Tips on How To Declutter Your Home

There is no better feeling than when your home has been freshly cleaned and organized. Whenever we obtain that serene moment of a decluttered house or apartment, it feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off our shoulders. 

For those moments, feelings of productivity and motivation seep in, making it feel like we can accomplish anything in this refreshed space. Unfortunately, as clutter inevitably starts to creep in here and there, those moments often seem fleeting and short-lived. 

At Executive Furniture Leasing our North Carolina furniture experts understand how overwhelming it can be to start the decluttering process, particularly when it feels like it’s a never-ending cycle of cleaning. That’s why we’ve compiled the best tips on how to declutter your home, including ways to keep your house or apartment decluttered over time. 

Why Declutter Your Home or Apartment?

When we accumulate a lot of stuff– from piled-up mail, outdated magazines, stacks of books, collectibles, souvenirs, and other tchotchkes, our living space begins to feel smaller, more cramped, and overwhelmed with “things.” 

While it’s great to keep possessions that offer you value, hold sentimental meaning, and bring you happiness, eliminating items in your home that’s only purpose is to take up space can feel like a huge relief. 

Here’s why you should declutter your home/apartment: 

• Decluttering reduces stress and anxiety.
• Eliminating clutter is good for mental health and self-care. 
• A clean living space helps you focus. 
• Rooms without clutter make you feel more productive. 
• Maintaining an organized home is energizing and motivating. 
• Clutter promotes dust and allergy-causing particles, and decluttering can reduce allergies and asthma symptoms.  
• Decluttering your home can relieve family and relationship tension. 
• The process of decluttering can lead to the discovery of useful possessions you didn’t realize you had. 
• Decluttering your home/apartment can begin the process of organizing and bringing order to other parts of your life– from home, work, relationships, and more. 

How to Create a Decluttering Plan 

When considering how to declutter your home, the most important first step is to create small, attainable goals. The best way to do this is by developing a decluttering plan and setting a decluttering schedule. 

Step #1 - Make a List of Rooms

Make a list of rooms in your home that need some decluttering help. Any room that has any spaces that have either become a dumping ground for paperwork you pushed aside for a later date, junk drawers, piles, and stacks of “stuff” that take up space that would otherwise be clear and open. Having an overview of the rooms is the first step in breaking your decluttering tasks into smaller spaces, eliminating the feeling of overwhelming stress that often keeps people from avoiding home organizational tasks.

Step #2 - Break Down Rooms by Task

So you know that it’s the bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and bathrooms that all need some help in the decluttering department. Well, now what? Now, for each individual room, list the spaces and jobs that need to be done. 

For instance, your kitchen might have a junk drawer, but it also has all the cabinets that have lost all organization. You have all of those coffee mugs cluttered on the counters, and nowhere to contain all those Keurig cups that people keep gifting you. Separating tasks for the kitchen by “drawers,” “counters,” “pots and pans,” “pantry closet,” etc. will make a larger job such as decluttering the kitchen, into smaller, detailed, attainable tasks that can take as little as 20-minutes at a time. 

Step #3 - Assign Tasks to Household Members

If you live alone you can skip this step, but if you have roommates in your apartment or are part of a family household, designating tasks to each member of the household can take all of the responsibility (and stress) off of one person. 

For households with small children, promoting ways to declutter early in life are great ways to promote early self-care. Assign organizing toy boxes, kids' closets, a corner of the garage or other spaces where kids have their own possessions allows children to have ownership over what possessions of their own can be kept, tossed out, or donated to others. 

Getting the whole household in on the decluttering process is a great way to encourage citizenship in the home and have everyone value their living space equally. 

Step #4 - Set a Realistic Timeline 

With all of life’s responsibilities, it might be unrealistic to tell yourself you will have the entire house or apartment decluttered by next weekend. In fact, creating an unrealistic timeline can not only add more stress to you when you are home but is one of the things that makes people abandon the decluttering process. 

Whether it’s scheduling 2 hours on Saturday morning for the whole family to partake in some tasks, or scheduling 30 minutes after work on Friday for you to check one task off your list each week, be sure to set goals that are small in size and realistic for you to achieve in the designated time frame.

Step #5 - Get Boxes or Bins

Once you’ve set your decluttering tasks and timeline, it’s time to be prepared for when the time comes to do the work. Invest in storage bins for possessions you will keep and store, and buy boxes for items that will be donated or thrown away. Having the right “equipment” to begin your decluttering tasks in an organized way is one of the best ways to keep yourself focused on moving forward in the process. 

Essential Tips to Declutter Your Home/Apartment

Everyone can benefit from a declutter-your-home checklist– so, we’ve compiled some of the most essential tips for decluttering your home. No one is going to tackle the project of decluttering in the same exact way, but following a general guideline for the types of actions you can take to make the most out of your decluttering efforts is important to success. 

Clean Flat Surfaces

One of the easiest, most effective ways to eliminate clutter in your home/apartment is to focus on flat surfaces first. Clearing off counters, dressers, tabletops, and nightstands and taking all of those items, and putting them on the floor to weed through, categorize, and clean is a great way to get started in your decluttering efforts. Once everything that was once on a surface is stretched out in front of you on the floor, categorize them into piles and throw out whatever you do not need. 

Buy Organizing Essentials

Making a list of and buying the right type of storage equipment for your items will help you tremendously in figuring out how to declutter your apartment. Depending on the room and what you need storage for, there are a large variety of organizer types for any space in your home.

Some types of organizational materials you can look for are:

Using storage furniture and labels for easy organization makes retrieving items easier for day-to-day living. Additionally, modern-day home decor often includes the use of storage containers and decorative boxes and bins for a minimalist decor approach. 

Make Piles of Your Things

Whenever you are focusing on one of your decluttering tasks, a great tip for cleaning efficiently is to empty or clear all items out of and off of whatever you are cleaning, and lay the items out on the floor. Then, you divide them into piles of similar items and organize those piles into bins or other storage designated for them. 

For example, if you are cleaning out your office desk all items get put on the floor. Make a pile for pens, another pile for electronics and wires, and piles for paperwork, bills, miscellaneous items, etc. Then, as you sift through each pile you will organize them as you see fit. All the electronic wires and chargers go into a bin that will be put into a drawer, all your writing utensils get put into a desk organizer, and as you clear through the paperwork and old mail, you throw out what you do not need, and establish a filing system for what you keep. 

Be Willing to Say Goodbye 

One of the most vital parts of learning how to declutter your home/apartment is to be willing to say goodbye to items you do not use or no longer need. Sometimes we, as humans, assign value to possessions because they were a gift, cost a lot of money, or were something cherished at one point in time. However, it is important when decluttering to adopt the mindset of being willing to part with items if you do not use them or need them. 

An approach to saying goodbye to possessions is to consider if you have used the item in the past 90 days or if you have worn an article of clothing within the last 6 months. Using these timeframes to assess the usefulness of every item can help make more informed decisions about the stuff that accumulates space in your home, particularly when grappling with how to decorate small spaces. 

Choose Furniture with Storage 

One of our favorite ways to eliminate clutter is to invest in furniture options that include storage elements. For instance, ottomans with inside storage, shelves that can hold storage baskets or bins, and beds with built-in storage drawers. Utilizing interior design elements through your furniture choices can make cleanup easy on a daily basis as well as open up more options in smaller living spaces to hold your items without them always being on display. Working with a locally owned furniture rental service can help you in determining the best furniture options for your living space. 

Adopt a Clutter-free Mindset 

To continue living a clutter-free life long term, developing a mindset that sees items and possessions as secondary to your mental health and well-being is one way to adopt a clutter-free mindset. Prioritizing how you feel in your home/apartment over the number of possessions or materials that you own can help you reduce the amount of spending you do. This will, in the long run, cut down on the number of things you need to declutter in the future. 

Lease Furniture for Your Newly Decluttered Home Today! 

If you are looking for modern home decor for your newly decluttered home or apartment,  Executive Furniture Leasing has great furniture packages for your North Carolina home. We offer quality rental furniture with storage to keep the rooms in your homes organized and clutter-free. 

To learn more about short-term and long-term leasing, call us at  336-851-1351 or fill out the form below.