How to Purge, Declutter and Simplify Your Life

Does “stuff” sometimes cloud your thoughts and overwhelm your life? I totally get it, and I’m here to help you purge and declutter your home to simplify your life. The new year is always the perfect opportunity to start decluttering our homes. Once all the holiday decorations are put away our homes seem sparse and empty. It’s a refreshing and rejuvenating feeling. Let’s take it a step further and piggy bag on that feeling.

Let’s look inside cupboards and closets and cabinets and get rid of things we don’t use or might not need or simply don’t want anymore. I know there’s so much stuff in my home that fits these categories, and I simply need to let go. Letting go of unwanted and unnecessary stuff is a stress reliever and lightens our minds. Come on in and let’s get busy.

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How to Purge

We don’t necessarily have to go gangbusters and clean out our entire living spaces in order to purge unwanted or unneeded stuff from our homes, . Slow and steady wins the race here. Attack one area of your home at a time to make the task manageable. By focusing on smaller footprints we tend to be more thorough and careful about our purging thought process.

Start Small

Start small in order not to overwhelm yourself. Simply select a room or a cabinet and go through identifying items which are not longer used, useful, needed or provide any value. Going forward, set your own pace. Depending on your lifestyle, schedule and physical ability decide whether you want to tackle a new room or closet every week or maybe once a month. Do what you can. Try do something regularly so it becomes a pattern or habit.

Categorize

As you purge unwanted items separate them into categories, which will determine their fate. When I purge my home, I use three categories.

Donation items

Donation items are in good condition, they can still be utilized, but I do not have a need for them, I do not use them anymore and they don’t bring me joy. Hopefully someone else will find these donation items useful. I donate through local thrift stores, but there are a plethora of donation options out there. I am a regular thrifter, as most of you know, so it gives me great satisfaction to pay it forward and donate items others might find useful.

Sale items

These are also items like above, which I do not have a need for or use anymore and don’t bring me joy, but I find them too valuable to donate. These items tend to be costume jewelry or high end decor pieces or designer clothing, etc. I will attempt to sell these items through resell sites like FB Marketplace, or E-bay or local garage sale pages. After six months if I don’t sell a piece, I reconsider donating item or might find a friend or relative to pass it on to if they are interested .

Garbage items

These are items of no value to anyone. Some pieces are past their prime and just need to be thrown out. Things that are broken or ripped or stained beyond repair fit in this category. I am very deliberate about what is thrown out since I am always amazed at the amount of garbage the human race generates. But that’s another topic for another time. My point being, that only throw out something that really cannot be used or is of any value to anyone. I try to keep things out of the landfill if possible.

Organize

I take this opportunity to organize and clean out the space or area they are stored in for the items I keep. This adds another layer of stress reduction. Not only have you decluttered the space but you have also made it orderly. It’s much easier to organize an area when unwanted clutter has been removed.

Purging Thought Process

Evaluate

Useful

The key to the purging and decluttering process is to be thoughtful and honest about the evaluation of said items. You know better than anyone if you can’t live without an item, or use an item regularly, or proves itself useful enough.

Joy

But beyond that are the items that aren’t necessarily “useful” but simply bring you joy. The “sparks joy” movement was popularized by Marie Kondo as the KonMari method. Some things are simply pretty and make you happy, which improves quality of life. All these thoughts and emotions are part of the evaluation process.

Execute

The separate categories need to be disposed in the proper manner once the evaluation process is over. I recommend to remove sorted items from your home as soon as possible. This way the clutter doesn’t linger longer, simply moving into the garage or other area of your home. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Donations

The donation pile can either be dropped off at a donation depot, thrift store, or you can also call for pick-ups from certain organizations.

Trash

Garbage items can be disposed in different manners depending on the size and amount of garbage items. If it doesn’t fit into regular garbage receptacles you can make a dump run or call for a special junk pick-up. Around here there are many services which provide junk removal; or dump runs for a certain fee. If this is needed, it’s worth investigating in your area.

Sell

For all the items you wish to sell, take photographs of items showing front and back, showcasing the condition of said item(s). Also draft a description, including size, color, dimensions and any other pertinent information. Post these immediately on desired selling sites. If you are posting items on multiple sites, I recommend noting in the description that item is cross-posted, creating demand. Be warned there are some crazies out there and be ready to deal with humanity. If you’ve worked in a job dealing with the general public, you know. I always make sure someone is with me if an interested buyer is picking something up. I have only taken cash, but Venmo and other accounts like this are good options too. Good luck.

Enjoy

Organize

Once all the undesired pieces have left the building, it’s pleasurable to organize all the useful pieces left in place. A decluttered space is much easier and sometimes fun to organize. Organizing pretty and useful things can be therapeutic and satisfying. Enjoy the orderly space.

Joy

Beyond proving useful, the pieces which simply bring you joy can be embraced and enjoyed. Many of the pieces which I find joy tend to be decor items or entertaining pieces or special clothing and accessories. Since these items are all things which are not used in the regular day to day living so making sure to have the proper storage or space for these joyful pieces is key.

Maintain Continual Balance

Lifestyle

The purging and decluttering process is not a one and done thing. It’s a lifestyle. Rotate around your living spaces, tackling a certain area regularly. By doing small areas in regular time windows, allows for the process to remain manageable. This prevents decluttering and purging our homes from becoming an overwhelming endeavor.

In & Out

When you bring something new into your home, remove an old item at the same time to maintain balance. I always say for every new thing, remove three old things. I am more aware and active on this point whenever possible, although I don’t always adhere to this rule 100% honest.

Closing Thoughts

I hope this information helps you streamline your home by removing unnecessary clutter, which simplifies your life and reduces stress. Although the new year always seems like the perfect time to purge, I highly recommend and urge you to do it regularly. Your home will seem brighter and your mind will be lighter for it.

We close down Christmas around here once the epiphany has come and gone. Our home is already feeling lighter without the holiday glitz and two large bags went to the thrift store the other day. Onward and upward into the new year with high hopes. Thank you for being here and sharing the ride with me. I have a feeling 2025 will be a good one.

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Having a simplified, uncluttered home is a form of self-care.”

Emma Scheib

sharing @ between naps on the porch