Decluttering your apartment can feel like an ongoing project that seemingly never ends. Many of us tend to collect various items which lose their purpose over time, therefore creating a yearly purge to ensure every square inch of your apartment is used with purpose – especially if your apartment doesn't have a lot of room to spare.
So, if you are starting the new year by purging old items and reorganizing your home, then reading this blog is a great start!
Declutter First, Organize Second
Many people believe your room is a reflection of your mind – if you keep your space clean, your mind will be clearer. This is why decluttering your home is so important; it gives you the opportunity to make sure everything in your space meets your needs and helps you maintain overcrowding in your home.
Before you get into decluttering your home, you should first create a plan of action. We suggest planning to edit down everything in your house before you get into cleaning and reorganizing. For instance, try decluttering each room, one at a time, and gather boxes that are labelled based on their intended contents and destination. Then, once everything is removed, you’ll have a much clearer image of how you would like to organize your space.
It is important to do this because sometimes items can get lost in the chaos, or worse, you could end up throwing away items you didn’t intend to discard. Some rooms we suggest starting with are the kitchen, closets and entryway because these areas often contain the most clutter.
You can refer to this handy checklist for some additional guidance:
Set a Timeline and Goals
Another great tip is to make sure you give yourself a timeline to complete each project. By setting a date to finish, you can hold yourself accountable and organize accordingly.
The best way to start is to draw a map of all the rooms in your home to visualize and highlight the clutter hotspots. Try to assign a number from 1-3 to each room, with one being the cleanest and three being the messiest, in order to set priorities. We suggest starting with the messiest room first to get the larger projects out of the way right off the bat and perhaps locate some misplaced belongings.
Pro tip: Create a declutter challenge by giving yourself tighter deadlines. When housework feels more like a competitive challenge, you can avoid frustration and feel more motivated to get the job done.
Determining What to Keep
Deciding what to keep and what to donate or give away are some of the hardest decisions you’ll make when decluttering your home. Therefore, we have put together a list of questions to ask yourself when you're undecided:
- - Does the current me love this?
- - Have I used this in the past six months?
- - How often do I need this?
- - Would I repurchase this?
- - What value does this add to my life?
- - Why am I keeping this?
- - Do I own duplicates or something similar?
- - Can I consolidate this with something else?
- - Do I know someone who might want or need this more than I do?
Discarding the Rest
Once you have decluttered your home, you'll be left with a collection of items you can either donate, sell or dispose. Or, even better, try to pass along your items because someone's trash may be someone else's treasure! This is also an opportunity to make some additional cash, either by hosting a garage sale or utilizing an online site such as Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.
Another option is to donate to your nearest thrift or consignment store, depending on their estimated value to others.
Digitalize Items
You can also save space by digitalizing keepsakes such as photographs, papers and even movies.
As technology becomes more prominent in our everyday lives, transferring belongings to a digital format by either photocopying or scanning them can improve accessibility and maintain their condition.
Document the Achievement
Our last tip is to take a picture of your new-look space to reflect on the big change. This will also help motivate you the next time you need to declutter your home.
At Avenue Living Communities, we are always looking out for our residents. If you found any of these tips especially helpful, make sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok for more home ideas! And, if you’d like to share your after images on Instagram, tag @avenuelivingcommunities and use the hashtag #tipswithavenue.