New Year Home Declutter: 4 Simple Steps To Organize And Refresh Your Space
The second it turns midnight on New Year’s Day, fresh hope surges. You feel sparks of optimism and inspiration to achieve more. However, dust bunnies sit under the entertainment center, and you can barely walk into the toy room because it hasn’t been cleared since your baby was born. To usher in the New Year with a deserving bang, start your New Year home declutter by decluttering, organizing, and starting anew.
Why Is the End of the Year the Perfect Time?
Spring cleaning gets all the love, but winter is the best time for a thorough declutter. Why? It’s psychologically appealing to people. Major time-related landmarks, like the start of a year or a birthday, create the fresh-start effect in your mind.
As a new year approaches, people are more likely to experience motivation because they feel like a new person. The change in self-perception inspires you to take on ambitious goals, like giving your home the refresh it deserves.
People also tend to spend more time at home during the colder months, so you should feel your best in your space. As a bonus, you might have some increased time off around the holidays to take advantage.
4 Steps to a Total House Purge
If you want to take action now, where should you start?
1. Choose Areas of Focus
Before pulling out the cleaning gloves, identify which areas of your house currently bring you the most stress. If you walk into a room and feel off or overwhelmed, this is a sign. Dedicate your efforts in these places.
Indoors, high-stress areas tend to be closets, storage areas and kitchens. Outdoors, you may want to prioritize organizing your garage or installing a cover to protect your pool and keep dirt and pests out during the winter.
Once your family has the top 3-5 areas in mind, it’s time to zero in on what’s causing the space to feel dirty and cluttered.
The New Year is the perfect time to refresh your home and your mindset. A cluttered house can weigh you down, but with a simple plan to declutter and organize, you can start the year with a clean slate.
Ready to kickstart your New Year home declutter? Let’s dive into 4 easy steps to transform your space and set the tone for an organized year ahead.
2. Do An Audit
Before deep cleaning, you’ll need to remove any items blocking your path. You’ll want to go through each belonging, holding them in your hand and asking yourself if they serve a purpose. People rarely interact with their material possessions in this way. It’s a great method to determine what objects you truly use and what makes you happy.
Put aside anything that doesn’t align with your family’s interests, values, goals or lifestyle. You may also toss unwanted items, like expired food or a broken game controller. To get items out of the house, consider:
- Upcycling
- Donating
- Regifting
- Selling
- Recycling
Make sure you don’t get rid of anything important, like seasonal items or documents that may contain sensitive information. If you question a paper, consider scanning it first just in case.
3. Gather A Cleaning Checklist
Once the area is free of clutter, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and clean. Collect a checklist of cleaning essentials and delegate tasks to family members.
In addition to keeping you on task, a checklist offers the satisfaction of crossing items off to keep morale high — it’s a win-win. A detailed cleaning checklist is essential to staying on track during your New Year home declutter, ensuring no corner is overlooked.
4.Group Similar Items Together
After a thorough clean, your home likely smells of lemon and fresh starts. The job’s not done yet, though. Now you have to put everything back in place. The best way to maintain a long-term clutter-free lifestyle is to house similar items together.
Objects in similar categories also need an assigned home. This organization method will make home organization routines simpler to build.
For example, keep pens in a jar on your desk and nowhere else. Hook reusable shopping bags on the door hanger. Getting into this habit ensures when new possessions enter your home, they have a designated place to live after each use.
Sparkling Space, Sparkling Life
Winter is the best time to kickstart a home transformation. You’re likely spending extra time indoors, and you want your home to feel clean and beautiful for the upcoming holiday festivities. Start by picking up one item you don’t want, and get it out of your home. Disinfect and tidy the spot where it used to live. Rinse and repeat until your house shines and you’re ready to step peacefully into a new year.
By committing to a New Year home declutter, you’re not just clearing your space—you’re creating room for new opportunities, a sense of calm, and a fresh perspective to thrive in the year ahead
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