Happy Eco News Make a Minimalist Move and Cut Down on Clutter With These 5 Simple Strategies
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Make a Minimalist Move and Cut Down on Clutter With These 5 Simple Strategies
When moving to a smaller residence, cutting down on clutter and possessions you don’t use or need beforehand positively affects your move. However, it’s often more complicated to throw away something you don’t use or need than it seems.
Sentimental belongings, valuable items needing repair and collectibles frequently cause indecision — the subtle heartstring tug and simple “what if” questions are prime causes of decluttering delays.
You likely won’t want or be able to take everything with you, so declutter before you reach your new home — you’ll save on packing materials and moving costs by doing so. You’ll also be happy that everything fits on arrival.
Include these worthwhile tips to ease your sorting process and make it more mindful.
1. Use the Boundary Method
You’ve likely heard of making boundaries in your work, personal life and relationships. Effective ones enhance your mental well-being and self-care.
Too often, while you’re sorting, an item from your past will almost scream at you to keep it, even when you know it will lie in a cupboard somewhere for eternity. Using the boundary method, you can consciously and even stubbornly refuse to change your mind about parting with items without good reason, just as you would uphold your boundaries with others.
Asking yourself relevant questions gives your sorting rules structure to apply to each item you sort. Try ones similar to these:
- Do I want this item?
- Do I need it?
- Will I repair it?
- Will I use it?
- Is it valuable?
- Can somebody else use it?
- Can I sell it?
- Can I donate it?
- Is it recyclable?
2. Incorporate the Four-Box Routine
You’ve got your rules. Now, find four good-sized boxes and label them each with a word — “keep,” “sell,” “donate” and “trash.” According to your set boundaries, you might choose other words or combinations of the above.
For example, “repair,” “upcycle” and “recycle” are all excellent alternatives. Never label a “maybe” — it’s always a catch-all box, and there’s never room for one of those. With your labeling choices staring you in the face, it’s psychologically easier to do the right thing, and you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised when you see the “sell” or “recycle” boxes filling up.
Some box labeling ideas include:
- Keep
- Repair or upcycle
- Recycle
- Trash
- Shred
- Donate or sell
- Store
- Find out more — in the case of family member possessions
You may also find it helpful to include a rule never to remove anything from a box and place it in another. Leave it where it landed, and if you still feel strongly afterward, remove it when sorting the full box, but don’t second-guess yourself otherwise. If you want a minimalist move, achieving it means being strict with yourself and your family members about the sorting boundaries you established.
3. Take a Sorting Approach
With your four empty boxes accompanying you, start decluttering in a specific room in your home, complete it and tackle the next one. Some people prefer to sort by category or section instead. If you choose to, divide your belongings into kitchenware, computer and electronics, toiletries, books and others.
Say you settle on the room-by-room approach. You’ve got four labeled empty boxes, so all you need to do is start with a cupboard or drawer in your chosen room and begin your sort session. Once you fill your “keep” box, remove the items and replace them in the relevant storage containers in the room. If some things actually belong in another room, leave them in the box until you’ve gone through everything there before unpacking and repacking them.
As people often take items from other rooms to their bedrooms, living areas, and studies or offices, it’s perhaps worth starting to sort there so you can transfer those things when you get to the space they belong in. Try the following order for the easiest sorting:
- Main bedroom
- Children’s bedrooms, if applicable
- Study or office
- Living room
- Kitchen
- Dining room
- Bathroom
- Laundry
- Garage or other storage areas
4. Designate Areas for Your Sorted Items
Ensure you have enough space in your home to empty the box’s contents or store new boxes of items you’re parting with or repairing when filled. Allocate separate areas of your residence for each differently labeled box, preferably in a sitting room corner or the dining room, where the contents are visible.
One of your rules must be to dispose of unwanted and unneeded items according to your box labels as soon as you’ve finished decluttering. Having them somewhere obvious reminds you to do so.
Hopefully, you’ve chosen to dispose of your unneeded items by donating or recycling them. Recycling or repurposing items like plastics instead of trashing them decreases the greenhouse gases produced in landfills. At the same time, charities accept all manner of donations, which means others can reuse your unwanted possessions.
5. Prepare for Your Move
When you’ve sold or donated your belongings from their respective piles and recycled the “junk” items you can’t or won’t be repurposing, all that’ll be left are the possessions you’re going to repair or use in upcycling projects, and those are already neatly packed away. You’ll be amazed at how much extra open space you have in your home.
Before packing anything else for the move, pack those repairable goods separately to go into your new project room at your new home. By reboxing them and labeling them as “repairs” or “projects,” you can move them directly into the designated area after your move.
Next, move from room to room and repack your remaining clothing, cosmetics, bathroomware, electronics, important paperwork, keepsakes, kitchenware and foodstuffs. As you’ve just sorted through everything using the four-box method, all these should already be in their applicable rooms, so packing them into suitably labeled boxes will be much simpler.
A final clever trick is keeping an extra box handy while packing. Occasionally, you might discover something you wonder why you kept when sorting originally. If this happens, pop that item into the spare box. You’ll be surprised how many additional possessions you have to discard when you’re through.
Enjoy Your Minimalist Move and Your New Home
With your boxes all packed and labeled, you’re ready to move into your new residence. All that’s left is to meet the movers and coordinate to ensure your chosen belongings end up in the correct areas of your new home. With the clutter gone and so much less to move, doing so will be a cinch.
On your arrival, quickly unpack the items into their new rooms’ relevant cabinets, cupboards, drawers and containers. Then, sit back, put your feet up, and reflect on your well-planned and executed minimalist move.
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