5 Ways to Declutter Your Home
-5 Ways to Declutter Your Home-
Three-day weekends provide a great opportunity to declutter your home. Many workplaces and businesses are closed for Presidents’ Day, which is celebrated annually on the third Monday in February to honor past presidents and recognize their achievements. Although in modern times, it has become notorious for big winter sales.
Rather than spending the weekend shopping or buying new things for your home, we suggest you try a Presidents’ Day Purge. Use the time to organize, sell, and purge things you don’t need. Think of this time as an early spring-cleaning to declutter your home and take stock of what you own. Whether this project helps position you to downsize or to achieve a cleaner home, these tips will certainly ensure you have an organized 2019.
Decluttering Projects for a 3-Day Weekend
- Look Around: It is common for folks not to know how much “stuff” they have. We often hear, “I had no idea I even owned a ___,” or “I haven’t seen my ___ in years.” If this rings true for you, then take time to go through the garage, closets, or anywhere you store things. You may be surprised with what you find!
- Straighten Up: Sort through everything you find and decide if you are going to keep, sell, trash, or donate. This can be liberating to see the back of the closet or the floor under your bed. We find that most of the stuff people find that hasn’t been touched in years can be removed from the home. Inevitably, you will find things with sentimental value that you can’t discard. For the stuff you keep, be sure to store these items properly in labeled boxes or containers.
- Sell Stuff: Now that you have a pile of things to sell, you need to find buyers! Modern technology has made this quite easy. You can list your for-sale items on web platforms like Craig’s List, Nextdoor, or the Facebook Marketplace. All you need is a few photos and a simple description of each item. Simply copy and paste the details from one platform to the other. Also, consider a yard sale or motivate your neighbors to host a neighborhood sale. To maximize turnout, be sure to advertise your sale and mention the hot-ticket items.
- Make Donations: After you have sold all that you can, gather everything left and donate quality items to a local charity. Research local charities to find which ones are looking for the things you have to donate. Homeless shelters may be looking for clothes and other personal items, while other programs may need furniture and appliances. Be sure not to waste the time of nonprofit workers by dropping off items you know are worn-out or inoperable.
- Clean Up: This may not seem like the most fun of all the activities, but now that you have cleared out the clutter, you may as well clean the space. Let’s be honest, when was the last time the garage or closet were cleaned? Usually, the excuse is there is too much stuff in the way. With the decluttering complete, you can clean those hard to reach places.
