If you have recently embarked on a decluttering journey congratulations! While watching Nextflix, I stumbled upon Marie Kondo and as a result became fascinated with decluttering and home routines. I have been decluttering our home for almost a year and with each item donated, trashed, or re-homed I always feel a sigh of relief. The appearance of my home has also changed and my stress levels have decreased.
While I will always talk about the benefits of decluttering (and there are many), I learned why decluttering isn’t enough to maintain a clean and tidy home. If you only declutter without considering and implementing additional home concepts you will become frustrated in your home journey as you soon find out that the clutter can return in just a few weeks or even days.
By going beyond the art and practice of decluttering and completing three additional steps you can experience a profound transformation in your home that will last for years to come.
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Address The Root
Becoming Minimalist states that clutter is just a symptom of a problem and often is the result of a deeper issue. It can be a reflection of our emotional attachments, unresolved past experiences, or fear of letting go. Without determining the root of the problem, you will declutter items throughout your home but will continue to bring clutter into your home creating a vicious cycle. To determine and address the root of clutter that has formed in your home and life, read and think about the following circumstances and determine if they may apply to you. This will allow you to examine your relationship with material things.
Possible Contributions
You are trying to fill an emotional void- If you are currently experiencing stressful situations in your life, you may often look to material things to make you feel better. If you rely on material items to make you feel better you will create a cycle that will quickly fill your home with material items, resulting in clutter.
Fear-You have a fear of parting with items in your home. You feel that in the future you may need the items. As a result, you keep the items. These items become “What If Items” that you really never use.
Lack of knowledge – You have a lot of items but don’t consider the items clutter (which they are). On the other hand, you may be aware of the amount of clutter in your home. However, if you are not a planner and tend to procrastinate, the materials in your home, although not needed, continue to stay in your home.
Transition-You are in a transitional season in your life. As a mother of 3, I recognized that clutter occurred in our home when my children were babies or in their toddler years. I thought that I needed to purchase every gadget, toy, diaper bag, bib, clothing item, etc. Anything that was geared toward children was on my list to purchase. As a result, clutter quickly became a norm in my home.
In any scenario remember it’s okay to ask for help!
Stop The Flow
Once you determine and address the root of the clutter (which is often the hardest step) you can begin to pump the breaks and stop the flow of the accumulation of materialistic items a.k.a clutter. To stop the flow it’s important to limit the amount of things that we purchase but how do we get to that step? We remove the triggers and the time that we spend in situations that prompt and trigger spending. Here are some practical ways to stop the flow of clutter:
Unsubscribe from email subscription
Meal plan
Order groceries online
Limit trips to retail stores
Limit time online
Limit time spent on social media (Ads are notorious on social media)
Set a limit on the number of items that you want to own (for example you may set a limit of 10 pairs of shoes)
Ask yourself “Do I really need the item”
Ask yourself “How often will I use the item”
Ask yourself “Where will I store the item”
Find healthy alternatives that provide dopamine
Manage The Remaining Items-Make An Action Plan
After decluttering and stopping the flow of bringing items into your home, managing what you have in your home is how you will begin to make changes in your home that will last for years to come.
Develop A System
Now that you have said goodbye to items that no longer serve a purpose in your home, it’s time to focus on what you do have. When you focus on what you do have, think about how you will use and manage those items.
Develop a system for organizing your belongings. When you complete this step you find a designated place for each item and make it a habit to put those things back in their proper location after use. This prevents items from accumulating in random places and creates a clutter-free environment. Storage containers, shelves, bins, baskets, and labels help categorize and separate items, effectively creating a maintenance system.
Develop Routines
In addition to organizing your materials, you will also need to develop routines for your home.
Routines are predictable actions that we routinely do. Home routines are actions that we complete within our home to help keep our home clean and organized.
When creating a home routine, make it personal for your home. Examples of home routines are awesome and a tremendous help but if you don’t modify and create home routines specifically for your home they won’t work well.
Some examples of home routines include a morning routine, evening routine, laundry routine, decluttering routine, cleaning routine, and grocery shopping routine.
When I created my home routine, I thought about the following:
- How often do I need to do the routine (daily, weekly, monthly)
- When will I have time to complete the tasks within the routine
- Will I need help when completing the tasks within the routine
- How will this routine make my home and life better
Once you decide what tasks within those routines you will need to do, write those items down and divide the routines into daily routines, weekly routines, monthly routines, and yearly routines.
When starting your home routines, complete your routines for 3-6 weeks and trust the process. After 3-6 weeks if your routine isn’t working make changes to the process. Consistency is key to maintaining the benefits of a meaningful and sustaining organization.
Final Thoughts:
Decluttering isn’t just a one-time task and isn’t enough to create a peaceful home environment. It’s truly an ongoing process that requires commitment, consistency, and effort. By realizing that decluttering isn’t enough and going beyond decluttering with additional strategies and routines you will create a space that promotes peace.
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