The Importance of Decluttering Your Home

The Importance of Decluttering Your Home  

Do you spend way too much time cleaning or trying to find things? Does the excess clutter in your home make you feel anxious and overwhelmed? Is it hard to focus on the task at hand without getting easily distracted? Decluttering goes far beyond just improving the aesthetics of your home. Research shows that our personal surroundings – the environment that we live, work, and socialize in – has a profound effect on our overall happiness and well-being.  Over time, holding on to too many physical possessions begins to mentally weigh us down and the clutter becomes overwhelming.

Decluttering isn’t just about getting your desk in order or clearing out your wardrobe, it’s about letting go of all that stuff you’ve been hanging on to from past careers, relationships, and unfinished business. With less stuff everywhere, you’ll  be able to free up more living space for your family; your home will be easier to clean and manage;  you’ll be able to organize and find things more quickly, and you’ll feel more relaxed and serene in a home that is tidy and clutter-free. 

Start by re-evaluating the essentials of your home and get rid of the items you should’ve gotten rid of years ago. Ask yourself the following: Do you honestly need this item? Do you love it? Does it have some sort of significance in your life? Does it serve a purpose? If the answer to all of these questions is “no,” it’s time to get let that thing go. You are making a conscious choice to liberate yourself from the clutter that’s been weighing you down. Begin by getting rid of all of the stuff you obviously don’t need such as old magazines, clothes you no longer wear, toys your children have outgrown, and any excess items that you don’t ever use. 

Next, think about the truly important items in your home such as kitchen necessities for cooking and eating, bathroom necessities for personal hygiene and self-care, and bedroom essentials for getting the rest you need. Rather than quantity, consider quality items that will last, and only bring items into your home that “spark joy” (Marie Kondo) or serve a true purpose. You will find that not only you, but your loved ones will be a lot happier in a clean, organized, and clutter-free living space. 

Some of the Benefits of Decluttering Your Home 

• Less stressful. Clutter can be a lot of visual distraction and cause of mental stress. It’s basically a lot of things you have to do (put away clothes, file papers, pay bills, get rid of junk, etc.) that you are procrastinating on. While you don’t want to think about these things, they are in the back of your mind and you know they are there.
• More efficient. People tend to function better in an uncluttered home or workspace. There are fewer distractions with less clutter, making it easier to focus and be more productive.   
• More peaceful. It is easier to relax in a serene, uncluttered home than one filled with excess stuff on every surface and in every corner. 
• More prepared. In the event of surprise visitors, you’ll never feel embarrassed with the state of your home. 
• Less dust. Allowing excessive amounts of clutter to build up is an invitation for more dust, which can aggravate allergy symptoms and respiratory problems like asthma.  Decluttering can help improve the air quality in your home.   
• Saves time. Clutter comes with a time cost. You have to look for items, move things, store stuff, and take things out of storage. Decluttering may take a bit of time on your part, but it will give back a lot more time in the long run. 
• Easier to clean. Less clutter makes your home easier to clean in less time. 
• Frees up space. Decluttering provides more living space for your family to play, work, and enjoy life.   

Four Basic Steps to Decluttering

There are four basic steps to decluttering your home that you’ll want to keep in mind. As an example, here are the steps for decluttering a single drawer: 

1. Take out everything and put it in a pile. Empty the entire drawer, and pile it all on a counter or a table. Take everything out, down to the last paper clip.
2. Pick out only a few things you love and use and that are important to you. Just sort through the pile, picking out the really essential stuff. Be very selective. Put the important stuff you pick out into a separate, smaller pile.
3. Toss the rest out. You know you’ll never need those manuals again. Don’t be sentimental with this step. Either throw everything into a big trash bag or find a new home for some of the items – donate them to charity or give to a friend who would love them.
4. Put back the essential things, neatly, with space around things. Clean the drawer out first, of course, and put the very small pile of things you chose back in the drawer, grouping like things together and leaving space around the groups. Having space around things makes everything look neater and simpler.

You’ll want to repeat the same process for every drawer, shelf, counter space, tabletop, cupboard, floor, closet, or any other area in your home that needs decluttering.  It can take about around 20 to 30 hours to organize an  entire house. If you think you’re going to spend five minutes here and there, it will be undone in a minute. Instead, put a few hours on your calendar and honor the commitment the way you would a doctor’s appointment. Then, play some music, enlist a friend or family member to help, or whatever works so you get cracking.

Maintaining Your Clutter-free Home

Once you’ve dealt with most of the clutter in your home, you’ll also want to keep it that way moving forward. It’s important to create new habits and make decluttering a regular thing.

Here are a few tips for maintaining your clutter-free home: 

Clear floors and flat surfaces and keep them clear. Rooms look so much cleaner if all flat surfaces (floors, tabletops, countertops) are clear of clutter. Remove everything except maybe one or two functional or decorative items. If you find stuff making its way back to these surfaces, get into the habit of clearing them each day or every couple of days.  

Designate a home for everything and be a stickler about it. If an item doesn’t have a home, you need to get rid of it, or it will forever end up around the house and attract more clutter. Maybe you’ve already designated a spot for something, but you’re not the best at putting it away. If that’s the case, getting into the habit of putting things where they belong immediately will make a huge difference. 

Make an appointment with yourself for clutter maintenance and put it on your calendar. Just like house cleaning, the task of decluttering should be an ongoing part of your regular routine. That way, excess clutter won’t find its way back into your life and weigh you down. 

Do you have a hectic schedule with little or no time left over for tasks like cleaning the house?  You may want to consider hiring a professional cleaning service to do the cleaning for you.

Do you have a hectic schedule with little time left over in your busy week for tasks like house cleaning? Let the professionals at Clean Nation Company take some of the load off by doing the cleaning for you. We’ll make sure your home is sparkling clean just the way you like it. Our high standards, attention to detail, and ongoing employee training are what set us apart from other cleaning companies.

We offer a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee. If you are not happy with an area in your home we have already cleaned, just give us a call within 24 hours and we will re-clean it for free –  no questions asked.  Our cleaning PROS are bonded and insured, and must pass a background check before they are hired. We are committed to providing the best cleaning services available in Post Falls, Liberty Lake, Spokane, and Spokane Valley:

• Woman-owned and operated full-service cleaning company
• Over 50 years (three generations) of experience in the cleaning industry
• 24/7 cleaning options & support
• Emergency one-time cleanings
• Professionally-trained cleaning specialists
• Healthy home electrostatic spray disinfection
• Commitment to the highest level of clean
• Licensed, bonded, and insured
• Customized cleaning solutions
• Quick response times
• 100% satisfaction guarantee
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For more information about our quality house cleaning services, or to schedule a cleaning visit, please give Clean Nation Company a call today at (509) 217-4729.

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