How To Minimize Clutter In Your Home
EDIT. PURGE. DOWNSIZE. DECLUTTER. EVALUATE
You may have heard these “buzzwords” floating around in the organizing community. And for good reason. The editing process is very important when tackling an organizing project. It is the time to reflect on items that you have, and those items that maybe no longer serve you. You may find things you forgot you had and no longer wish to store in your home, or even find an item that a friend let you borrow that you can finally give back to them.
But the million dollar question is…how do you minimize clutter and eliminate unnecessary items coming into your home in the first place?
This week I am sharing four tips on how you can do this!
1. Stop Using Coupons
I don’t mean to stop using coupons to save money on items that you already purchase (like at the grocery store, for instance). But I’m talking about those coupons from clothing stores, shoe stores, department stores. Things you aren’t buying on a regular basis.
You know the coupons I’m talking about. The coupons you receive in the mail from all of those stores where you joined their free “loyalty” programs. The ones where you earn points to spend in the store, and get access to special discounts. Yes, those discounts for you to save money on purchases at their store that you weren’t even thinking of making in the first place!
These stores spend so much money on marketing and advertising strategies and this is one of them to get you into the store! When we see a coupon we think, “Oh, I have this coupon! I better go in and get the deal!” When in reality, we weren't planning on going there in the first place. So, is it really a deal? The better deal would be saving your money rather than going to make an impulse buy because you have a coupon.
Please don’t take this as a lecture. Because I myself, do this sometimes when I get a coupon - especially for shoes! I don’t buy shoes often, so I will usually do this when I get a coupon (even though I may not need them at the time). I’m just saying these things to try and make you more self aware.
If you don’t buy the items you don’t need in the first place, you will not need to find homes for them inside of your home, which will minimize clutter.
2. Cancel Auto-ships + Subscriptions
Auto-ship can be good, however, most of the time I’ve seen that things are being shipped before the item needs to be replenished. Then we end up with multiple items in “back stock”.
My boyfriend had an item on auto-ship through Dollar Shave Club. He ended up with 10 tubes of moisturizer before we realized that we needed to cancel the subscription.
If you have things on auto-ship, set a reminder in your calendar to update them/cancel them. If you have things on auto-ship, make it a point after reading this post to check the status of them and either make it less often, or cancel it all together.
3. Wait A Month
One of the things you could try and do is whenever you feel the urge to make an impulse buy, stop yourself from buying it at that moment and wait a month. If you find yourself still wanting or thinking about the item, then make the decision at that point. You may find that you are past it and don’t even want the item anymore at all.
4. Avoid Stores
If I haven’t lost you yet and you’re still reading, please stay with me after this one! Avoiding the stores if you can may help curb the impulse buys. If you’re good at sticking to your list, then you’re good! But, if you’re like me, and find yourself heading to Target for one thing…well, you know. I end up tinkering around the dollar spot, office supply section, the bin and organization sections, and the home decor sections. I find things that look cute, that I don’t really need, and that I wasn’t even planning on buying in the first place. But when I see it, I say, “Oh, I could use that here”.
My next tip for avoiding things…avoid TIKTOK! There are so many “influencers” now who promote all sorts of things. We scroll and scroll and then tell ourselves that we need these items when we don’t really need them. But we see it, and FOMO kicks in. Here is where you can use the “wait a month” rule!
I hope you found these tips helpful! If you’re looking for step by step instructions on how you can sort, edit and organize areas of your home, check out our DIY plans!