Don't be Mean; It's time to Clean

The more cluttered your home, the more cluttered your mind. Your home is a sanctuary where you should rest your mind. Things that aren't needed invade your space, making rest difficult. As years go on, your house fills up. And up. It fills up with things you have collected over the years, whether they have memories or none. Most of the stuff you have convinced yourself that you will use, but you haven't touched it in 5 years. Getting rid of this clutter is difficult, but will make your life a little better afterward.

Step one the best way to start decluttering is to do it little by little. Don’t purge your whole house at once. Spend a day(or few) per room to go through all its belongings and clean as you go.

Step two is to designate what is important to you. The Konmari method used by Marie Kondo will help. If an item does not give you happiness or serve an important purpose, get rid of it. It can be difficult to get rid of things because you see it as wasteful, but it is likely wasting away in your home. If the item is in good condition, you can donate it so it isn't just trash.

Step three is to organize what you have left. Put clothes where clothes belong, books where books belong, and so on. Don’t mix it up, because this will make the room chaotic. In a bedroom, you don’t want to walk back and forth from multiple places to put your outfit together, you want it to be in one place, like a closet or dresser. If you need better storage solutions, don’t opt for plastic bins. If they are in view, they make the room look messy and not put together. Plastic bins belong out of sight. If you don't want storage hidden away, use wicker baskets, cute containers, or a dresser. Make storage beautiful.

Step four is to maintain your clean space. When you are shopping and are about to buy something that would go in the room, think to yourself if you would use it. Would it make you happy? Would it look good? If you can’t justify the buy, skip it. If you do buy it, try to get rid of something you have already.

Choose a time of year to do this annually so that your home stays free of clutter. If you are free in the spring, do spring cleaning. The first time decluttering is always the worst, so don’t worry about the dread of doing it each year. If you get demotivated, think about how much nicer everything will look when you’re finished.

After you declutter, you may want to make the room look even better and take advantage of the clean space. A rug always adds dimension to a room. Mirrors make it look more spacious. White paint opens the room up. Rearranging furniture can make the room look completely different. Do what would make you content with the room. 

At the end of the day, you just want a house to feel like a home. A home is cozy, but not cluttered. You want a place with beautiful memories of your family. You want a place where people feel at home. Decluttering points you in the right direction for that.