It’s the New Year, we’re through the holidays and 9 months into the pandemic. Has your home gotten messy?
It’s happened to all of us. Now is a great time to declutter your home and get a fresh start on 2021! Here’s a great list I found by Angel Chernoff from HackLife.
- Get your head straight about what matters, and what in your home is distracting you from what matters. For most of us, our excessive physical possessions are not making us happy. Even worse, they are taking us away from the things that do. Once we let go of the things that don’t matter, we are free to pursue all the things that really do matter.
- Remove decorations that no longer inspire you. Just because something made you happy in the past doesn’t mean you have to keep it forever.
- Reject the convenience fallacy. There are certain places in our homes we tend to leave items out for convenience—a stack of favorite DVDs in the corner, appliances on the counters in the kitchen, toiletries beside the bathroom sink. By leaving these things out, we think we’re saving time and simplifying our lives. That’s the convenience fallacy
- Distinguish between simplifying (or minimizing) and tidying up. Just because a room is tidy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s uncluttered or serves its purpose. Well-organized clutter is still clutter. Never organize what you don’t even use and can easily donate to someone who will.
- Count the “clutter cost.” It can be hard to get rid of things you spent a lot of money on. But keeping things you no longer wear, use, or love also has a cost—every object carries a burden as well as a benefit.
- Free up closet space. One of the biggest complaints people have about their homes is that the closets are too small. If you’ve been thinking that you need bigger closets, maybe all you need to do is right-size your wardrobe—and your closet will feel bigger overnight
- Donate clothes you don’t love. After decluttering your closet, you’ll find more space and peace each morning when you get ready, rather than facing stress and indecision. Plus, donating unused clothing to a local charity is a simple but meaningful way to help others.
- Declutter duplicates. I call this a minimizing accelerator because it’s one of the easiest things you can do to make quick progress. Open your linen closet, for example. How many extra pillows, sheets, and towels do you really need?
- Clear your dining room table. Is your dining room table a depository for mail, backpacks, keys, and other things that are in the process of going from one place to another? If so, chances are that using it for a meal may seem like more work than it’s worth.
- Invite the right people to gather at your dining room table, often. These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be.
- Practice gratitude, in your home, daily. At least once a day, it’s good to pause in your pursuit of a simpler and more organized life, look around, and simply appreciate the life you’re presently living.
- Take down signs that don’t sincerely vibe with your present values. I know a woman with a sign in her laundry room that says, “It’s tough living in the fast lane when you’re married to a speed bump.” I get the humor, but I wonder how reading that sign every day might affect her approach to her marriage, even in small ways.
- Calm a space for reading and being at peace. Even if you aren’t up for decluttering an entire room, you can “calm” a space. You calm a space when you minimize distractions. Choose a favorite chair and declutter everything around it.
- Clean out your entertainment center. These large pieces of furniture often harbor lots of small items we no longer need. Take out old electronic components, cords you don’t need, and discs and games nobody uses. Get rid of them by recycling responsibly, arrange the devices you do use in an eye-pleasing display, and hide their cords as much as possible.
- Pare down your beauty and grooming supplies. I don’t know how big your bathroom is, but get rid of the clutter and I guarantee it will seem more spacious and peaceful to be in. Empty out the cabinets and drawers. Separate beauty tools (hair dryer, styling iron, savers, etc.) from beauty supplies (make-up, lotion, aftershave, etc.). Eliminate duplicates, throw out anything that’s broken or old, and get rid of items you no longer use. Then wash your storage containers and organize what you’re going to keep.
- Tackle a junk drawer. Most of us have one. It’s the default resting place for small items that have no better place to be. Or for things we think might have some use but we can no longer remember what it is. Chances are good you can toss out most of what’s in there and never miss it.
- Clear space for your car in the garage. A garage is not serving you well if it’s not serving its purpose, which is to house your car. That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with using a garage for storage, but it’s possible to go too far with it—and a lot of us do. Get rid of all the obvious candidates for decluttering—odds and ends and leftovers, kids’ unused playthings and sporting equipment, duplicate tools, spare parts, etc.
- Set physical boundaries for your kids. Give your kids a certain amount of space and allow them to manage it how they want. For example, in our garage, my wife and I keep one shelving unit and one plastic bin. The kids store their outdoor toys on the shelves and keep balls in the bin. When things begin to overflow, we ask them to make decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of. The same principle applies to a bedroom or a toy basket.
- Leave space between everything you do in your home, too. Clear a little extra space between your personal tasks and obligations. Take a break to stretch, take a short walk outside, drink a glass of water, perhaps do some simple deep breathing exercises. Enjoy the (emotional and physical) space you’ve created for yourself in your home, and breathe.
- Let go of mental clutter too. Life is just too darn short. Do your best to let go of all the purposeless drama, aimless time-wasters and mental clutter that keeps getting in your way. Again, it’s time to focus more on what matters in the year ahead, and let go of what does NOT.
- Be less “busy” and more purposeful in 2021. As Marc and Angel said, “There’s a big difference between being busy and being effective. Don’t confuse motion and progress.
To read the full article on HackLife – click here
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