SPRING CLEANING
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Guest Blogger: Jackie Waters
Spring Cleaning Decluttering: Refresh Your Home With Focused Paring Down
Spring cleaning provides the perfect opportunity to declutter your home and embrace a cleaner, more organized look. Many people are anxious to open the windows and give everything a deep clean when the spring season hits, but spending some time working on decluttering at the same time is a wise move that can have a big impact.
Classify each item as something to donate, sell, recycle, or discard
As Best Pick Reports notes, a lot of waste is created when people work on spring cleaning and decluttering their house. There are ways to approach the process from an eco-friendly stance that will help to reduce waste, yet clear out your house. As you tackle each area of your house that needs attention, plan to break things up into multiple piles as you sort through them.
For example, you will have items that you keep or need to move to a different part of the house and items you can donate. There will be things that you can repurpose or reuse like clothes you can turn into rags or containers that can become planters, and other items that can be recycled. Things that don't fit into any of those categories will head to the trash. You may also want to keep an eye out for cleaning products or other items that you can replace with chemical-free versions at a cheaper cost to become more eco-friendly.
Don't procrastinate on tackling your decluttering
You need to tackle the clutter during spring cleaning as you see it rather than push it off to another time. Procrastinating typically means that you don't deal with it at all, and more stuff will accumulate. However, trying to face all your decluttering work at once can definitely seem overwhelming. Consider breaking it up into small chunks, either tackling one area or even one box at a time, or setting a timer for a short period of time that will keep that block of time short but productive.
It can be difficult to let go of sentimental items, especially things related to your children's younger days. Choose key items that really are meaningful and give yourself a limit to how many things you'll keep. House Beautiful notes that you can get rid of sentimental items without losing the memory attached to them, and you can always photograph or scan the item, or find a way to part with it while celebrating what it represents. Focus on keeping only the very best, most important items that are truly meaningful.
Consider which items might be worth reselling or repurposing
As you declutter in a truly thorough way during your spring cleaning, you will likely end up with some significant piles of stuff that need to be vanquished from your home. While some things are easily relegated to the trash bin, there are plenty of items that you don't need that don't seem to necessarily be trash, either.
The Spruce suggests some eco-friendly ways to deal with those types of items. For example, books, DVDs, and old electronics might be worth trying to sell, and many local charities are happy to accept clothing, toys, dishes and other kitchen items, and sometimes even furniture. Some items can be repurposed, like taking clothing items and making a quilt out of them, or using a door as a headboard.
Once you have everything decluttered and set aside, consider giving your home a deep cleaning. After all, if you have a lot of possessions, chances are they’ve been masking plenty of dirt, dust, and grime. To make this process easier, and to reward yourself for getting through the decluttering process, hire a cleaning service to get things done. Maid services in Lisle, Illinois, typically cost anywhere from $82 to $220, so keep that in mind when piecing together your budget. And if you sell some of your unwanted items, you’ll have this cost covered!
Spring cleaning takes enough effort as it is with cleaning, spring home maintenance projects, and decluttering. Don't let yourself overthink whether to keep or discard something. If you have to think about it, you probably don't need it, and you will feel rejuvenated when you make it through the process and see how much more organized your home is as a result.
[Image via Pixabay]