Hey and welcome back to Simple Happy Zen, it's Vera here. So last week
I uploaded a video called minimalism for beginners how to become a minimalist. And a lot of you guys watched it. So, thank you
so much for all your lovely comments and your likes. I really appreciate it.
And so, I wanted to make today's video as kind of an extension on the previous one. Where I share my
b declutter tips you need to know. And these tips will help you to declutter your home effectively and successfully.
So let's begin.
The first declutter tip is to always take everything that you own, all your stuff out, and hold each item in your hands.
So let's say you want to declutter your closet.
That means that you take out all your clothes, all your
accessories, all your
underwear, and whatever else you keep stored in your
closet. Take out everything and dump it all in a really big pile. And go through it and hold each item in your hands
One by one. And then decide what to do with them. This might seem like it's more time consuming, but it's actually not.
Because if you leave stuff in there, you won't be really forced to deal with it, honestly.
So, let's say you want to keep your jeans in there. Because you think, I know I want to keep all my jeans
So I don't have to take them all out. I can just leave them in there.
But a lot of times, we don't know how we actually feel about an item until we examine it up close.
So if you take out all your jeans, even though you think you don't have to, let's say that you have six pairs.
Then you suddenly realize you feel a little less positive about two of them.
Because one doesn't really fit right anymore.
And the other one doesn't really match anything else you own. And then you realize you hardly even wear them anymore.
So that's when you know, you can actually let those two pairs go.
So, by taking out everything that you own and holding each item in your hands one by one and examining them
you can declutter way more effectively. And tackle a specific area in your home completely.
One of my biggest stress factors when decluttering, was
figuring out what to do with all the things that I wanted to get rid of. And it's so easy to just
collect everything in a few big boxes or bags or whatever, and
let them sit there for weeks while you're wondering what you're gonna do with it.
And that's kind of a shame, because you did all this work decluttering your home, and
yet you still cannot really fully enjoy your clutter free home because all that stuff is still there.
So the decluttering tip here is to immediately figure out what you're going to do with the items
you are getting rid of. Instead of dividing them up into keep, maybe and declutter
immediately divide them up into categories.
Give away, sell, donate, recycle, or toss. Create a box for each of them place the items in that box.
This will help you to actually get rid of the items quickly and then you can just sit back and relax and enjoy your clean
clutter free spacious organized home.
Now for decluttering tip number three, let's talk about the maybe pile.
I am actually a big fan of the maybe pile. Because it makes decluttering a lot easier
Especially if you're the type of person who gets a little emotional or stressed sometimes
when decluttering. Which is something that I totally have experienced myself too. Because sometimes you know, it's easy
You know exactly if you want to keep the item or not.
But with some items, it's not so easy. And you can easily get stuck in your progress going back and forth in your mind.
So create a maybe box. And if you have an item
you're not sure what to do with it, store it in the maybe box and keep that box somewhere stored in your home.
And if you haven't wanted to take it out and use it in the last three to six months, then you know
you can safely let go of the item. Because you won't miss it.
But, there is a catch. Because if you're having a hard time making decisions
then your maybe box can easily get too full and
overflow with stuff that you're not quite sure about. And it can also be really easy to
just go back and forth to it. And get all kinds of items out and put items back in there.
So if you have that maybe box, just make it a rule for yourself to not go back to it too much.
Unless you really need a specific item.
And also, if you haven't wanted to use those items in the last three to six months
Then make it a rule for yourself that you actually have to let it go after that time.
Next declutter tip is for decluttering collections.
So maybe you have a collection of books, or DVDs, or figurines. Maybe you have a nail polish collection.
It can be anything. Now there is of course nothing wrong with collections per se and you don't have to get rid of it.
But I often get questions from people. For example, I kind of like my book collection
But it's getting to be too much. So I kind of want to thin it out.
But I'm having a hard time deciding which books to let go of because I kind of like them all.
So, how can we make sure our collection stays at a size that we're comfortable with?
So my tip here, and this has been a lifesaver for me personally as well, is to set a maximum amount.
So how many books do you want to own max? Is it 20? Is it 50? Is it a hundred?
The number doesn't matter, but it has to be a number that you are still comfortable with.
So let's say that you decided you want to keep 50 books max. That is the number that you chose and you feel good about.
Then all that is left to do, is go through your books and choose your 50 favorites.
And having a number makes you a lot more critical and it's easier to declutter. Because
let's say you have a hundred books, and you want to keep 50.
You know that you cannot keep them all. So, I kind of like this one, suddenly
is not enough to keep it. You become more strict and more critical, and it's easier to decide which are your fifty favorite books.
And because it's also something that you chose, you came up with it
You can feel good about letting go of the rest, because it's something that you wanted to do. And you can also do this not
with a number, but with a space.
So for instance, if you want to declutter your makeup collection, then it helps to get a tray or a box. And just say
Okay
This is the amount of space that is allowed to take up. And no more. And just keep everything that you love that can fit
in there and declutter the rest.
Next minimalism tip for beginners is to start slow and easy and work your way up towards the more challenging areas.
So don't start with the areas in your home that stress you out, like your wardrobe or sentimental items.
Or maybe your car is a really big mess.
Start where it's easy and fun, something to gain momentum, feel good about what you're doing, and get inspired to keep going.
And when you reach a more challenging area, also start around the edges.
So let's say your challenging area is your wardrobe, then start with your socks, your underwear
Maybe then do purses, or maybe shoes and slowly work your way in.
Next declutter tip is about paper clutter.
So a lot of people who get started with minimalism, have a difficult time dealing with paper clutter.
So I have a very simple two step process for dealing with papers in my home and that works really well.
And it's really easy. So the first is to have designated a place in your home to collect everything that comes in.
So have everyone store their papers there. And already make it as little as possible
So already recycle the envelopes, or if it's junk mail, recycle that too. And leave the rest.
Then step two is, once a week or once a month, depending on how many papers you get in your home
Sit down and sort through them and store them where they need to go.
We have one folder in our home that has all our papers, everything.
So everything for me, my boyfriend, our apartment, is in this one folder.
When it comes to dealing with paper clutter, prevention always works best.
So we hardly even get any mail here anymore. Because we cancelled all the
unimportant things, and for the important things we just contacted the companies and asked them if they could email us instead.
So if you hardly get an email in anymore
Then paper clutter will already be a lot less of an issue. As you've start with minimalism
This next tip is the easiest to get started and already make a lot of progress. And that is to reduce your duplicates.
So gadgets, appliances, water pitchers, tea kettles, etc.
Because for a lot of things, we only need one of. So if you just keep your favorite
Which is usually the one you use the most, and get rid of the rest, you know
you're not gonna miss them and you're already creating a lot of extra space.
Next declutter tip is about letting go of expensive items.
And this has been one of the most challenging areas for me in my minimalism journey.
Items, you kind of want to get rid of because they take up space and you're not using them that much, but they were expensive.
Letting go of expensive items makes us feel bad, especially if we haven't used it that much.
Our mind is very reluctant to let it go, because it feels like a financial loss. Because we haven't gotten our money's worth.
So we think, I'll just keep it around maybe someday in the future
I can start using it again and squeeze out some more value from it, because I already paid so much.
Let me share one of my favorite quotes here. Your things are like your roommates only you pay their rent.
It's from the book Goodbye Things, which I highly recommend.
It is so true. Because by keeping an item around, we're continuing to pay for it.
We still pay for the physical space that the item takes up. Also we pay for it with our attention.
Maybe we have to clean it every once in a while, And also just our mental energy every time we look at it.
So we have to ask ourselves
Is that still worth it? When I was able to shut that off, and just declutter things
anyway, even if they were expensive
It felt very freeing and I was letting go of a lot of built-up guilt around that item.
And of course, look into the option of selling it first, you'll feel better about it
if you make a little of that money back. But in any case, don't let it stop you. Because the money is already gone
So don't continue to pay for something if you're not using it.
Next up, what to do with items that hold a lot of memories or sentimental value.
The very easy tip here is to just take a picture and save it that way.
If seeing an item brings back memories
It will do the same thing
If you see a picture of the item. And this way, the item will no longer take up space in your home.
So if you have some sentimental items around that you actually want to get rid of
But the only reason you're hanging on to them is because of the memories they bring you, then use that picture tip.
It really works. Last declutter tip has to do with letting go of items that were gifts. Another tricky part for a lot of
minimalists. Because letting go of gifts means that we feel guilty towards the person that gave it to us.
The tip here is to
regift or donate. Because you will feel so much better
if you know that the item someone gave you, is now making someone else happy.
So let's say you have a decorative item. Then giving it to Goodwill, or to your neighbor who said they loved it
will make you feel good, knowing that it is now in their home making them happy whenever they look at it.
And this is a really easy way to declutter gifts that you no longer have any use for yourself. If you enjoyed the video
please give it a thumbs up. I really appreciate it. Right here is the other minimalism for beginners video, and right here
I have a complete guide to declutter your home.
So check those out if you want. Click here to subscribe to the channel for weekly videos just like this one.
I hope your having a great weekend, and I hope I will see you all soon, bye-bye
