To me, nothing is more therapeutic than decluttering my space. It’s a great way to literally get a fresh start. Whether I am getting over a sickness, a depression, or I’m just feeling stuck, my go-to is decluttering. I have been doing this for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would take everything out of every inch of my room and get rid of every nonessential item.
There is just something refreshing about cleaning out your area. It can be a hard task to tackle though. My hopes for this post is to help you know how to determine what things to remove from your area. There are many different reasons we keep things. They all have a purpose for one thing or another. This can make it extremely difficult to determine what to keep and what get rid of.
Here are some of the questions I ask myself when decluttering my house.
Does it have a purpose?
Seems simple enough. If it has a purpose, keep it. If it doesn’t have a purpose, get rid of it. Can’t be that hard right? Wrong. Sometimes it is hard to determine if something has a purpose. It’s the box your Fitbit came in, you should keep that right? I mean you could need it… right? I could be the only one who faces that struggle. I hope not though. I have found that keeping boxes to items is not necessary. Out of all of my twenty-something years, I have never once gone back to an item’s box. It is okay to get rid of them.
This principle can be applied to more than just boxes. This can be applied to anything. If you don’t know why you have it. It is disposable. I don’t mean you have to throw away every item that doesn’t have a purpose. You can donate it. You can sell it. Anything. It just means that if it doesn’t have a purpose, you don’t need to keep it.
Have I used it in the last year?
This question is great for any item. Clothing. Shoes. Decorations. Office Supplies. Anything. If you’ve not used it in the last year, there is very little chance that you will use it again. I know that we all hope that we will, but it’s extremely rare that we ever do. That is why we need to go ahead and get rid of it. One day far off you may regret giving that item up but like I said, that is highly unlikely. What will most likely happen is you will never think if it again. If you do, you will just remember it and move on.
How long have you been planning to “upcycle” that?
We’ve all been there. We buy something because we see the potential in it. We plan to repaint it. Make it into something else. Sometimes we do get around to completing that DIY. Other times we don’t. That’s just life. Our task in decluttering our homes is to know when it’s time to give up on uncompleted tasks. It’s okay to let a project go sometimes.
If you didn’t complete it within a year, chances are, that it will never be completed. I know that giving up on a project seems like a waste. I mean you spent the money on that item you wanted to give a new life to. So giving up on it just seems wrong. If you really can’t bear to let go of that project, give yourself a timeline. Not too long though cuz you will inevitably extend that timeline. The important part of this though is stick to that timeline and if you don’t complete your project, get rid of it.
Thank you for reading!
If you’ve been meaning to declutter your house, we hope that this post helps you determine what you should keep and what should go. When looking at the task of decluttering as a whole, it can seem daunting. Take it one room, one wall even, at a time. Don’t forget to check us out on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube. For more family-focused posts, click here. Again, thank you for reading! God Bless!
