It can feel overwhelming to think about achieving a clutter-free home, but it is attainable. When your home is clean and organized, you feel more relaxed and at peace in your own space. You can sit down at the end of a long day and enjoy your home décor and atmosphere rather than spotting all the clutter piles and feeling overwhelmed.
When you implement organizing into your cleaning routine, the process won’t be so overwhelming. As for the initial cleanout, you can always call on the experts for help. First, a trusted junk removal company is ready to haul away all of your donations and trash. Then you can start with a clean slate when your home is organized and clutter-free.
Do not forget to start small. You are not the only person in this world that has clutter in their home. So let yourself take it a day at a time as you learn how to get rid of unnecessary stuff.
Lean into Donating or Trashing Items in Your Home
When you are ready to get started on how to get rid of unnecessary stuff, the biggest obstacle may be yourself. How can you talk yourself down from keeping everything that you may deem sentimental or an item of great worth?
Take a look at some tips:
- Digitize What You Can: Your kids come home with piles of artwork, exams, and questionnaires that are too precious to throw in the trash. So instead, establish one area for hanging up the week’s memories, take a picture of each item you hold dear, and toss it in the recycling bin at the end of the week. You don’t need the paper copy of a Mother’s Day Spotlight to look at 20 years from now. The same goes for cards from your spouse, sibling, or best friend. Snap a photo to remember the kind words in the future.
- Forget About What You Paid for It: There are no sunk costs when it comes to practicing how to get rid of unnecessary stuff. Even if you paid $75 for a shirt you never wear, you wouldn’t earn that money back by hanging it in your closet untouched. So let go of your lost profits and decide that you win some, you lose some. As you donate unused items, make a note and learn from the purchase.
- You Won’t Need It in the Future: If you are hanging onto something you might just need in the future, you probably won’t go searching storage for the item when the need comes up. For example, if you are keeping a crystal serving tray from your wedding gifts, it’s unlikely you will unearth it when you need a serving dish. Instead, you will probably pick up a cute, modern tray during your next visit to the store. Meanwhile, the wedding gift will continue to go unused. Donate the items to thrift stores for someone who can use them now.
- Keep a Small Box for Each Person in the Home: If you have a specific clothing item, quilt from childhood, jewelry, or handwritten letter from a deceased relative, you can keep a small box of keepsakes. Once the box starts to overflow, reevaluate what you would like to keep or digitize/give away.
When you realize the real value lies in memories and experiences rather than stuff, you will understand that you can create a place free of clutter. Then, your home can become an escape from the world rather than a place of stress. A house filled with unnecessary stuff will only add unneeded chaos to your life.
12 Ways: How to Get Rid of Unnecessary Stuff
We’ve all been there. You feel like your home is finally clean, and then within a week or two, the piles are growing again, with items spread throughout the house haphazardly.
No matter how often you clean, sometimes the answer is that it’s time to get rid of things that don’t have a place. So now is the time to discover how to get rid of unnecessary stuff so that your home can stay organized for more than a couple of days.
Look through this list of tips and find what works best for you and your family members. Of course, the whole family has to be all in if you want to maintain an orderly household.
- Sentimental Items: Make a plan for sentimental items using the tips above. You will always run into being hesitant about giving something away. Remember to live in the now and keep only special items that are irreplaceable.
- Room by Room: Whether you are organizing your pantry items or your home office, you can take it a room at a time. You can even take it a drawer at a time. Start small. Reorganize one dresser drawer and feel the satisfaction of learning how to get rid of unnecessary stuff. And then do it again, and you’ll find yourself on an organizing spree!
- By Category: Maybe it is easier to organize by category. For one project, choose to go through everyone’s clothing in the house, donating items you haven’t worn in a while. If the clothing is still in good condition, you can donate them to those in need. You will feel good knowing that you are helping while cleaning out your home.
- 5 Minutes Per Day: If you are feeling particularly overwhelmed, schedule in 5 minutes per day. Maybe it is the 5 minutes after your workout or the 5 minutes before your morning meetings. Watch what clutter you can chip away at by spending time decluttering only 5 minutes per day.
- Closets: Start with closets. Use bins and labels so that you know where stored items are when you’re looking for them. If you have clutter around the home, sort them into the bins or put them in the donation box for your next trip to the donation center.
- Say No to Free Things: Just because something is free doesn’t mean you need to bring it into your home. Suppose you find yourself picking up a free ladder, end table, or even piano because it was marked free. In that case, pass it by. Most of the time, you don’t even need the item. You just can’t pass up a giveaway.
- Marie Kondo: The Marie Kondo method of organizing calls for keeping only items that spark joy. If something makes you happy, keep it around. If you feel no particular feeling for something, give it away. Fill your home with items that spark joy in your life and let go of the rest.
- Eliminate Junk Drawers: You don’t have to have junk drawers. You can use a drawer organizer to have a spot for tape and scissors. When everything has a place, there is no need for junk drawers. If you find yourself throwing things in a drawer to get them out of the way, try throwing them in the trash instead. If it doesn’t have a home, likely, you don’t need it.
- Focus on the End Goal: Think about what you want from learning how to get rid of unnecessary stuff. For example, do you want a home with more space? Do you want to be able to clean without working around piles of clutter? Do you want to be able to decorate? Do you want to feel calm and peaceful in your own home? Ask yourself these questions, and then focus on your goal for the end of your decluttering project.
- Find an Accountability Buddy: Have you ever heard of an accountability partner? This is someone with whom you share your goals and give them updates on your progress. Some people use social media for this purpose. You can even post before and after pictures of each room or closet to get extra encouragement on social media. Share your goal of making it through your whole house, and ask a friend to follow up with you if you fall behind.
- Bask in Your Accomplishments: Give yourself the praise you deserve with each organizing project you take on. Make a journal entry on how good it feels to live and thrive in a clean and tidy space. Tell yourself how proud you are for setting a goal and achieving it. This is something you can do for yourself without anyone else relaying what your home should be.
- Set Milestone Rewards for Yourself: Give yourself celebratory rewards. Once you have organized 3 closets in your home, take a night off to go to your favorite restaurant, watch your favorite movie, or go on a long bike ride. Be sure not to include shopping for more things as part of your reward system. The point is to learn how to be happy with what you have without bringing more unnecessary items into the home.
Once you decide how to get rid of unnecessary stuff, make a plan and go for it. Do not wait for a free Saturday to turn up. Schedule time into your calendar that focuses on de-cluttering your home. Then, keep a maintenance schedule once you have finished your big purge.
Maintenance
Once you have accomplished how to get rid of unnecessary stuff, it is time to maintain a clutter-free home. Take a look at some tips to help you with keeping a home that is free of unnecessary things:
- Keep a box by the door for donations
- Be more thoughtful with purchases
- Schedule in regular decluttering sessions
You can do this! The hardest part is getting started. Imagine the finish line and stay committed to keeping your home clutter-free. Be sure to find a time to check in with yourself and your goals to see if you’re meeting your own expectations for your home’s organization system.
Ask for Help
At Junk-A-Haulics, you can get help from experts regarding how to get rid of unnecessary stuff. Once you have all of your items sorted, call on a team to haul it all out of your home. Our junk removal team can deliver to the donation center and the dump. You don’t have to worry about moving furniture and large items when you hire Junk-A-Haulics.