How Often Do You Declutter Your Home?

Sound advice for sure.

Fortunately however - as a lifetime of frequently moving from one place to another has made me extremely minimalistic - and I'm also one of those naturally methodical and organized sorts who doesn't particularly like clutter either - not only is de-cluttering something that I never have to make an effort to do - as I'm constantly doing it - almost without thinking - but as I only ever buy what is actually needed and generally only ever replace things when they are no longer capable of doing the job they were originally designed to do or are starting to cost a lot in repairs - I rarely if ever have anything worth selling either.

 

From what I remember, the first and only time we decluttered our present home was in 2008 when we had a garage sale. All the bric-a-bracs had to go because our guest room was almost filled of old shoes, slippers, hats, tv and other appliances, clothing, etc. The garage sale was successful because almost all our items for sale were sold and the buyers were even asking for more. I don't know when we would have another garage sale because in 2010 we had built an extra room that serves as stock room aside from the guest room.

 

I am in the process of doing so, but it has been taking much longer than I would have liked. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

I have managed to save quite a bit of money, by using things I already have around in order to avoid buying storage containers. For example, I used the boxes from soda twelve packs to store canned goods. It is perfect, because I can see what I have on hand. Also, because they cost me nothing extra. I saw this on Pinterest, of course. Some of them decorated their boxes, but I used them as is. No one is going to be looking at my canned goods anyway.

I can get organized and reuse stuff at the same time.

 

I have to say I hate clutter and like gata montes, I'm always getting rid of unwanted stuff. For that reason, I'm very careful not get carried away buying way more than I need. I also use stuff until it needs replacing. If I have it, I don't get another one. I find having too much stuff makes the house look very untidy, no matter what you do. It also hampers the cleaning process and just makes it more cumbersome, having to move things around and put them back in their place once you're done cleaning. It's hard enough doing this when you have an adequate amount of stuff LOL

 

I hate clutter but I also hate to get rid of things that I can find another use for! That means I end up keeping all sorts of things and repurposing them rather than getting rid and can mean at times I have a lot of clutter around while I'm in the process of transforming this from one thing to another. I don't mind the clutter if it means I save money in the long run though, and if it ultimately helps me to be more organised! I had a single bed sat in my living room for about 2 weeks last year and that was annoying for sure, but I turned it into a shelving unit and it's been super useful since then! Having it sat around in the way for 2 weeks was worth it in the long run as I needed a shelving unit for my office.

 

I am in the process of decluttering my house since I am getting ready to move in a couple of months. There is so much stuff that I do not want to have to move since I do not use it, so I am selling a lot of it on eBay and will have a yard sale to sell some of the bigger items or things that have not sold online. I would rather have the extra money in my pocket from the things I no longer use.

 

I think my dad does it once a year or when he sees that the clutter is piling up. I also declutter my old clothes and I just give them away if I'm unable to sell it.

 

I am decluttering now because I want to try to sell this house, failing that, I will at least have a nicer environment. However, I was just commenting online how I found at least 8 kinds of body creams and lotions, and that was just in one cabinet. Most of these I don't even use and I have others in the house. It is amazing what we can accumulate. I should never buy more again. However, I think I probalby will!

 

I try to use an item up completely before I purchase a new one to avoid clutter, re-purposing an item also helps to avoid clutter. I use the little containers from butter to store food in the refrigerator instead of purchasing new plastic containers. I use jelly jars to take things to work for lunch that can be thrown out, less clutter and less money spent.

 

I declutter my home at least once per year, usually twice. I go through all of my clothes and shoes (and help my family members do the same), and we use garbage bags to bag up any clothing items that no longer fit or are defective in some way (stained, have holes, tears, etc). Any items that are in good condition are saved to either be donated or sold at a garage sale.

I will also go through all of the paperwork that has piled up periodically filing away important papers and destroying the rest. Movies, books, and magazines are also gone through and any that we no longer want we box up to be sold at a garage sale or donated. We do the same with kitchen and other household items. We are learning to stop keeping so much stuff around and using what we have until it's too worn out to use, but sometimes things still accumulate, especially when you have kids in the home.

 

I do it in small increments throughout the year. I am very disorganized so the mess piles up quickly, and I have to keep doing inventory regularly and throw things out or else I will end up with such a huge pile that it becomes a big task at the end of the year. At that point I'd probably be too lazy and overwhelmed and I could get tempted to just leave it and turn myself into a hoarder, and that thought keeps me constantly vigilant in organizing regularly.

 

I have a hard time decluttering as I am quite a pack rat. My husband on the other hand likes to live in a clutter free home so we usually do a big clean out of our house every two to three years. We had a garage sale once to get rid of some unused furniture and toys and made a few dollars which was great but it was a lot of work. I think in the future I would rather just donate my old clothes, toys and furniture to a good cause. I must admit it did feel good to declutter.

 

I am actually in the process of decluttering my home at the moment in preparation for when we get approved for a home loan soon. Homes are being bought up so fast around here that you pretty much have to make an offer on the day you go to look at the home or someone else will snag it up. It feels good to go through everything we own and get rid of stuff we are no longer using. It is very refreshing.

 

Decluttering is a good idea, but one's mind has to be bent on doing this. I think it has to be a planned event since quite a few other things can keep us occupied, like everyday errands and other routine chores that have to be done. If one did decluttering on a regular basis, like every 6 months or so, the job would be much easier than if it were done once a year or once every 2 years.

We had a garage sale at our home only one time that I can remember. There are also times that I have carried some used as well as unused items to flea markets to sell and was able to get a fair amount of pocket money from these sales.

It is sometimes a difficult decision to know what to throw out and what to keep, and I think that is the reason why we tend to hoard stuff, thinking we will need it some time later on.

 

I'm a cleanly minimalist. We are always organized, never cluttered and avoid things that detract from simplicity. If I don't need it, and I want it, I think about it pretty hard before it ever enters my life.

 

I am often quite busy, however I like to declutter my home when I have an entire day free one weekend which doesn't happen very often. I will get everything together and will take some things to charity shops and will sell other things. There is always a lot of rubbish that simply gets put in the bin, too, which is a shame. I always feel a lot better about my home when I have tidied it all though, as it seems cleaner and I am always happier in a cleaner home.

 

I am a philanthropist by default thats why it is easy to declutter my home. In this regard, I don't make any savings except during difficult financial challenges. The only items I find easy to declutter are newspapers which I sell to meat vendors. This is an excellent method to recover the cost on my newspaper purchases.

 

I actually just lost my storage unit because it was too expensive and I couldn't keep up the payments. So I involuntarily lost a bunch of clutter and rebuilding will actually make me consider what things I would buy again and which ones don't matter so much. So it's a blessing disguised as a horrible, upsetting event.