It's Cleaning Time! 4 Tips for Decluttering and Organizing Your New Home
Ready to start the new year in a clutter-free home? Keep your new Atwell home clean and organized with these four easy steps.
Busy, active families can quickly accumulate "stuff" that creates clutter. But there’s no reason to wait for spring cleaning to organize your Atwell home. Start the new year off right with four easy steps to a home free of clutter.
Start small.
Big accomplishments are best tackled in small wins. Set yourself up for success by zeroing in on one or two specific areas at a time. Some declutter gurus recommend starting with the bathrooms, generally the smaller rooms in the home with less space to gather clutter. Bathrooms also have fewer sentimental items to stew over. Throwing out all that expired medication and old makeup provides just the feel-good boost you need to stay motivated.
From there, move to lesser-used spaces like a guest room before graduating to primary bedrooms, kitchen and office areas.
Have a purge plan.
Whether you use the pile, tub or garbage bag method, decide on your purge plan for separating items into Keep, Sell, Donate or Trash categories. As you complete each room, remove the temptation to redesignate non-keepers by disposing of them quickly.
How do you evaluate what to keep and what to discard? You can adopt Marie Kondo’s KonMari Methodof keeping only items that bring you joy. Does that pair of jeans that never really fit right bring you joy? What about the dishes hidden away in the kitchen cabinet that were a great bargain but never used? This joy-based approach to curating your possessions can make it easier to let go of the excess stuff you’re keeping “just in case.”
Give things a home.
Now that you are left with only the items you love and actually use, give them each a home within yourAtwell home. You’ll know where to find things when you need them, and where to return them when you are finished. Atwell homes’ spacious closets and cabinets provide plenty of options to give each item its proper place.
Become a habitual put away-er.
Once you have purged unused and unneeded items, and given everything else a home, maintain the work you put into decluttering and organizing. How about a New Year’s resolution to start each day with clutter-free kitchen counters? Resolve to keep your floors completely clear (toys in their homes, books on shelves, shoes in closets). No more overwhelming piles, and you’ll keep your home consistently clean!
Want an organized, clutter-free new home? Contact a New Home Specialist at (951) 355-7849 today.