Garage
Garages often require deep cleaning throughout the tidying process. Weather permitting, one of the best ways to do this is to empty out the garage. Cleaning, mopping, and dusting the garage for most homes will go a long way toward tidying up. This will also help you find and collect odds and ends that might be littering the floor. Cleaning also gives you entry into the decluttering process, as you come up against items that you may not be sure why they’re there or why you are keeping them.
Taking everything out of the garage allows you to have a deeper evaluation for workable storage ideas, such as wall shelving, possible hanging opportunities. This fresh perspective will help you see how you will ultimately organize the space. Alternately you may try starting in a corner and working your way through the garage.
Get rid of junk. It’s very easy for junk to migrate to the garage in the interim stage between wanting to have it and ready to let it go.When it comes to decluttering the garage, it’s time to finally kick out all that unnecessary clutter. Since garages do tend to be a dumping ground for homeless objects, this is another place to have a catch-all bin that you go through weekly. Since the garage is one of our go-to places for long-term storage, it can force us to ask hard questions, such as where we see ourselves in the future or which hobbies we intend to continue.
Once you have decluttered, you can add more storage. This will give you more places and crafty storage options to put things. Make use of vertical space throughout the garage as much as you can. This might include wall-shelving or hanging.
Labeling will help you find what you need and make sure that things are put in the right place. You might even divide your garage into zones where certain spots indicate what’s stored there. Zones might include car supplies, cleaning supplies, sports equipment, and tools.
The World’s Foremost Experts on Decluttering
Peter Walsh
Author of Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight
Sometimes hailed as a therapist as well as a home tidying contractor, Peter Walsh recognizes that the drive to buy consumer goods is related to what these goods seem to promise for our lives.
“It’s not necessarily about the new pots and pans but the idea of the cozy family meals that they will provide. People are finding that their homes are full of stuff, but their lives are littered with unfulfilled promises.”
Ideally, the things we have should help us live the life we want. This decluttering method aligns well with goals setting and personal development.
Walsh’s Tips:
- Tackle the master bedroom first, so that it fulfills the vision you have for your life.
- Don’t procrastinate and start now, even if it means just doing a little bit.
Julie Morgenstern
Author of: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life
Julie Morgenstern recognizes that much of our clutter is sentimental and tied to self-identity. She explains that:
“Often these are things that represent who you once were. But once their purpose is over, they just keep you stagnant.”
Julie Morgenstern’s decluttering method emphasizes personal growth and self-development through letting go of the restrictive past that objects can hold in order to continue development and create a new calmer sense of self.
Morgenstern’s Tips:
- If you’re trying to make a change, think about how to make that change stick before and after the decluttering process.
- Follow all your decluttering with strong organization.
Marie Kondo
Author of: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Marie Kondo is an organizational consultant whose book and recent Netflix show set off a focus on decluttering and organization throughout America.
Her technique is a two-step process. She first asks you to put your hands on everything you own and evaluate whether it sparks joy. If it doesn’t, then you thank it for its service and find a way to remove it from your home. Then, place all your joyous items somewhere that they’re visible and accessible. This creates homes for your items so that you can easily grab them and put them back in place.
Kondo’s Tips:
- Declutter in categories instead of rooms. For example, work through all your cleaning supplies, all your books, all your clothes, all your sports equipment. This will help you truly evaluate what you need and what you don’t.
- For clothes in your drawers, try a vertical folding technique. This will allow you to see all your clothing options at once while also respecting your clothes as neat and enjoyable packages.
Sally Walford
Author of: The Clutter Monster
Sally Walford focuses on creating rooms of calm and inspiration. Her focus is on the house and its features in order to create calm spaces and reveal the character of the home.
Walford’s Tips:
- To keep the bedroom relaxing, make it a paperwork and even computer-free zone.
- If you’re having a hard time letting go of objects in your home, it might be because you haven’t examined and let go a sense of guilt that you carry about those objects.
Helen Sanderson
While many tidying experts are consultants and authors, Helen Sanderson brings the practice closer to home with a home declutter kit to help anyone get started with their own decluttering process.
Sanderson is concerned that our clutter keeps us from calmly engaging with our underlying creativity and possible projects and potential. Her tips ask you to strike at the heart of the matter, with those things we keep because of our belief that they will help to promote our public image.
Sanderson’s Tips:
- Try making your bedroom a no technology space.
- Similarly, having too many books in your room, aside from the one you’re currently reading, can be a burden on your mind and feel like work.
- Get rid of unused cosmetics, and keep only what you’ve used in the last six months.
Decluttering can be a cathartic activity with long-term rewards that enhance our productivity, give us space to relax and enjoy our lives, and help us find the right organizational tools to accomplish our goals.
