Collaborative Post
Over the years, your possessions can slowly accumulate around you without you realising. However, this is only natural as your needs and circumstances evolve. For some people, it’s easy enough to rotate and remove unneeded items as they move through life, but for other people this practice can be painful or tedious. Regularly reducing your belongings and maintaining a reasonable quantity of objects is much easier than performing a single massive clear out; however, this sometimes isn’t feasible. Life can get in the way and, before you know it, you’re surrounded by objects you barely remember acquiring. Here are a few ideas to help you get started when undergoing a deep declutter of your home.
Give Yourself a Deadline
It’s been found that structuring tasks within deadlines makes them more likely to be fulfilled. If a task has a nebulous, vague end date in the future, it’s easier to put off and forget about. However, if you give yourself a deadline, you will be more focused on achieving your goal because time is working against you. Tell yourself that by the end of the month, you’ll have completely decluttered a certain number of rooms or reduced your wardrobe items to a particular capsule quantity. Whatever the timescale and task, introducing deadlines will help you achieve success.
Hold Yourself Accountable
Let your friends and family know that you are attempting to declutter, even if they don’t share your living space. Although decluttering is a personal goal, having outside accountability can provide the necessary motivation you need to get the job done.
Break it Down
Instead of decluttering all at once, create segments of tasks to make the job easier. Divide your time by room or by object type. This will help to reduce the stress of facing one large and seemingly impossible challenge by framing it as smaller, more manageable chunks. Focus on clothes one day and kitchen items the next – anything that helps you get the job done.
Seek Outside Assistance
Sometimes decluttering is simply too difficult. Not everyone has the time or the ability to tackle such a task on their own. If you have friends willing to help, turn your decluttering session into a social event. This could help keep you motivated.
Of course, each person will have a different experience, depending on how much there is to go through. It can be very emotional for someone who has been hoarding for many years of their life, for example, to simply “let go” of items. In situations like this, friends and family should provide support while professionals are bought in to help handle the decluttering process. Cleaning for hoarders is a process that experts understand needs to be as stress-free as possible and discreet and delicate. The outcome of this can be an amazing relief to the person. So just remember, there’s nothing wrong with getting support.
Reward Your Successes
Although the achievement of finally decluttering your home is a reward in itself, it’s important to celebrate the little milestones along the way. After clearing one room, for example, treat yourself to an afternoon with friends or your favourite dinner. This will make the ultimate success of completing the process all the more satisfying.
Keep it Up
Once you’ve finished the big declutter, reflect on what you learned throughout the different stages. Always highlight its positives, but don’t knock yourself down for the things that didn’t go so well. Remember, you can always develop this on smaller declutters, which will be what helps you grow as a person. Hopefully, by following these tips, you can have a clutter-free home by the end. Refer back to this article if you want to do another deep declutter.
