11 Opportunities for Keeping Up with Clutter
Donation drives are a great time to declutter!
You will always have clutter in your home. I repeat, there will always be clutter. Even if you do a thorough job of tossing all the clutter in your small home and are successful with keeping the junk from coming in, there will always be clutter, a.k.a. unwanted and unused belongings, that crops up in your home.
First, few people have the ability to remove all the clutter. We tend to hold on to things longer than we should. Second, no one can keep all the clutter from entering. Marketers have made sure of that. Third, life happens, and things change. You may no longer use the same stuff, have the same hobbies, wear the same size, etc. And belongings wear out and break.
It’s a good idea to get in the habit of regularly discarding your belongings that no longer serve you, especially if you have limited space. Below are 11 ideal times to do a decluttering of the unwanted stuff that has piled up, like when a local community group does a donation drive (see #10 below).
OPPORTUNITIES FOR TOSSING CLUTTER
When you bring something new into your home, remove something old to make space for it. This is called the one in, one out rule.
Before holidays and birthdays, discard and donate belongings, especially toys, to make room for the new things. Or do it after you get the gifts so you can see what you want to keep.
When shopping for gifts, try shopping your house for things the person would like. Haven’t donated that great book you read yet? Gift it and get it out of the house at the same time.
Before you go shopping, while you are evaluating your closet and seeing what you need, remove the clutter.
Discard before a move so you don’t take the time and energy to pack and unpack the items or pay the movers to carry them. This is even more crucial if you are downsizing to a smaller home.
Declutter and organize before deciding whether to upgrade to a larger home. You may not need it.
After each season, discard what you didn’t use or what’s worn or broken.
When you or your kids change sizes, edit your clothes.
If you live with roommates, toss clutter when one of them moves to make sure you don’t have any of their things left in the back of a closet or rotting in the fridge.
Donation drives, common during the holiday season, are a great time to discard and give to someone in need.
Community shredding events are a great time to purge paperwork.
IDEAS FOR MAKING IT FUN
Before the holidays, hold a household event where you all go through your belongings and remove all the gifts from the past that you no longer use. While also thanking the person who gifted it, celebrate getting rid of the gifts you never wanted – think pink bunny costume in the movie A Christmas Story. For me it’s bath stuff – I’m allergic to the perfumes in them.
During food donation drives, have the people who don’t do the food shopping go through the pantry and remove any food they dislike. Call it Freedom from Peas Day. At least that’s what I’d call it because I hate peas. Kids could have a lot of fun with this one.
When one of your kids outgrows a size, celebrate by going through the new clothes and trying them on, even if they’re just new to them. Put on a fashion show for the family and be the announcer – “Billy is wearing a bright t-shirt in his favorite color blue with jean shorts and his favorite Vans® sneakers.”
HAPPY SPRING CLEANING, Y’ALL!
