Spring cleaning is one of the best times to give your home a reset. Along with deep cleaning, it offers a great opportunity to declutter and get rid of stuff that’s been weighing down your space. Even if you don’t realize it, having excess clutter not only takes up extra space in your home but also in your mind. One of the biggest challenges people run into when decluttering is figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of. Here are a few spring cleaning tips to help you decide:
Start by Creating a Checklist
The first thing you want to do when decluttering is create a checklist. This will help you stay on track and make sure you’re not forgetting anything. Your checklist should include a list of rooms and a list of items in each room that you need to go through. For example, the first room on your list could be the kitchen, and you may want to look through your glassware, decorations and small appliances to figure out what can stay and what can go. As you work through your list, check off each item category and room. This helps you feel a sense of accomplishment, which can go a long way when it comes to staying motivated.
Set Guidelines for What Stays and What Goes
When decluttering, it can be difficult to decide what to keep and what to get rid of if you don’t set some parameters. All of the items you keep should meet a predeterminedcriteria. For example, they should be something you use every day, something you use seasonally, or something that has sentimental value. Don’t feel pressured to keep items that you’ve had for a long time because someone else gave them to you. If it doesn’t bring you some sort of joy or pleasant memories, it’s okay to get rid of it. Other items to get rid of include things that you haven’t used in a while, items you don’t see yourself using again for a long time, or items that have negative memories attached. Setting these parameters before you start decluttering helps you feel more confident in your choices and avoid guilt.
Declutter Room-by-Room
Decluttering can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t break it down into manageable steps, and this can lead to even more stress when it comes to figuring out what to keep and what to let go. Having your checklist is a helpful first step, but the most important thing to do here is to fully finish one room before moving on to the next. If you work multiple rooms at the same time, it may be challenging to stay on track. Before you know it, you’ll have disorganized piles and maybe even a loss of motivation. When this happens, deciding what can stay and what can go becomes even more difficult. Save yourself some mental stress, and go room-by-room.
Stay Organized During the Process
Even with a checklist and a room-by-room game plan, things can quickly get out of hand if you don’t stay organized. Instead of random piles all over the place, grab three or four boxes that you can place items in as you decide whether to keep them or get rid of them. It’s helpful to have boxes for:
- Items to keep
- Items to donate
- Items to throw away
- Undecided
Once you’ve finished every room and have all of your items sorted into the appropriate boxes, you can take a look through the undecided items later. Revisiting these items with a fresh set of eyes a few hours later or even the next day can make it easier to decide what to do with them.
Figure Out the Donation Logistics
Once you’ve finished spring cleaning and decluttering every room, and you have all of your items sorted, it’s time to figure out the donation logistics. If you’ve gathered a lot of items or have large, bulky objects to donate, like furniture or appliances, it can be easier to opt for donation pickup services, rather than hauling and dropping them all off yourself.
At Community Family Thrift, we make donating your items easy. With free donation pickup services in South Florida, we do all the heavy lifting for you. And if you have items unfit for donation, you can add junk removal services to your free donation pickup for a small fee. When you choose Community Family Thrift, not only will you enjoy easier donation logistics, but you’ll also be supporting a great cause that benefits the local children. Contact us today to schedule your free donation pickup!