Time to give your abode a good old-fashioned decluttering
Spring is officially here. Yay! Time to open the windows and let in the fresh air. Time to open your closets and let out the stuff. Time to be open to what life has to offer by letting go of unwanted and unnecessary stuff. Are you with me?
Every spring I like to go back to basics and remind all of you, my loyal readers, just how important it is to give your abode a good old-fashioned decluttering. We are creatures of habit and during the winter we all squirrel away stuff in our home. Well, maybe not all of us. I continued to edit my belongings all winter — as something new came in, something old went out. Mind you, most of what I replaced was necessary and included the broken coffee maker, the busted alarm clock, the sneakers with holes in them, the stained shirts and so on. You get the picture.
I digress. Back to your situation. Since you may not have faithfully followed the one-inone- out rule, you will need to dig deep and let go. As I’m sure you know, you need to start with a plan. Resist the urge to jump right in and start pulling stuff out of drawers and closets. If you do it this way, you will have a huge mess on your hands, and you will only make the situation worse.
Your plan needs to include which areas of your place need a good decluttering and then a prioritized list of which one you will tackle first, second and so on. Then you need to estimate how long you think each area will take. Don’t be overly optimistic here. Whatever time you come up with, you probably should double that estimate. If you have time leftover, reward yourself with a rest.
Now, turn to your busy schedule and see how much time you can carve out for organizing. If you have a six-hour project I’m willing to bet you won’t be able to do it all at once. So, break it up into two blocks of three hours each. You will be better served if you enlist some help. Unless you absolutely love organizing your stuff, doing it alone is not the best idea. Plus, if you choose a helper who is good at purging, they will encourage you to let go of more stuff. Always a good thing.
Now, because you can’t organize all in one session, you will need to break up the space into two sections so that you feel as though you’ve accomplished something and so that you can keep the organizing you have done in place until you come back to it next time. Please don’t wait too long before coming back to finish the task. Otherwise, you have just completely wasted your time. Start on one side of the space and work your way around clockwise. Or start in the middle and then work around the edges.
Once you’ve pulled out and purged what you can live without, plan how you will store your stuff and put it back in labelled containers or on shelves with labels. Whatever works to trigger you to put things back where they belong. It might be best to use temporary bins and Post-it notes until you have finished the entire area and then you can decide on a final layout.
Finally, try to have fun and enjoy the results of your hard work. And remember, there is no time like the present.
Jane Veldhoven owns Get Organized by Design in Halifax and loves working with busy people to help them de-clutter, redesign, and redecorate their spaces, move to a new home, or renovate their existing home.