It’s a New Year, Easy Decluttering Ideas

It’s a New Year, Easy Decluttering Ideas

It’s a New Year and the perfect time to do that decluttering you never seem to get around to the rest of the year.

My grandparents always used to save their deep cleaning for spring…you know…spring cleaning.  But that was back when folks would heat their houses with coal.   My grandmother had a chute thru a window directly into her basement where the coal would be delivered.  After a winter of burning the coal, you would literally have to clean the soot off the walls and furniture and you would only do this when  the furnace was finally turned off for the year.

Nowadays, I prefer to do all my cleaning in the colder winter months.  And I must say, I do not wash down all my walls, maybe a cobweb here and there.

The holidays are over and decorations are packed away.  Gardening doesn’t restart for another couple of months, so might as well start off the New Year with empty organized drawers and cupboards.

I have no idea what my clean out method is called, I believe I first discovered it on a talk show about 5 years ago, but I’ll call it the daily purge.

Start with a  calendar or a sheet of paper numbered 1 to 30 ( or 31).  As you donate or throw away an item, place a hashtag next to the day or number you’re working on.  When you fill up that day move on to the next.  Try to complete at least one day, every day, for the month.

While you could start on day 1, I prefer to work backwards.  Day 1 is when I’m itching to start and I have the most things to clean out.  Might as well start out strong, day 30!

On those days when you’re busy, or when you have places to go and things to do, choose a lower number on the chart .

By the end of the month you’ll have gotten rid of about 500 items.

I took a picture of my progress a couple of weeks ago and I currently have only a few days to go to complete my  January challenge.

I have found that I don’t normally need more bins to organize, I just need to get rid of some of the stuff that I have.

Great Places to Start

1.   Clothes you haven’t worn in years
2.   Extra cables you don’t need
3.   Books you don’t plan on rereading
4.   Shoes you don’t wear anymore,  those that are worn out or  just hurt your feet are a good place to start
5.   Kitchen appliances that you don’t use any more
6.   Toys the kids outgrew or don’t play with any more
7.   Expired food in the pantry
8.   Items in the Freezer with freezer burn
9.  Old Magazines
10.  Games you never play
11.  VCR tapes and you don’t have a VCR anymore
12.  Dried up paint or paint that is from a room you repainted years ago
13.  Craft items you’ll never use or in my case scrap wood

Have a place to pile all your stuff.  If items are going in the trash, have trash bags handy.

If you have things to donate.  Make sure you have a separate pile for those things too.

And don’t forget to actually make that trip to the thrift store.  If your clean out is just going to sit in a pile, your task is not complete.

Other Decluttering Methods

You could always declutter the Marie Kondo way.   She wants you to surround yourself with things that spark joy. While many people associate her method with tidying, it’s really about discarding items that lack value. To determine what makes the cut, Marie has you start by removing everything out of your closets and drawers , all the books off your shelves , all the paperwork out of your desk and bins (you get the idea). Once you have a big pile,  go item-by-item and consider if it sparks joy.

For those of you who don’t have a lot of clutter and you want to keep it that way, you could try the One in One out Method.  Every time  you bring a new item into the house, you have to donate or discard an existing item.

You could also try the 4 Box Method.  Start  with 4 boxes labeled  Keep, Donate, Discard or Relocate.    Start with a small space, maybe a drawer or a closet. Label your boxes.  Remove each item one at a time from your space and assign it to a box.  Finish by reorganizing the space with the things you’re going to keep.  Afterwards, take a trip to the thrift store with donations and throw out the trash.  Those things that need to be moved, whether to another room where it makes more sense, or to your kids houses because you’ve kept their things for far too long, do that too.

Whatever method you try, it’s all about getting in the right mindset and beginning.  Whether you continue for a month or just a few days you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and your drawers will thank you.

What is your favorite decluttering method?

As always, stay inspired.

Note:  This is my organized closet just not from this latest junk purge.  If you like the look, check out the how-to here.

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