Tips to declutter your home

It’s been a snowy week here-we’ve had about five inches of snow. I spent my days going through boxes, drawers, etc. I found some items to throw out, give away, or take to the thrift store-it was a good feeling.

Two years ago my sister Anita asked if I wanted to join a group on Facebook “Live More by Owning Less”. You set your own goals and make your own rules. How hard could it be? My rule was it had to be able to be able to be reused, no trash. My goal was 300+ items. In 2014 I got rid of 1,028 items. Words cannot express the freedom I felt when crap (and it was crap LOL) left my house. The next year we decided to do it again. In 2015 I sent 502 items out of the house. For 2016 my goal is 500+ items. Moving here to the farm has been great, but I see I need to declutter outside. I love to repurpose wood, furniture, or anything else I can be creative with. I have quite the collection. If any of it gets repurposed it will count and if I get rid of it, it will count. I want to keep only what I will use here and twelve months should be enough time to decide what’s staying.

Here are seven tips to declutter your home:

1. We don’t own anything, IT OWNS US!
2. Empty it first!! By this, I mean whatever you are going to clean out, empty it first. Box-dump it out! Drawer or closet-empty it! Rooms are the same, just harder. Leave large furniture and empty one drawer at a time if any. Trust me, you will put back less, a lot less. One day I emptied my clothes closet. My clothes filled my living room up completely. (I’m thankful there are no pictures.) I would strain my wrist to try to hang up clothes, they were so tight. I had a huge pile to take to the thrift store when I was finished. The closet looked great, but then I decided it could look even better. Laugh, but I took out the clothes I had just put back and did it again. Another 22 items didn’t make it-and I love clothes.
3. JUST BREATHE! We didn’t create our clutter in a day and we aren’t going to get rid of it in a day. Make a plan, start small, and keep a journal of items that leave.
4. When you work so hard at decluttering, you don’t bring it in so easily. You will start asking yourself, “Do I really need this?” When at the mall, yard sales, or thrift stores you will more times than not answer, “No”.
5. Decluttering never stops. It’s a never ending task, but it gets much smaller.
6. After I decluttered my home, I started living more. I spent more time doing things I love-daily devotions, camping/glamping, crafts, and so on. You do live more and you will enjoy your home more.
7. We all have special or sentimental things we hang on to but never use. Not anymore: special hair accessories-are in my hair, jewelry-I wear, dishes-I use. If they get lost or broken that’s okay. I enjoyed them and I always have the memories of them. Life is too short to not use our pretty things.

I hope this inspires and motivates you to look around your home and see where you need to declutter. You will be amazed at the freedom you will feel after letting go of stuff. If I can do it, I know you can too!