s clean the planet too

If you have curbside pickup, recyclable glass, plastics, and paper can go straight into your recycling bin. If not, you should put your recyclables in bags so you can transport them to the nearest recycling drop off location. What many people don’t know is that many electronics can and should be recycled. With over 1,890 kiosks in 42 states, EcoATM recycling kiosks can easily turn your old electronics into cash. You should just check prices for your old devices and use the ecoATM locator to see if there is one near you. Not only you will do something nice for our planet, but you will also earn a few bucks, so it’s a win-win!

Did someone say garage sale?

Organizing a garage sale is a great way to declutter your house before the move. If you are up to this challenge, you may be able to make a few bucks off your clutter by having a garage sale. Just make sure you check to see if your neighborhood or homeowner’s association has a designated garage sale date. And begin your declutter process early enough so you can participate, you will get more foot traffic that way. You can also take some photos and put your offer online, using websites like craigslist or e-bay.

Symbol for recycling
Remember to recycle, because while cleaning our home we should clean our planet too

Don’t hoard – store!

You are probably wondering where the fifth basket goes? What do we do with things we want to keep, but not in our house? That’s easy, we store them. Living in the era of consumerism, almost everyone has a storage unit nowadays. Depending on the number and size of items you need to put away, you will pick adequate size storage and finally get rid of that clutter.

Remember, when you declutter your home, you actually declutter your life. Keep it simple and enjoy the space!