Decluttering goes beyond merely discarding unnecessary items: it is a real attitude oriented towards the essentials. A liberation that opens up to the future and new possibilities. Discover effective decluttering strategies to streamline your home and life. Our expert tips will help you tackle clutter, organize your space, and find peace in minimalism. Learn how to let go of unnecessary items, optimize storage, and create a more serene and productive environment. Start your journey to a clutter-free life today.
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When dusting becomes an obstacle course and finding something in the wardrobe an almost impossible mission, then the time has come to get rid of superfluous objects: decluttering.
This practice has now become a true philosophy of life: selecting and eliminating what is no longer used, in fact, seems to have a real benefit also on an internal level, freeing us from the past, opening our minds to the future and to new possibilities.
Owning less to live better: is this perhaps the secret of happy degrowth? Given this ethically correct assumption, putting it into practice is a different matter, let’s see some advice.
Decluttering: some practical advice
Let’s start with space cleaning, or how to reorganize spaces and, consequently, one’s life.
- To begin with, experts recommend drawing up a sort of ranking of the messiest rooms or spaces, then proceeding in order, and focusing on one area at a time.
- You should do a “scan” of the objects, asking yourself how many times you have used them in the last 12 months: if you realize you have never used them, the time has come to get rid of them.
- The selection of objects, obviously, must be made according to eco-sustainable principles.
- They must therefore be carefully separated to differentiate them in the garbage, while what can be saved can instead be sold, donated or bartered.
If you’re not ready to get rid of the items right away, store them in a box and give yourself a deadline.
- If, once the period has expired, you realize that you have never opened it, the time has really come to throw away its contents.
- The “I don’t have time” excuse is not valid: once you have chosen the room to tidy up, in fact, you can dedicate half an hour a day to decluttering, or just one day at the weekend, depending on your availability.
Decluttering: how to proceed
Luckily, decluttering experts provide good advice for every circumstance.
- Take 5 minutes a day
- Throw away one item a day
- Use a garbage bag: you will be amazed at how quickly it will fill up with objects you thought you couldn’t part with
- Compile a list of the areas/rooms to clean, starting from the simplest: proceed one area at a time, crossing it off the list
- Apply the 12-12-12 scheme, drawing up a list with 12 things to throw away, 12 to donate and 12 to return to their rightful owners: tidying up this way will be more fun and less traumatic!
- Change your perspective to see your home in a new light, perhaps by taking photos of your home before and after decluttering
- Do an experiment with numbers, for example wearing the same 33 items of clothing for 3 months: the aim is to understand that you can live with fewer things
- When you’re having a really hard time letting go of something, try asking yourself ‘If I bought it today, how much would I be willing to pay for it?’
- Use the ‘four box technique‘: when you need to tidy up a room, get 4 boxes and write on them ‘TO THROW, TO DONATE, TO KEEP, TO REUSE’ and you will then have to choose which box to put each object in; the procedure may be long, but it works!
For those items you don’t want to throw away, you can apply 3 simple ‘archiving’ rules.
- Make a selection of dated objects, dividing them by year or period (old house, university, etc.).
- Store children’s objects in a dedicated container and place it inside the wardrobe, where it is not cluttered: when you want, you can always take it out to look for something.
- Develop a functional archiving method: your children’s work and photos, for example, can be stored in folders or albums, or you can digitize them and store them in digital folders.
Apply decluttering techniques to wardrobes
We now come to one of the most sensible areas: the wardrobe. In spring and autumn it is time for seasonal changes: let’s make the most of them by tidying up our clothes and, why not, in our lives. We know that deciding what to keep and what to throw away is always difficult, but with some ad hoc advice everything will be easier.
- The 4 box rule also applies to clothes: to keep, to archive, to donate, to throw away. Throw away clothes only if you have no alternatives, otherwise do what you can to reuse them in some way, for example organizing a barter market with your friends.
- A useful trick for selecting clothes is this: hang the dubious items in the opposite direction to the others, or make a mark on the hangers. Only when/if you wear the garment will you be able to turn the hanger correctly or remove the sign. At the end of the season, items that have never been used must be eliminated.
- Throw away damaged or useless coat hangers, then divide the remaining ones by placing similar ones next to each other: this way the visual impact will be better.
- Once the difficult choice phase is over, clean the inside of the wardrobe thoroughly: vacuum the bottom and dust the shelves and other surfaces.
The operation is tiring, but you will be rewarded: seeing the wardrobe in order will make you feel lighter
The important thing is to maintain discipline even afterwards, avoiding starting to fill it with useless items again on the first shopping trip.
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