2020 was such a mess of a year, wouldn’t you agree? We have the burden of the pandemic on our backs; we’ve been ravaged by storms, we even had to go through ash fall, unemployment, and many political issues, and yet, here we are, we’ve managed to make it to 2021. A new year only spells hope, anda new beginning for us all. You may ask, “How can I even start anew? What would I do to make things right? How do I take things in with a fresh perspective?” Well, as they say, change always begins with oneself, and what better way to practice a new beginning than to start at home. Everything that you’ve seen this past year, the news about the pandemic, the various limitations brought about by the lockdowns, the consecutive calamities near the end of 2020, all of them had an impact that understandably roused fear and anxiety among everyone.. In this case, the need to “detox” the fear and anxiety is a commodity that everyone deserves, and your home would be a great place to start.
A certain organizing consultant from Japan once said that you should only keep the things that “spark joy, and indeed, she is right. You may begin to heal from the various wounds caused by 2020 by simply decluttering your home, decluttering your surroundings. You deserve to be happy, you deserve to heal, and you deserve to be organized.
With that, here are a few vital tips in decluttering your home at the start of the year. Keep in mind that you should do these regularly in order to maintain the cleanliness of your home. Anything in life that requires effort on a regular basis would yield nothing but success and goodness, and cleaning is definitely close to the top of the list.
- Set a weekly and monthly schedule just for cleaning.
At first glance, this may seem like overkill, but think about it, the more that you leave off cleaning from your regular activities, the more accumulated the mess would get. That pile of paper clip on the table may seem innocent at first, but after a week, it would be covered by a pile of memos, then a pile of pencil shavings, then an empty paper cup, and so on. Just imagine if you were able to clean that first pile of paperclips at first, then your momentum of clearing that very same spot would continue throughout the days, weeks, and even months, hence, it would remain clean and spotless. The same thing can be said about the other parts of your home, so don’t just ignore that small spot of dust under the table, sweep it, throw away the scrap papers, and live in a dustless and tidy home. You don’t even have to schedule your home cleaning every consecutive week; you may do it in an alternate manner. - Feel free to ask for help.
The task of decluttering your home would be easier to accomplish with the help of your other family members. You can even help them out in decluttering each of their rooms, so as long as you wouldn’t have to invade each other’s privacy by avoiding those personal items which they’d prefer to go untouched, the more hands, the better. Of course, you may have to plan out, coordinate, and speak with them in advance, so everyone may clean in unison. A well-coordinated decluttering session would go smoothly than a sudden order of “go clean your room, otherwise I will throw it all in the trash.” Remember, you are only going to dispose of the things which are no longer useful, and you may not know which is which if you do not talk with the other members of the household. What may seem like a tarnished shirt may otherwise hold a sentimental value, so keep that in mind as well. If your question is, “May I set National Holidays as a cleaning and decluttering day?” Yes, you may, but again, you should talk with your family if whether or not they’d like to spend that time in cleaning the house or they’d rather have quality time with you.
- Decluttering is done better by segregation.
This is true, for the most part. Take two big plastic bags, one should contain the things which you will 100% throw away without any hesitation, and for the other plastic bag, the things which may still need a bit of thinking before you may decide to either throw them out or to keep them. After sorting everything out, empty the first plastic bag in the trash can and re-use it for the next step. The other plastic bag which contains the things which may require careful thinking would have to be emptied in a much slower manner, taking a minimal approach as you sort out the things you may still need and the things which may add useless clutter in your space. - Handle the small things first, then, work your way up towards much bigger items.
This would make your decluttering easier and well-organized, as you would follow a process which make sure that no unnecessary mess be left untouched. This is also vital since other smaller valuables, like earrings, necklaces, and other forms of jewelries may get lost in the mix, and you definitely wouldn’t want that to happen. The bigger items, you wouldn’t miss as they are visible even from a few meters away, but the smaller valuables are a whole different story. You wouldn’t want to throw away family heirlooms by mistake, so as with other small gadgets and receipts.
After decluttering all of the unnecessary items, you may still find a couple of things which may have high financial value, but is no longer useful or is something you no longer like. This is true, especially for jewelry. In such case, why don’t you pawn them off for extra cash? At this point, Cebuana Lhuillier has you covered! With their Pawning Service you can never go short in any amount, as they accept an array of items, from jewelry to gadgets, as collaterals. They also lead the pawning industry by offering safety and the highest appraisal rate in the industry through its more than 2,500 branches nationwide. And did we mention that they implement some of the most secure and the safest way to transact during the pandemic? Proper social distancing and disinfection procedures are followed in all branches of Cebuana Lhuillier at all times, prioritizing their customer’s health and well-being above all. Visit the nearest Cebuana Lhuillier branch now – we assure a fast, easy and secure transaction.