5 ways to sustainably declutter your life this spring

The start of spring means it’s time to get cleaning. Decluttering your home is a great way to take inventory of your life – and feel better as a result.

It’s inevitable: over time, all homes accumulate clutter. You may have already pondered questions like, ”Do I need those extra shoes in the back of my wardrobe?” “Are those old magazines on my coffee table ever going to be read again?” “Is that tattered carpet a quaint addition or visual burden on my living room?”

With winter behind us, now is a good time to take inventory of your life and give your home the spring cleaning it’s been calling out for. Follow these five steps to liberate your home of clutter.

Allow for some compromise – but try to be ruthless.

Start by marking out items that can ‘potentially’ go. It’s not a definitive list at this stage, just a ‘maybe’ list.

Think about what you want from a space – will less stuff open it up, leave room for new items, reveal undiscovered potential? A good approach is to make a list for each room in the home, and then separate side lists for individual areas like wardrobes.

Unless you live alone, there’ll likely be some compromise to decluttering. Allow every house member to indicate the items they would like gone, then compile everything together into one thorough list.

Because letting go is hard, everyone should have a chance to salvage one in every 10 or so items on the list that they simply cannot part with. This should be done sparingly, though.

Once your list is finalised, figure out where everything needs to go. Essentially, you have four options:

Give it to someone you know. For things that still have use, this is a nice way to ensure your items find a loving home and don’t end up in landfill.

Sell it. Websites like Gumtree or Facebook ‘buy and sell’ communities are great ways to offload unwanted items and make some cash on the side.

Donate it to charity. Pop into your local op-shop and give them your usable items.

Throw it away. If items are unusable, look into the correct ways to dispose of them. Your local council’s website is a good place to start.

There are lots of practical things to consider when decluttering. The goal should be to get rid of as many items as you can in as short a time as possible.

For example, if removing larger items requires the use of a van or truck, try to move everything in one day to avoid excessive rental costs. If you’re planning on organising a hard rubbish pick up, make sure to check your local council for relevant info. Or if you have people coming to your home to inspect an item for sale, try to set up back-to-back appointments so they don’t begin to take over your free time.

The better you plan, the less hassle the process will be.

Soker says that buying better quality goods and repurposing items at home are some of the ways Australia can move towards a circular rather than linear economy. Here are some of his tips:

Fix your clothes: “I remember as a kid, if you had jeans with a hole in it you would always find another bit of denim fabric and cover that hole up. If you had suits, you’d put elbow patches on!”

Get creative: “One example is a charity that takes quality fabrics from clothes that have had their day and hand-stitches and repurposes them into tote bags.”

Avoid ‘fast fashion’: “If you have an item that costs five bucks new, you kind of think ‘What’s the actual value of the fibres in that?’ If it’s only going to take X number of washes until it’s out of shape, charity stores can’t use it.”

Part of your decluttering may also involve a more thorough clean of the house – throwing out old newspapers, cleaning out the fridge, tidying the garage, etc. You’ve come this far, why not give your home a final polish?

Block out a day or weekend and, if spring cleaning is a whole-house effort, assign each house member ‘cleaning zones’ that they’re responsible for.

You might have decluttered a space with plans to refurbish it in mind. Maybe there’s a bookshelf online that you’ve had your eye on. Or maybe it’s a new sofa. But before you go ahead with your plans, step back for a moment and look at the space. Ask yourself, “Does it actually need anything else?”

You might find that by simply emptying an area you’ve given it new life. And to add anything new would just throw it back into the clutter zone. Sometimes, less is more.

Staff writers come from a range of backgrounds including health, wellbeing, music, tech, culture and the arts. They spend their time researching the latest data and trends in the health market to deliver up-to-date information, helping everyday Australians live healthier lives. This is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances. The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances.

Disclaimer:
The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as financial, medical, health, nutritional, tax or other advice. It does not take into account any individual’s personal situation or needs. You should consider obtaining professional advice from a financial adviser and/or tax specialist, or medical or health practitioner, in relation to your own circumstances and before acting on this information.