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| My attempt on a capsule wardrobe - a work still in progress (and yes, some laundry in the closet ;) |
I hope this method will be helpful, and feel free to comment, and share your own tips, decluttering projects, or other things.
The 7 steps to decluttering:
1) Pick an area of your room to start with, for example your desk. The goal is to make it look as neat and tidy as possible. Clean everything on there, put things in the place where they belong; just make it look neat and tidy. All the things you don’t know where to put, or don’t want anymore, goes in the middle of the room, until you are satisfied with what is left in the area. If the area is very cluttered (for example a make-up section with hundreds of useless products you need to sort out), you may want to just make it look neat and tidy, and move on to the next section. You can always return to this section, and declutter it further. Trash is thrown away.
2) Using the same method, move to the area next to it, and go around the entire outside of the room, until you are left with a pile of stuff in the middle of the room. By now, your outsides of the room should look nice and perfectly neat, with a huge pile of stuff in the middle.
3) Depending on the size of the pile, you can divide it into sections, and tackle one at a time, or you can split the items into categories, ex. clothing, hygiene products, shoes, accessories, exercise equipment, etc.
- Start by finding all the leftover trash, and throw it away. This could be paper, old
recites, empty bottles, and whatever else you need to throw away.
- Now, find all the things that have a specific place in the room, and put them away.
This way, you have better overview of what is left.
4) Start tackling the pile section by section, and sort the items into different categories, one by one.
- Trash
- Stuff to donate
- Stuff to to sell
- Stuff you are not sure wether to keep or not
- Stuff to keep
Alternatively, you can combine the donate/sell categories, and go over that one later.
5) The trash, donate and sell section are pretty self-explanatory. After this, you start with the stuff you want to keep. You either put it to it’s rightful place, or if it doesn’t have a place, you find a place for it. This is the organizing part of it, where you try to make a nice and lasting system for your things. If you have a system, it will be easier to find things, and you will be less likely to clutter.
6) You should now be left with the stuff you are unsure about. Here, you repeat stage 4; sort it into the same 5 categories, and repeat step 5. This can be the hardest part, as you may have sentimental feelings for some of the things, or feel guilty throwing something away. Sometimes it can be necessary to go over this again and again, until you figured out what to do with it. If you combined the sell/donate pile in step 4, this is the time where you sort it.
7) If you have been over and over the ‘unsure’ pile numerous times, and still can’t decide, put everything in a box, and store it away. Sometimes leaving it alone/out of sight for a while can help.
Bonus tips:
1) Be realistic. If you have accumulated a lot of clutter, don’t expect to be able to get rid of everything right away. Be careful you don’t go on a rampage, and throw away stuff, you will later regret. It will probably take a few times, but eventually, you will get to a place you are happy with.
2) Change your habits. There is no point in throwing a bunch of things away, if you immediately run out and fill the room up with a bunch of new stuff. I am not saying don’t buy new stuff; but always ask yourself “Can I see myself using this item years ahead, or is this just because I think my friend/neighbour/other looked good in it/had it in their living room?”, “Does this suit my lifestyle, or is it something I temporary aspire to be?”. This way, you will only buy things you know you will use, and you will actually get your money’s worth. Of course, this takes a little trial and error, but if you practice it stubbornly, you will eventually learn.
3) If you want to continue decluttering in your new, neat area, you can put a decluttering box in your closet, or somewhere else. Every time you find an item you want to sell or donate, put it in the box. When the box is full, you empty it and either sell/donate/put away, and continue. This helps you stay on top of things after you decluttered your home.
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