Spring cleaning, organizing and tidying up spark varying levels of excitement and anxiety for people, but nothing breathes life back into your daily routine more than the feeling of an organized home. Most people are in the same boat, where the mere idea of cleaning and organizing is daunting enough to make you throw in the towel before you’ve even begun. Never fear, new trends around keeping your daily environment organized have made this whole process fun and rewarding! New influencers, authors, and TV shows are inspiring people and giving them the courage to attack that pile in the corner and get rid of it for good. Simplifying your space is not just for looks. When spaces are well organized and free of clutter, it also clears space in our minds to make room for more positive things, like focus, mindfulness, and well-being.
It’s the start of spring and that means spring cleaning is in full effect. To help you get started, we’ve assembled our six favorite tips for getting our homes in order. Tidying up will perk you up, too, because it’s a true form of self-care:
- Try A Similar Wardrobe
If you find yourself always struggling with what to wear, try a similar form of dressing. Genius’ Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein both decided to swap diverse wardrobes for multiples of the same outfit in order to free up more brain space for thinking.[1] While donating all of your clothes in favor of multiples of your go-to outfit will definitely solve your closet clutter problem, it is probably not for everyone. Instead, try similar tops to wear to work every day to save both time and energy in the morning.
- Make Mornings Easier
We all want to make mornings matter and start every day with a healthy start, but sometimes it is difficult to make healthy choices when pantries are packed with ingredients that make mornings harder rather than easier. Rather than hoarding ingredients that only take up space until they reach their expiration dates, take some time to go through your pantry and clear out the things you don’t reach for. Instead, replace them with healthy and fast foods that make your mornings easy rather than harder.
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Declutter By Category
Most people take on decluttering by going room to room. First the bedroom, then the kitchen, and so on; which often seems daunting when faced with an entire room of clutter. Instead of trying to accomplish a whole room at once, try decluttering by category instead. On a free afternoon start by tackling your clothes, books on another day, and then, photos for instance. This will make the whole process of decluttering a lot easier and less overwhelming. [2]
- Kick the Kitchen Appliances Collection
That rice maker might be great the two or three times you have used it, but is it really worth the cabinet or counter space it is taking up? Donating or selling these gently used kitchen appliances that you thought would be a new staple, but instead just became a new decoration, is a great way to make room for things you will use and enjoy regularly. You might even discover your kitchen is a lot more spacious than you remembered.
- Collecting Things You Love
One of the most significant, yet challenging parts of tidying up is deciding what to keep and what not to keep. Getting rid of things you don’t need or things that don’t bring you joy is a simple, but an especially important tactic. According to Marie Kondo's book and TV show, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up," while you are in the process of organizing, you should really look at the things you have been storing or collecting and group into items that are very similar. If you don't see yourself using those items in the future, or being of value to you or your family, or if you have more than one of a very similar item, then you probably don’t need to have it. If it is something that has sentimental value, but you don’t need it, you can take a picture of it and add it to a photo album so you keep the memories but not the moth-collecting mementos! [3]
- Don’t Try To Tackle Everything at Once
Sometimes the task of tidying up can seem overwhelming, and that’s normal. For people fighting depression or anxiety, the task can seem downright impossible. [4] So, when starting a new tidying routine, it’s good to set small goals you can achieve and build on your momentum. If you try everything at once, you will burn-out, and if you do finish, you might set up new systems that aren’t sustainable. Try setting a tidy-up timer for five minutes and tackle what you can in that short time. After the five minutes, take stock of what you accomplished and set another five minutes or ten minutes later that day or the next day. Getting into the habit of tidying up will help you make a sustainable change and will help you feel accomplished, too.
Though seemingly small, these easy tactics for decluttering and tidying have a powerful impact. We often don’t realize how much weight we carry just by having to process the busy environment around us. When we find a few minutes to tidy up the spaces around us, we can establish the order that brings mental and emotional clarity!
Do you have special tips on how you like to keep your home in order? Tell us how you like to tidy up in the comments below!
REFERENCES:
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/10/05/steve-jobs-always-dressed-exactly-the-same-heres-who-else-does/#38c1e3645f53
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https://www.onekingslane.com/live-love-home/marie-kondo-book-declutter/
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https://www.marthastewart.com/1106009/konmari-trendy-new-organizing-method
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https://www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/the-depressionmessy-house-cycle/