The Beginners Guide to Decluttering Your Home

Out with the old, in with the new. It’s a time-tested phrase and perfectly encapsulates everything great about decluttering and organizing your living space. There’s something refreshing and empowering about taking advantage of the changing seasons to revitalize your surroundings and breathe new life into your home.

But we at Access Self Storage also recognize that sometimes life is busy, and while decluttering your home sounds good, finding the motivation to declutter can be a challenge. That’s why we wanted to take a moment to walk you through our favorite tips for cultivating that desire to declutter and the best methods to take that energy and make it work for you!

Here and Now: Find Your Motivation to Declutter

If you haven’t decluttered in a while, it may be difficult to convince yourself to take that initiative now. When you think of everything that needs to happen, it’s only natural that you become overwhelmed. Why bother decluttering? Will it even matter if, a few months from now, it ends up looking exactly the same?

But you know it’s not a waste of time, and if you approach decluttering your home with the right strategy, you can ensure the changes you make now stay. If you need more motivation to declutter than that, consider the following:

• A cleaner, more organized space is better for your physical and mental health.
• You’re less likely to hurt yourself on out-of-place objects.
• Having a more attractive home can make it more welcoming for guests.
• It’s easier to keep a home clean once it’s already clean.
• A decluttered home is less likely to have pest problems.

You don’t need all those reasons to start decluttering—just one. So whatever you stand to gain from decluttering your home, keep that in mind, and use it to drive you forward.

Let’s begin.

How To Declutter Your Home With Serious Efficiency

There are few things someone can master overnight, but fortunately, with decluttering, we can get pretty close. All it requires is some patience, diligence, and direction.

Start With Small, Focused Goals

Your first objective is to keep yourself from being overwhelmed by “chunking,” a term for breaking down a larger objective into smaller, more manageable goals. Depending on exactly what you intend to get done, you may need to modify the details, but this can include steps like:

• Designate a box for donations.
• Create space to walk in.
• Remove the end table you don’t use anymore.

Each part should be short, easy, and easily accomplished in a reasonable span of time. Use the momentum of each completed task to push into the next part of your home decluttering process.

Decide What To Keep, Donate, or Toss

One of the best things about decluttering is it gives you an opportunity to free yourself of all the things you never actually use. Since you’re cleaning house anyway, set aside some time figuring out what you absolutely should keep versus the things that are in enough disrepair to be tossed or unwanted enough that they’d be better served as donation items.

Create an Organization System

One of the most important ways to prevent your home from falling into decluttered disarray again after a few months is to create and maintain an organizational system. This can be as simple as making sure certain items always stay in certain rooms (things that belong on your work desk are always in the office), or you can be a bit more detailed.

When decluttering our home, we are fond of the classic color-coded boxes option. If you’re decluttering your home and have plenty of belongings that need to be stored, make sure you don’t lose track of them. Place them in containers of different colors, each designated for certain belongings, such as holiday decorations, summer clothes, or old books you don’t have room for on your shelf.

Make the Most of Unused Space

Most people are surprised at how much space they have but aren’tutilizing in their homes.

The two biggest examples are vertical space, such as wall shelves, hanging hooks, and even the space under the bed, as well as multifunctional furniture, like an ottoman with additional storage or a couch with built-in storage compartments.

Take Advantage of Storage Solutions

If you need to make more space for yourself, one of our top suggestions is leaning into the inherent benefits of storage solutions. Sometimes your greatest tool in decluttering your home is simply having more space to work with.

Affordable, versatile self storage options are available for whomever needs them. Whether you’d benefit from a large amount of space to something as small as a spare closet, having that much more room to work with can make all the difference.

Who Benefits When You Declutter Your Home?

We believe decluttering your home should be a priority because it benefits everyone. Cluttered spaces tend to increase stress, make people feel trapped or enclosed, and make it easier to lose track of things. When they’re messy enough, they can also invite pests or other unpleasant things into your home.

Decluttering keeps your home healthier, safer, and cleaner, which improves the quality of life for everyone who shares your home space. If that’s not motivation to declutter, we don’t know what is.

Fast Track Your Motivation To Declutter With Access Self Storage

Now that you’re primed and ready to declutter your home to your heart’s content, we want to give you one final tip: Lean on Access for superior storage as soon as you need it.

We pull out all the stops to provide the best care possible for our customers. When we are trusted with the belongings of those in our care, how could we not?

If you’re in the market for versatile, cost-effective storage, find a storage unit near you today. We’ll do everything in our power to keep your belongings clean and safe so you can complete your home decluttering to your satisfaction.