Decluttering after the holidays: how to properly clean up your house
'30.12.2022'
Source: Burninghut
The New Year often stimulates us to renew ourselves in business and life. And it is not for nothing that they say that order in the head begins with order around. Burninghut tells what ways there are to get rid of unnecessary things at home and where else you should look in order to carry out decluttering in full.
Prepare
To get rid of all unnecessary things, be prepared to spend a lot of your time. Allocate a day off for this, and preferably two. It may not be a pleasant idea to give your rest days to cleaning, but the result will pay off. Prepare bags or boxes where you will put everything. Sign them if you don't want to send unnecessary things exclusively to the trash.
Pull out everything that is hidden away. Go through the shelves, cabinets, cabinets, mezzanines. You need to see all the things that are there. You may find that some items are duplicated when there is no need for them. And there’s also the possibility that the creepy sight of a mountain of things that you didn’t even know you had will even more motivate you to clean up.
Of course, it is one thing to get rid of a broken cup that you cannot use in any way, and quite another to throw away what you have become attached to. A person often has an emotional connection with objects. Some cause nostalgia, others - pity for the money spent. They may be completely useless, but it's still a pity to throw them away.
Fortunately for us, there are several methods that will help determine if a thing is really so important and necessary or if you can say goodbye to it.
Declamation methods
Marie Kondo Method
This is perhaps the most popular method of putting things in order today. Marie Kondo is a tidying consultant and author of Magical Cleaning.
The essence of the method is to feel the energy of each specific thing. So make sure you have plenty of free time if you decide to use it. You need to pick up a thing and think about what emotions it evokes in you. If you are happy, you can leave it. If in doubt, thank the item for the emotions that it gave you and put it aside for disposal. Marie Kondo believes that you need to surround yourself only with positively charged things. Then useless rubbish will not accumulate in the house.
On the subject: How to clean up the principles of kaizen: a step by step guide
Box method
If you've already collected the supposedly unnecessary items, but can't bring yourself to get rid of them, try the box method. It helps to break the emotional connection with a thing and understand which objects are really important. Collect all the things that you hesitate to throw away and put them in a box. Seal and mark the time when it should be opened. The term can be any - from a week to six months. Set up a reminder and remove the box from your eyes.
The moment you are reminded of the box, track your feelings. If you don't even remember what's in there, feel free to throw it away. But if you immediately run after your favorite smartphone case / tea strainer / strange shark from Ikea, then these things are really dear to you. Don't torture yourself and leave them at home.
Ash method
Dominique Loro described this method in her book The Art of Living Simple. It is a bit similar to Mari Kondo's method, but it is not the energy of the thing that is tracked here, but your affection.
Pick up an object and imagine that it crumbles into ashes in your hands. Track how you are feeling. If the first thought is “Oh no, this is my favorite wallet with avocadics in the rocking chair!”, Then the thing is dear to you and should be left. If you feel relief that the object in your hands will finally disappear, you already know what to do.
Logic method
Sometimes it is difficult for us to get rid of a thing because we paid money for it. It seems that if you throw it away, then the money spent will also disappear. Here you should explain to yourself: because the thing will stupidly occupy space, you will not get your money back. And if you get rid of it, then at least free up space.
Where else is it worth putting things in order
Clothes and accessories
Commemorative T-shirts, torn shirts and worn-out shoes uselessly take up the space of our closets. If you decide to do decluttering, then the wardrobe should be given special attention. After all, our every morning begins with clothes.
Pull all clothing and accessories out in one place, including shoes, outerwear, off-season items and underwear. This will make it easier for you to get a complete picture of your wardrobe.
Sort everything into categories:
- wear often;
- wear according to your mood (or special occasions);
- forgot about existence;
- what is boring;
- things with defects.
The first two categories will definitely remain. You just need to find a place for mood clothes so that it does not interfere with everyday clothes, and at the same time you will not forget about it. Study the third and fourth categories carefully using one of the decluttering methods.
View items with defects. You may not be wearing your favorite shirt simply because you keep forgetting to sew a button in place. Well, the time has come. What you want to leave, put aside for a trip to the workshop or fix it yourself. Set aside things that no longer make sense to put in order for discard.
Before returning leftover clothing and accessories to the closet, consider organizing it. Buy special covers, containers and organizers if needed. Allocate storage space for off-season clothing. Buy hangers and equip shelves for shoes, bags and hats. If you still have strength, take apart the jewelry box as well.
Cosmetics
Ruthlessly uncover cosmetic bags and bathroom shelves. Get rid of empty cans and products that you haven't used in a long time. Also throw away foods that have passed their expiration date. Don't forget to explore the brushes, washcloths, sponges and brushes. They also have an expiration date.
On the subject: Why house dust is dangerous and why wet cleaning is not the best method of dealing with it
Medications
Throw away expired drugs, empty boxes, and orphan instructions. If the preparations are usually scattered in different corners of the apartment, buy a storage box to keep everything close at hand.
Go through what's left, make a list of needed medicines, and fill up your medicine cabinet. So you don't have to go to the pharmacy with a headache or a runny nose.
Smartphone
Browse the gallery and delete unwanted photos and pictures. Clean out your files and documents folder. Take a look at your contact list and delete the ones you don't need. Create a backup of important files so you don't have to worry about their safety. Wipe old sms alerts and app cache.
- Cleaning applies to the services themselves on the smartphone. If you are in doubt whether to erase the application or not, ask yourself two questions: 1) have you used the application for the last six months (if not, then it is unlikely to be useful in the future); 2) is this service performing some important function or is it just wasting your time? Useless apps are better off to the trash can too.
- Once you have only the apps you need on your smartphone, organize them. For example, arrange by importance or categories. Choose a classification with which it will be convenient to work.
- Turn off unnecessary notifications. Constant smartphone signals distract from work and other important activities. Leave the sound only for what you need to react to right away.
Where to put unnecessary if you don't want to throw it away
- Expired medicines and cosmetics are only in the trash.
- Things that can still serve, but are just tired, sell on electronic ad services.
- Sex toys can be recycled.
- Good clothes will come in handy for volunteers and charities (just remember to put them in order).
- Recycle dirty and torn clothing.
- Give old bedding and towels to animal shelters: volunteers make bedding out of them for wards.
How not to get littered again
Schedule regular spring cleaning. Set yourself a reminder to audit things in the house every month (six months, a week). The more often you think about it, the less likely it is that next time you will have to throw out heavy bags of trash.
When buying a new item, throw away the old one. This is the method for fans of minimalism. You determine the maximum amount of clothes / dishes / appliances and other categories of things that have the right to stay at home. If you buy more than that, one old thing has to go away for the new thing to take its place.
Give yourself time to think before buying. If you are prone to impulsive shopping, try not to buy things right away. Better to make a decision the next day. After a good sleep, the brain will tell if this thing is really so necessary.
Organize your space. Sometimes we buy things just forgetting that somewhere in the bowels of the kitchen shelves there is already something similar. Buy containers, storage jars, bags, and organizers. Sign them so you don't forget what is where. Set aside an area to store supplies such as light bulbs, kitchen rags, and cleaning supplies. If you know what is stored where, you can always check before buying if there is already a similar thing in the house.
