Things To Declutter at Home Before The Start of the New Year

Declutter. We often hear this word in home lifestyle shows and platforms. It has become a necessary task to keep our homes clean and organized. When we do a general cleaning at home, we also say that we need to declutter. What is it really?
Simply put, to declutter means to get rid of the clutter – to get rid of the mess. Would this mean disposing some of your possessions? But, what can we gain out of losing some of our stuff from home?

Benefits of Decluttering Your Home
Society dictates that the more possessions you have, the richer or more successful you are. It is quite true that the volume of stuff you own responds to the life status that you are portraying and want to maintain. But what is the life status for?

A lot are moving towards minimalism now – to have only a few possessions. It is an advocacy of people who are bent on having a more clean and organized home and life, in general. You might not think much about decluttering but there are more benefits that what you can think of.

Less things to clean. The things you have at home are potential dust-hoarders. This is especially true if these things are not actively used, or are just meant to be decors to look at and to add character to the rooms of your house. The less stuff you have, especially those you don’t really need, the less dust you
have to clean.

Less to organize. Just imagine doing a building-blocks kind of game when you do organize your stuff at home. The more stuff you need to organize, the more space and time that you need. You have to stress over making certain that there is still enough space to move around.

Less space needed to store. One thing that you would have to consider when you don’t declutter your home is space – storage space in particular. To put your stuff away from the rooms that are actively being used, you would need a storage space. It could be the attic, a spare room, the space under the stairs.Some, rent out a storage unit just so they will have somewhere to store their stuff, or to some,
junk in. But if you have less things then you wouldn’t need that much space to store them in.

Less time to spare. Another thing that you can save on if you declutter your home is time. Time is a precious commodity and you wouldn’t want to spend much of it trying to clean your homes or get from one area to another. The less stuff you have, the less time you need to clean them, to organize them or
to look for space to store them.

Less stress to bear. All of what you can spend less and save more of will also mean less stress for you to bear. You wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning and organizing all your stuff or the fact that you would have to look for a storage unit that will not be costly on your part. You would be able to move freely
around without going through all the clutter. It’s a very heavy load that’s being taken off of your
shoulders.

Things You Need To Declutter

You might find in your plethora of things those stuff that you haven’t used for the longest time, don’t actually need and those that really need to go. Scour through your things for you might find one, if not all, in the list below:

1. Expired food
When was the last time you checked your cupboards or your pantry for food that went beyond the date indicated in the boxes or cans? Check it now and if they are expired, used or not, they have to
be thrown out.

2. Expired medicine
Just like your cupboards, your medicine cabinet might need a bit of sorting. If you find bottles of vitamins or other over the counter meds that already went past their expiry dates, do yourself a favor and throw them out. You wouldn’t want to accidentally take them when you need them thinking they’re still good.

3. Outdated newspapers and magazines
If it’s yesterday’s news, then it’s no longer new. If you plan to use them to help you clean glass and mirrors then have a couple handy. But you don’t need to keep many years’ newspapers and magazines. They will just take up space.

4. Old utility and/or credit card bills
These could have been already paid for sure so why keep them? If you want to keep them for records purposes, you can instead have them scanned and kept as a file in your computer or hard drive. And, another useful tip so you wouldn’t fill your house with bills, you can have them sent to you online.

5. Expired medicine
Just like your cupboards, your medicine cabinet might need a bit of sorting. If you find bottles of vitamins or other over the counter meds that already went past their expiry dates, do yourself a favor and throw them out. You wouldn’t want to accidentally take them when you need them thinking they’re still good.

6. Old CDs or DVDs
If you find them with scratches, even if you don’t try to play them, you would know they will surely skip. So better skip keeping them and dispose of them. You would have a free drawer for other essential things afterwards.

7. Old charging cables and batteries
You’ve replaced charging cables and batteries because they’re not working anymore. So what’s the use of storing them?

8. Sock or Glove without a pair
Socks or gloves come in pairs. Unless you want to wear mismatched pairs then go ahead and store them. But if you don’t see yourself wearing them ever, it would be best to throw them out or donate them to those who would need even just a piece.

9. Cans of dried paint
You might be keeping a couple in your garage thinking about a time in the future when you will need them. But if that will be a long time coming, you would be left with storing dried paint that you cannot use. Better to dispose of them.

10. Old appliances
There’s a reason why you haven’t used them, it’s either they’re obsolete or they’re broken. Either way, there’s no use keeping them, you can dispose of them. Or, maybe the original manufacturers have a recycling program that you can send your old appliances to.

There’s more to go
We are certain that you still have a lot of things at home that you know you have to declutter and dispose. One way to know is to check is if you’ve used these items for the past year. If you haven’t used them or just stored them without an attachment of some sort then they are things you don’t need and shouldn’t take a space in your home. Dispose or give them to those who need them.

Decluttering, like cleaning, should be a constant effort. Look through your stuff, then look through your life and you would find those that you don’t really need to keep. That’s a good way to start a new year!