How to clean up, de-clutter and get organized

Why will de-cluttering and cleaning help you with your financial confidence?

Here’s the story, half the time we end up buying the same things over and over again because we don’t know where we’ve put it, or it’s gone missing! This takes away from helping us build up our emergency fund, paying off debts and having a little bit of extra cash for the essential things in life. By simply cleaning things up – you end up saving money. There is also the fact that stress resulting from clutter is real. I always like to say an uncluttered home equals an uncluttered mind. When you end up running around like a chicken with your head cut off multiple times a day looking for things, your stress levels are going to increase - which is not great for you or others around you!

I’m not saying you need to become meticulously organized – that’s not healthy either. The point of decluttering and organizing your belongings is to save money and stop purchasing items you already have sitting around your home!

Now you’re wondering... how do I do this and keep organized and decluttered?

First, decide what strategy is best for you. Is it room by room or by categories? Marie Kondo, author of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, recommends grouping everything you have into a category, such as “sweaters”. When you do begin grouping, you’ll have to go around your entire home collecting all the items in that category, place them in a pile and donate or sell what you don’t need or use. Then the rest would go into its designated space.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, pick a room at a time to focus on until you’re completely done. This is a tricky one since what you may end up doing is moving your items from one room to another, and so on. But if you’re committed it can be done!

These are what you should ask yourself while in the moment of decluttering…

1.    Do I need it?

2.    Can I repurpose it?

3.    Can I give it to someone who needs it?

4.    Can I sell it and make some extra cash?

Next step… how are you going to organize all this? You’ve finished decluttering and donating what you don’t need, so what’s next? For those of you who are not on Pinterest, this may be the opportunity. Pinterest hosts TONS of fantastic and inexpensive organization solutions. I personally have a small addiction to these posts because they’re so satisfying! Take a look at my own Pinterest page for my favourite methods.

It takes time, but after organizing your space, you’ll recognize how you feel. I bet you’ll feel lighter without the sense of limited time and the millions of thoughts running through your mind.

Give it a try and leave any comments you think may help others below!