A new year brings a sense of freshness - a clean slate, if you will. And I don't know about you, but I get the urge to declutter and reorganize my entire life in January (okay so maybe this happens bi-weekly in my case, but that is beside the point...). I truly believe that having a space that is clean and organized breeds creativity and productivity.
To be totally honest - I kind of jumped the gun this year. As soon as I got out of school the second week of December, I came home and purged every nook and cranny of our home. And y'all - IT FELT SO GOOD. I promise I can breathe easier and think more clearly. Dramatic, yes, but true? Also yes.Not only does purging physically create more space, it creates more mental clarity. It changes your mindset. It allows you to be grateful for what you have rather than constantly pining after things that you don't.
One of my personal goals for the month of January to is really reign in my "extra" spending. I have a lot of stuff. And there really isn't much (if anything) that I need. I don't mind spending money on a coffee date with a girlfriend or a lunch date with a family member. Those are memories. I'm more referring to buying absurd amounts of coffee mugs + graphic tees. Ya feel me?
I wanted to give y'all some tips for purging. Not to brag, but I'm kind of a boss when it comes to cleaning and organizing. I thought everyone was until I got married and watched my husband try to declutter his man room. *shudders* He stands holding things, flipping through things, reading things for 20 minutes per item - aka he gets nothing done. Then he gets frustrated with how long the process is taking and quits halfway through. Sound familiar to anyone?
Tips for Productively Purging Your Home
1. Map out a game plan. Do you have an entire day to dedicate to clearing your clutter? Or do you need to span it out over a few days and do one room a day? Either way, I suggest tackling one room at a time.
2. Have a "control center" that is not in the room that you're decluttering.I usually make my control center the hallway or the kitchen. What do I mean by this? I have 3 piles when I'm decluttering a space: 1. Keep. 2. Donate. 3. Trash. I keep a trash bag in the room that I'm working on where I can throw away actual trash as I go. But as far as the "keep" and "donate" items I put them in 2 piles in the control center. The "keep" items are items that I know I want to keep but they don't have a home in the space yet. If there is an item that I want to keep and it already has a spot to live, I just leave it there. Having these 2 piles out of your sight, helps you weed through things quicker and not second guess your decisions. At the end, I bag up the "donate" pile and bring the "keep" pile back into the room and find a logical home for each item.
3. Don't delay in dropping off your "donate" pile.Once you've finished, try to take the donations to an appropriate location that day (or the next day at the latest). This way you won't find yourself digging through the bags a week later to "make sure" that you still want to get rid of everything in there. NO. You've already decided that you don't need that item so get it out of there.
So go clear your clutter! And then come back and tell me how much BETTER you feel ;)
xo, Jesslovelylittlethingsblog.com
