I have always believed that the time between Christmas and Spring is the perfect pausing point. It’s cold outside, many of us have spent a lot over the festive break and so spending time indoors at home becomes the temporary norm until the warmer weather returns.
This pausing point is the perfect time to go through the house, room by room and have a really good sort out. Freshening up the home ready for warmer days should also be a priority whilst activities are relatively sparse.
In true Marie Kondo style, today I’d like to share with you my four top decluttering and freshening up principles and ideas. These are easy and simple to do and can easily become a new way of life to keep your home free from clutter.
Having started to watch Marie Kondo’s TV series on Netflix this week, I have been inspired to share with you some of my own ideas on how you can declutter and keep your home feeling fresh throughout the year.
Are you ready?
Everything has a Home
The concept from Marie Kondo that “everything has a home” is incredibly simple yet almost healing and brings a sense of calm.
Every item you own should in fact, each have their own homes within your home. This concept is the first and most paramount of them all to understand and get to grips with.
It’s the foundations of all decluttering and tidying guides because it keeps your necessary possessions stored within units, cabinets, boxes or shelves.
As soon as you’re in the mindset of everything having its own home within your house, you can start working through items in categories.
Using the same strategy as Kondo, start with Clothing, then move on to your Books, Papers, Miscellaneous and finally, Sentimental / Momentos possessions.
Clothing Clear Out
The first area to look at decluttering is in your wardrobes…
Have you still got clothes you used to have from 8 years ago? Do you still wear any of those clothes?
Now is the time to start looking at your clothes and questioning the items you have in terms of time. If you have a few pieces you haven’t worn in the last 12 months it is definitely worth thinking about whether you are actually planning on wearing those items at all.
My recommendation to you is to take every piece of clothing you own and make a massive pile of it. This makes you realise just how many clothes you have!
Then, you should go through every item one by one and decide whether you want to keep it or not… Anything that you’re not going to keep should be put into a charity pile or bag that should later be taken to your favourite charity shop.
In true Marie Kondo style, when going through your wardrobe and chest of drawers, if there’s an item of clothing that you don’t feel complete and utter joy from then it should go into the “for charity” pile / bag. Thank the item for the wear it has had, then let it go and leave in the for charity bag.
This process of going through each piece of clothing you have is incredibly therapeutic!
Now it may seem like it’s an extremely long and drawn out process to have to go through, but it’s incredibly rewarding when you put the items you are keeping neatly back away. Suddenly everything seems to be spaced out much better in the wardrobe, and your drawers can close easily!
The Art of Tidying
Using the same process as explained in the above Clothing section of this post, work through the remaining categories; Books, Papers, Miscellaneous and Sentimental items.
Have you read every book you own? And do you ever intend on actually getting round to reading those that you haven’t?
Be as vigorous as you can with what you keep, and what you put into a “for charity” pile.
Anything you keep, make sure those items or papers each have a designated home.
Start by getting some stylish storage boxes and baskets so you can give everything a home. This way, you have cleared through your “stuff”, discarded what is unnecessary and organised what you do need to keep into a more visually acceptable places.
For papers, think about how you can organise your files more efficiently in ring-binders and box files.
With these storage boxes, box-files and folders, you can then start to arrange these in a better way.
Keeping the Home Fresh, Year Round
Now that you have cleared through your possessions and had a really deep clear out, you can start to make plans for freshening up your home.
This can be done simply in a number of ways, they just need to be kept up with.
In key rooms such as your Living Room and Entrance Hallway, consider using diffusers to ensure a consistent scent is smelt. Choose one that isn’t too over-powering and that is fresh.
As part of your cleaning routine, you should have a step of freshening up every room with either diluted fabric softener or fabric scent spray (such as Fabreeze). This helps to keep the house smelling fresh regularly throughout each month.
Alongside this, it’s a good idea to have a rough idea in your mind as to how many times a year you might have a clear out or clear through things that you may no longer need. This could be every 6 or 12 months for example.
I hope you have found this blog post interesting and insightful into how you can declutter your home this Spring and keep it feeling fresh year round.
How do you like to keep your home clear from clutter? Do you have regular clear outs? Let us know in the comments below!
Take care,
Jessica, xo
References:
Intro, Unknown
Everything has a Home, My Domaine – https://www.mydomaine.co.uk/eclectic-california-bungalow-home-design
Clothing Clear Out, Unknown
The Art of Tidying, Unknown
Keeping the Home Fresh, Year Round, Homiku – http://homiku.com/index.php/2019/01/12/51-simple-kitchen-decoration-in-small-house/
