Tips to Declutter & Downsize Your Home Effectively
Downsizing simply means getting rid of things you don’t really need, while retaining the things you need. When your downsizing is done in an incredible way, your entire life will feel better and you will have less stuff clustering in your space. Whether you want to free up your space or move to a new home, you can declutter and downsize your home effectively and efficiently with these tips:
- Take the small stuff with you
If you are moving to a new home or you are unhappy with the clutter in your home such as decor, dishes, knick-knacks, clothing, cleaning supplies, cookware, silverware etc, you may be tempted to sell or give away some of them.
You are required to consciously write down all the things in your home and grouped them in two designated boxes, and tag them as ‘must-keeps and maybe-keeps’. In this way, you will know items you use seasonally or currently in use, and items you should give away or sell.
If you are not having kids at the moment, this is the best time to get rid of maternity wear, old toys and baby clothes. Sell or give away any item that doesn’t have an immediate practical purpose in your home.
2. Plan your storage before downsizing further
Before you start to downsize, it is important you assess and plan your storage. Decide on where and how to organize your items. When you plan your storage, you will perfectly make provisions for the must-haves and keep in the places they should be. Then, after this, you can check what is left and will now select the least used or less important items from what is remaining.
3. Re-home special items
In your home, you may just find out that there are so many valuable things- they are nice and hold wonderful memories. You have no need for them, but you really don’t want to sell or give them away – yet they are occupying space.
In this case, what you need to do is to find people in your network, who are in need of them. This could be your family, friends, workplace colleagues or peers and share with them.
Keep those items with people who understand and appreciate its value, and you will really be happy that they were judiciously used. You will be happy to know that these wonderful items are still within your reach anytime any day.
4. Set accumulation limits
Develop an accumulation limit mindset, and keep your clutter under wraps. The more you accumulate, the more you make your smaller space in your home smaller.
You can make up your mind today that anytime you buy new clothes or shoes, or an item already in your home, to try as much as possible to give away something of the same value, so that it can accommodate the new items’ space. You can also reduce the volume of junk items that comes to your home.
5. Fill one trash bag
This is one of the simplest ways of decluttering. Get a trash bag, and put in it things that are not in use in your home. When the bag is full, you can decide to either sell them or give away to someone that maybe needing them.
6. Use your imagination
Psychologists have observed that using your imagination can help in decluttering objects in your home, especially those ones that might seem difficult to remove. Ask yourself if you were to buy these items, how much will you spend? So, use your imagination, and remove all the things that shouldn’t be in your home in the first place.
7. The four-box method
Most people are using this technique in their homes. As you plan to declutter, try to buy four boxes, and tag each of them with: relocate, keep, give away and trash.
Place all the items in your home in each of these categories. This may take you hours, days or even weeks to do, but the benefit of doing this is multiple.
Author Bio: Tania Mattews Team is a Clermont FL Real Estate company with over 40 years of combined real estate experience, Tania and her team serve home buyers, sellers, investors, and international clients in Central Florida. When she’s not negotiating contracts, odds are you can find her at the beach taking in the sunshine.
