Decluttering Life – What to Keep, Store, and Dispose of

You have heard us mention decluttering before, but what does that entail? Why should you care? Decluttering Life is an essential task that helps you get rid of unnecessary items and streamline your living space.

Your health, productivity, and even your relationships can all improve when you declutter your home or place of business.

When you declutter, you get rid of the things that are no longer useful to you. This implies that clearing out the clutter in your home and life will make space for fresh possibilities and encounters. Additionally, you will have more time and room to concentrate on crucial aspects, such as family, friends, and personal development.

It is not necessary to get rid of everything you own when decluttering. Some objects can be kept, while others can be donated.

Here is how to choose and organise your clutter without going over budget or wasting too much time.

Keep: Items that are Useful in your Daily Life

The average Indian household produces a lot of waste every single day. However, you are not needed to toss away everything you do not use frequently as part of your decluttering effort.

How to decide what to keep is as follows:

• Keep a list of the things you possess and lack.
• Record the items you use.
• Create a scrapbook with your favourite pictures.
• Store the souvenirs that have special meaning for you.
• Get rid of anything that has lost its personal meaning for you.
• If you can, give your electronics a second chance.

Once you have this pile sorted, replace them in your closet in an organised manner. Use drawer dividers and organisers to keep the clutter from re-emerging over a period. 

Dispose of: Items that you no longer have a use for 

Start by looking at the unneeded household items that are laying around if you want to declutter your home. Have you ever considered giving them to a worthy cause? For example, giving away your surplus furniture benefits both you and the people who get it; Thrift and second-hand stores often will collect your items from your home. Moreover, you will feel good about yourself knowing that you did something good by donating your old furniture rather than creating more waste.

If you have a closet full of items you have not worn in weeks, months, or even years, why not give it away or create something else from it like scrap craft? 

Put In Storage: Seasonal or Sentimental Items

We keep things around because they make us happy in our homes. Whether it is a favourite blanket or a piece of furniture, we want to keep them. A good decluttering strategy to store such favourites is to use storage bins. For seasonal things like Christmas gifts or holiday decorations too, this technique works fantastically. What about sentimental objects, though? There are many which are either purchased on an impulse or gifted but are not functional. How do you choose which items to preserve and which to throw away? Here are some suggestions to aid you in organising your possessions.

1. Arrange everything in one location – This helps you start with a clean slate. Make your way along the things that need to be given away or passed down.
2. Classification – Place clothing next to books, for instance, and culinary materials close to the stove, among other things.
3. Verify that there is enough space for everything – A storage bin can help you tidy your home in addition to being used for storing items.
4. Make a list of what you want to keep – Make a list of everything that makes you happy or promotes your ideal way of life. You can always safely store the items that have value but are not used regularly in a Self-Storage facility. The rest can then be removed by going through the list.
5. Take inventory – Once you have gone through everything, take stock of how much space you have left.

Pro-tip: Try a “Maybe box”

You can even consider making use of ‘maybe boxes’ to declutter one’s home. This is a powerful method to experience life without throwing anything right away. You are aware of what you do not want, but you could still desire it. “Maybe boxes” allow you experience life without something before deciding to throw it away permanently.

Our homes tend to become cluttered quite naturally. In fact, according to a global Hygiene Home Truths Study, India is among the worst when it comes to hygiene. The study, 51% of Indian domestic surfaces were unsatisfactory and very bacterially polluted. This implies that we have excess clutter without even realising it. We frequently lose track of items’ origins or how they came to be in our homes. Cleaning out extra stuff and classifying them should be the first step in decluttering your home. After completing that, you can choose whether these items belong in your home or not.