Decluttering, an Ordeal

​A De-cluttering Experiment

Following is a letter sent for us by a satisfied customer whom we aided while she worked to clear the clutter from her home:

When you have way too many items and no system for keeping them organized, you end up with a crowded residence. It begins to smother you and deplete your energy reserves. One can understand why someone would hoard their stuff, or even their rubbish, only if they themselves live in a congested environment. People who live in a cluttered home frequently give the idea that they know where everything is, and in many cases, they do! What appears to others to be a jumble is actually well-organized to the individual who lives there. "On my next vacation (or days off), I'll aid you in exchange for your assistance," some people say to a friend when they are having trouble getting rid of something. It appears to be a difficult assignment because the situation appears to be desperate.

What kind of proof do I have? It is because I aim to dispose of the vast bulk of the goods in my home that have been preserved, gathered, or just not disposed of for many years now. Why? Even if you save items for your children while they are small, you end up with a lot of stuff when they leave - and we have a habit of hanging onto stuff.  You're left with your possessions, their possessions, and a large number of goods that you don't use any longer. My spare room is a disaster, so I'm going to use this post as a guide for how I'm going to handle it. To make it appear as if I am in the process of moving, I have decided to only pack the things that are decent, useful and necessary for my new home. That will serve as my motivation, and it appears to be a sensible method to take once you've made the decision to declutter your home: consider the extra stuff in your home.

Do you know how to distinguish between what is important and what is not? It is possible to find television shows and books that seek to assist people in determining what they should preserve and what they should throw away. The television programs are appealing to me for a variety of reasons, including the fact that there are several individuals available to assist you in the process of doing and choosing, as well as the fact that there is a monetary benefit to be gained after the clutter is removed from one's surroundings. If you haven't seen the show yet, the television hosts will introduce new pieces of furniture to help preserve the order and organization of the home. They exert effort to arrange things in a way that is straightforward to handle.

Professionals can advise you on the best way to organize all of your items in your home. They recommend categorizing everything into three major categories: gift or sell, trash, and keep. People find it difficult to part with possessions that they have gathered through time, particularly if those possessions are associated with a number of happy memories. Each object you manage must have a limit in order to prevent you from becoming entangled in emotional recollections.

Remove EVERYTHING from a room, including clothing from closets and furniture, if you aren't sure where to begin.

But first and foremost, you must examine what you have and how it seems to other people. By photographing the places you wish to arrange and then taking action, you can save money on professional services. When it comes to photography, a picture is worth a thousand words, and the images you take will definitely convey a great deal to you. We have a tendency to become comfortable in our work and accustomed to the disarray, but those who see the photographs will immediately identify what has to be accomplished. That is the goal of the images we take, and it will elicit an emotional response from us. Once you've completed this step, you'll be ready to begin the process of decluttering your home. Part 2 of Clutter Cleaner will go into greater detail on how to do that task.

When it comes to cleaning your home, if you lack organizational skills, you should just get rid of the items that are no longer needed. As we saw in Clutter Cleaner Part 1, taking pictures of the rooms you want to improve might serve as inspiration to keep going with the project. Post images of the area you've decided to clean so that you can see what other people think of the space you've chosen. It's time to get down to business and clean up the messes that have accumulated. Take it one piece at a time, such as a bedroom or kitchen, and work your way through it.

Start with the area that is the most problematic from your perspective or the one that is most important to you to improve. Organize your items by matching them up and rejecting anything that doesn't match, doesn't have a lid, or isn't part of a grouping of objects (like socks, earrings, or toys). Always keep a large, disposable plastic garbage can available for disposing of goods that are clearly no longer functional or have been damaged. Afterwards, begin removing the wonderful items from the room. While moving stuff around the room, keep in mind that you must categorize each item into one of three piles: gift, dispose, or keep.

It's a good idea to go through the keep pile one more time and reduce it down to half its original size now that everything has been removed from the room and sorted into piles of different sizes. You almost certainly have a couple of extra pairs of shoes and a few extra pieces of clothing in your keep pile that you will never wear. Going over your keep pile one more time will allow you to get rid of any surplus pairs of shoes that you don't wear but that still look great or are brand new and are still in good condition. If you haven't worn them yet, you should consider donating them. Only the shoes that are comfortable to wear should be kept in your closet. Clothing that is in good condition or that has not been used in a year or longer should also be considered for charitable donation.

Following the clearing of the room and the organization of your belongings into heaps, you may get to work on anything else you've been meaning to do. Suppose you've been meaning to replace your curtains and bedspreads, change the color of your walls, replace an old dresser, add more storage to your closets, or even clean your windows, now's the time to get started.

When there is nothing in the way, it is much easier to get additional work done than when there is. In order for me to refinish my hardwood flooring, I need to clear up the clutter in my room first. That makes me want to finish them as soon as possible since I know how beautiful they'll look when they're done. I believe I will paint the room, but I am not confident that I will be able to complete it in one day; but, I believe I will be able to complete the mess in one day.

In order to effectively declutter our lives, we must be able to modify our ideas while also changing our habits. Looking forward to a clean and orderly environment as you spend your energy and concentrate your efforts on cleaning is an excellent motivator. In the meanwhile, when we begin to alter our habits of thinking, it is important to remember to open and then eliminate junk mail as soon as it arrives in our inbox. Ideally, we should read our publications on the same day that they are delivered, if not the same day, then the next day. Recycling magazines by delivering them to neighbors or physicians' offices is a good idea, but we must learn to do so within two days of getting them.

Once we have painted the space, installed new shelves or draperies, and then placed the main items that we wanted to keep back in the room, we must be mindful of the clutter. There are a few easy concepts to follow in order to avoid ending up with a cluttered environment in the future. In place of dumping items in random places or jumbling them up, we should arrange them in the order in which they should be found. We were all taught as youngsters that everything has a place and that everything should be in its place, and that is still perfectly true now, given how we have organized everything for our convenience.

Whenever you're out shopping, fight the temptation to buy duplicates, to purchase on the spur of the moment, or to get something unless you've already gotten rid of something else. To put it another way, you should get rid of everything you no longer need by giving it away or donating it before purchasing something new. That is typically where the practice of hording or hoarding things begins. By simply touching a piece of mail once, you can keep the vigilance of your organization. It's better to throw away junk than to keep it in a filing cabinet. File cabinets that are both stylish and functional are required for keeping paperwork organized. If you have trouble remembering people's names and addresses, a rolodex can help you keep track of important numbers and conveniently add and remove people.

You will be really satisfied with yourself now that you have learned how to declutter your home. A task completed successfully provides a fantastic sense of accomplishment. Having your belongings in order and living in a clutter-free environment can be really effective strategies. Get a sense of accomplishment from knowing that your home is in a condition that will make you proud if a neighbor drops by unexpectedly, and that you can sit in your favorite chair and read or watch television knowing that YOU DID IT!