ReStore 'Tidying Up' Tips for Decluttering Your Home - Omaha Habitat ReStore

‘spark joy’

in your home

‘Spark joy’ & ‘tidying up’ have become coin phrases for organizing & decluttering your home, thanks to Marie Kondo.

Her Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo & most recent book entitled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying have swept the world by storm & has everyone wanting to tidy, clean-up & declutter their homes.

The basic premise of Marie Kondo’s tidying tips is to test your stuff by determining if an item ‘sparks joy’. If something in your home is no longer bringing joy, you thank it for its service & get rid of it.

While her ‘Tidying Up’ series focuses more on organizing tips for smaller items in your home like clothes, kitchen utensils & other miscellaneous items; the same decluttering process can be used for larger items in your home as well. 

It is easy to hold on to bigger home items like furniture, appliances & home décor. Most were either expensive, useful, seemingly essential or brought you joy in an earlier season of life. That’s why learning to let go is an important skill to develop & one that can bring even more joy to your home.

Applying the KonMarie Method of tidying to home décor can be a bit tricky, but the following is an easy, modified guide for applying similar Marie Kondo tidying tips to the larger items in your home.

‘Tidying Up’ Tips

The same basic rules hold up: you’re better off without it if it serves you no purpose or is no longer making you happy.

tidy all at once

Once you have decided to tidy up the larger items in your home, try to do it in one fell swoop. Clear out a long weekend & try to make it in one shot. This is helpful for remembering what items you have in every room & better managing your home inventory if you decide to rearrange or move items around. 

visualize your home

Envision the tidy home goals you have always dreamed of or maybe you have organization inspiration you found on Pinterest. Having a clear picture in mind for your space will keep you motivated to tidy up.

Tip: Start by tidying up. If you have home projects you want to complete, set them aside for now. Decluttering & getting rid of the items that no longer bring joy to your home should be viewed as the first step of your remodeling project.

Z

try to tidy by category (not location)

It can be hard not to tidy by location, as you often separate your home by rooms, but tidying up will be more successful if you look at the furniture & décor in your space by category. It may be helpful to make a list or take photos of the items in each room by category before moving onto another space.

determine what stays & what goes

One by one look at or pick up each item. If it has a purpose or ‘sparks joy’ put it in a (metaphoric or literal) ‘keep’ pile. If the item does neither, put it in the ‘donate’ pile. The more you practice the process the easier it becomes to decipher what you want to keep & what you want to depart with.

Tip: Don’t feel bad about letting go. At one point that item brought you joy! Whether it was the person who gave it to you, the way you felt when you first bought it, or the potential you saw in it at one point, you can be grateful for the happiness in brought to you. Hold onto those memories (maybe snap a photo) and simply move on.

donate, discard or recycle

Donating items to organizations with a good cause might make letting go of an item a little easier. Donating items to the ReStore gives items an opportunity to ‘spark joy’ & purpose to another family’s home & all sales profit the local community & provides sufficient housing to those who need it. Find similar donation or recycling spots for all of the items in your home so you save the landfill & can feel even better about your decluttering process.

organize what you have left

Now that everything in your home serves a purpose & brings you joy, organize it in a way that does as well. If your decluttering process has left your home bare take the time to find new items to replace them. (Shopping second-hand is a great way to do this on a budget.)

Tip: Don’t feel like you have to replace anything or everything all at once. Spend time in your newly tidied space to discover what next item might bring joy. Take the time to browse inspiration as well. Now that your home is tidy you can finally tackle those renovation, remodeling or DIY projects you have been waiting for.

Hopefully, this modified KonMarie Method to tidying your home will give you the confidence to tackle a decluttering project & will leave you with joy.

Remember that the ReStore can be a great resource for many of your decluttering needs. We can pick up items you want to donate, we offer gently used items that can spark joy & serve a purpose in your home, and sell supplies you may need for any remodeling, renovation or DIY project you want to complete now that your home is tidied!

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