If a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind, what is a whole house?!
Clear your mind, heart, and soul with these 7 simple ways to declutter your home and make it feel brand new again. We all seem to have this burning desire to declutter our homes post Holiday Season. Have you ever noticed how amazing a show home looks? While it is new and shiny, the biggest difference is that it’s shelves are filled with perfectly matching coloured baskets and vases, and yours are filled with moments and memories. It’s ok to have real items on your shelves, its just about how you organize them and how many of them you actually need!
Reverse Your Hangers
This is a great way to help you get rid of clothes. The idea was popularized by Oprah Winfrey and has since been blogged about many times over. Why? Because it’s genius and so simple! Turn all of your hangers the opposite way you usually do (so generally the tip pointing out), and as you wear them you can put them back on the rack normally. What you will notice after a months, or even weeks, is which clothes you have not worn. Set a time frame for yourself: “If I have not worn an item in over 6 months I will donate it”. Mark your calendar. On the 1st day of the 6th month go to your closet and donate all of the clothes that are still on backwards hangers.
12-12-12
Throw out. Donate. Put back where it belongs.
It’s as simple as that. In order to complete this decluttering task (or game) you must find 12 items to throw out (or, ideally, recycle), 12 times that you can donate to someone in need, and 12 items that have moved from where they belong and must be returned to their place (books, papers, dishes, spices, etc). For local Calgary donation options check out our guide A Home For All Of Your Unwanted Items
Hide Cables
Cables can make things look instantly cluttered. Even in the picture above, imagine how much cleaner it would look if they were able to hide the cables behind the wall. There are cable hiding boxes you can purchase, or drill behind and feed wires through the drywall to keep them out of sight and out of mind.
Need help? One of Calgary’s amazing Handymen or even Interior Designers listed on the Who To Call website will be able to make your living room a sanctuary.
Tidy your Entranceway
It’s the first and last thing you see when you enter and leave your home – make it a pleasant experience. Sweep and mop the floor, shake out the rug, make sure all the coats are hung (and the closet doors are shut) and line up shoes on a shoe rack with a mat under it. This little tidy-up will help you ease into the rest of the tasks.
Declutter your Pantry
You probably visit your pantry at least 3 times a day, so make sure that when that door opens you are not instantly overwhelmed or frustrated. Label things, throw old things out, line everything up nicely and in an order than makes sense to you. Chatelaine magazine has a great article on what to toss, keep, and store to help you with your cleanup.
Organize your papers
We all have that pile in the office of papers that we ‘don’t want to deal with right now’. The pile gets bigger and bigger and we end up sifting through it looking for thing we need. Take an hour, sit on the floor, and make new piles. Keep file folders on hand in case you need to organize groups, and put the new smaller piles away as you go. How much of it do you really need to keep? Shred what you can and put the rest away. This is a big and daunting task so get really motived and put on some awesome tunes to help get you through (sitting on the floor actually really helps).
Declutter your Computer
You spend a lot of time staring at your screen. Whether it is a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone, make sure the desktop is clear of data clutter. Make folders, organize apps, and delete things you no longer need. Make sure your calendar is synced between all of your devices and that you have a good back up (like an external hard drive or even dropbox). It can even feel good to go through your downloads folder, documents, and photos and get rid of things that no longer suite you – plus! that makes room for things you DO want.
