Downsizing is not just for people who are moving, you can downsize to regain space and clear the clutter in your current home. Often people move because they think they have outgrown the home they live in, when in reality they just have too much stuff. Downsizing is a lifestyle change, think of it as decluttering on a larger level.
Statistics show that the average American has over 300,000 items in their home, 1 out of every 10 rents offsite storage, 25% of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside. We have too much stuff and much of it we don’t need or use.
Here are some simple steps you can take to eliminate the excess and free up space in your home.
Take Inventory
If you don’t already have a home inventory list, create one. The list should include all of the items in your home. The inventory list serves as a personal record of your belongings and is useful to you and your insurance company. Update the list anytime you add or remove something. Once you have a list of the items in your home use it to help you decide what can be eliminated. Create a Home Inventory List
Go Room by Room
When purging go room by room, complete one entire room and move on to the next. By purging and organizing one room at a time you get a better sense of completion and know exactly what has already been done.
Get Rid of Duplicates
You may not realize how many duplicates you have. Over the years things accumulate and you might buy something new not realizing you already own the same item. If you find duplicates keep the one that works best for you and donate or sell the rest. Also look for items that may serve more than one purpose, for example instead of 10 screwdrivers you might keep one multipurpose tool.
Organize Like Items
Look around for things that may be in several different locations, for example books and magazines. Maybe you have some in your office and some in the living room. Bring them all together and sort through them. Get rid of anything that you no longer want or need. Do this in each room, keep all like items together in one location that makes sense, books on a bookshelf, tools in a toolbox, linens in the linen closet, etc.
Get Rid of Items You Never Use
We all have things in our home that we have never used or used just a few times. These things are just taking up space, if you don’t use something get rid of it.
Don’t Create a Decide Later Pile
You want to create three piles in every room when deciding what to eliminate. Keep, donate or sell and trash or recycle. Don’t create a “decide later” pile thinking you will deal with it later. The decide later pile always ends up being the largest and you are just putting off making a decision. When purging you should be ready to choose what to do with each item and deal with it at that time.
Downsize Storage
When you have less storage space you will not have as much room to keep items or purchase new things. Think of a table or curio cabinet filled with stuff. If you remove the storage space it cannot be used as a magnet for clutter.
Clothing
Go through your clothing and make three piles, keep, donate or sell and trash or recycle. If you have not worn an item in more than a year you should feel comfortable donating it or selling it. Create a mix and match wardrobe, throw away anything that is worn or damaged and donate or sell anything that is too large, small or outdated. You might try the hanger trick to reduce the amount of clothing you have. Turn all of the hangers in your closet backwards. For six months, each time you wear something, replace it facing forward. After six months, look at everything that’s still hanging backwards and decide if you really need to keep it.
Reduce Paper Clutter
Go digital when possible, eliminate paper bills and invoices by signing up for online bill pay, scan documents and receipts to your computer and throw away the paper copy when possible, create a filing system for the paper copies you do need to keep. Go through the paper copies often and shred and throw away anything that is outdated. Minimalist Approach to Paper Clutter Home movies, music and photos can also be converted into digital files. Organizing Your Computer Files
Children’s Toys
According to the Toy Industry Association, the average American child has over 71 toys. One fifth of children have more than 100 toys, and more than 1 in 10 has over 200 toys. And most children do not play with all of the toys that they have, in fact they may become stressed and overwhelmed by the number of choices.
Sort through the toys and make three piles, keep, donate or sell and trash or recycle. Once you have purged what you are not keeping, sort and organize the toys you have kept so that the children can easily find and put away their toys. Twice a year repeat the process to keep the toy clutter under control.
Furniture & Appliances
Decide if you can sell or donate some of your furniture. If it is not being used or is just a place to hold more clutter get rid of it. Getting rid of unused furniture can free up a lot of space in your home.
Linen Closet
Sort through your sheets, blankets, towels and other linens. Keep what you want and get rid of anything you no longer need or use.
Junk Drawer
The junk drawer becomes a cluttered, messy space where we toss everything. Go through the drawer and organize the contents into categories, for example office supplies, art supplies, tools, etc. Then put those items in their proper location and throw away anything that is not useful. You can eliminate the junk drawer completely.
One in One Out Rule
Once you have things under control be mindful about any new purchase and give it thorough consideration before you bring anything new into your home. If you do buy something new get rid of one or two things you already have to offset the purchase.
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