How to Declutter Your Home and Embrace a Minimalist Lifestyle
Hey, it's Remi here!
Is your living space cluttered, messy, and unorganized? Do you tear your closet apart looking for one outfit? Are you finding yourself running out of room to put things?
My goal this year is to live minimally. Why? Because a messy space equals a messy mind. If there is clutter everywhere, then I begin to feel anxious and stressed. I can't find what I'm looking for, and Nate gets frustrated when my stuff is everywhere, too. It's a recipe for chaos.
This year, I'm DONE with living in clutter. Quarantine was the perfect time for me to realize this and take steps to declutter the house. Cleaning your space has so many benefits, other than it just looking nice! Here are some other benefits of a clean space:
A clean house improves your mood, giving you a sense of happiness and accomplishment
A clean house can help prevent anxiety and stress
A clean house saves you time
A clean house gives you more room for social events (after COVID-19 of course lol)
A clean house lets you be aware of the resources you have
As you can see, there are SO many benefits to cleaning your space. I've been working with Dany at Spatial Solutions to help me out with this, and it's been a game-changer. Dany is committed to helping people create spaces that feel good, inspire, and elevate their lifestyles, and she's done an amazing job of helping me declutter the house — especially our office space!
It really needed some help. This is where Nate’s life and mine combine — where we each do our work. Nate keeps all of his things in one place, while I have different spaces for all my blogging, beauty, and camera equipment. It was very, VERY cluttered. The room also gets a lot of foot traffic, and all the mess made it really difficult to navigate. Both Nate and I were getting frustrated, so we decided to contact our friend Dany for some help.
I made a vlog that shows the whole process, so be sure to check that out after reading this post! Decluttering is difficult — it's sometimes really hard to let things go. You have to "edit" those spaces down to the essentials and get rid of everything else. I couldn’t have done it without the accountability of Spatial Solutions, and I feel so much lighter now that half my things are out of sight, out of mind.
In this post, I want to share that decluttering process with you and some of Dany's tips on making your home less messy and more aligned with the lifestyle you love!
Decluttering Tip #1: Embrace the Essentials, Let Go of the Rest
I showed Dany a picture of the beauty closet, which was packed with different products. Even though the products were taking up 100% of that closet space, I was only using 10% of the products in that space. This is how Dany put it:
"That's taking up so much real estate. You can get rid of the deep closet stuff because it's not selling … it's been too long. … You should be able to move and breathe more easily. And you use 10% of the amount of beauty products that you have, so you can donate [the rest] or whatever you want to do … it just needs to be out." - Dany
Does this sound like you? Do you have an overabundance of clothes, products, or materials that you aren't using? If so, it may be time for a massive edit. This means going through your things and editing out the stuff you don't really need. It's going to be really uncomfortable at first, but once you can get into that mindset of embracing the essentials, then this process gets easier and easier!
Decluttering Tip #2: Group Similar Items Together
Once I began editing out the clothes and products that I didn't need, Dany suggested that I group similar items together to 1) make more space, 2) create more organization, and 3) make it easier to find what I'm looking for.
"There's some stuff in the front closet, some stuff behind you, some stuff in the linen closet, [so] let's start grouping this stuff together. Right now, it's like everywhere, so your brain has to do extra work to remember where you last put it." - Dany
If all your stuff is just in one room, with no organization whatsoever, then it's SO much harder to find what you're looking for. You end up wasting time looking for something that's not there in the first place. By categorizing your things into different sections — beauty products, clothes, fitness equipment, etc. — then each item has a space, and your brain becomes less cluttered as a result!
Decluttering Tip #3: The Solution Is Not to Find More Places to Put Things
So when I'm organizing, my tendency is to look for places to put things in, like cabinets, closets, shelves, bookcases, etc. But this actually doesn't solve the clutter problem. It actually can make it even worse.
"You're just going to have to do the most uncomfortable edit [that] you've ever done so that you can breathe again. Because there's just too much. You think that you need it, but you don't — you don't need any of it. We can get as creative as we want and add another armoire in your room, but I don't think the solution is to give you more places to put things." - Dany
When you find more spaces to put things, you give yourself the opportunity to buy even more things that you don't need, and that's the real issue. The issue wasn't that I didn't have enough space — it was that I had too much stuff.
Decluttering Tip #4: Ask Yourself, What's "Medium?"
When I was editing out clutter, one problem that kept coming up for me was holding onto things that were "medium." I used them sometimes, but they weren't my favorites. Does this mean I should hold onto them or let them go? Here's what Dany had to say:
"When you truly love something, you're like, 'I don't want anything else.' But if you have a bunch of shit that's medium, like some jeans that kinda fit but don't fit well, that's why you end up investing in nicer pieces." - Dany
Holding onto the medium things is actually what keeps you buying new things — you're not satisfied, so you keep going back for more. This creates a cycle, and then soon, you have so much STUFF and no place to put it! Realizing this was key for me!
Decluttering Tip #5: Only Keep What You Truly Love
But what about the things that are medium but hold sentimental value? Sentimental value is REAL, and sometimes it's really hard to get rid of certain things just because they hold certain memories or experiences. This is when I had to ask myself, "I do really love this?" Keep in mind that sometimes, this changes — something that you loved a year ago might not be what you love today!
A good way to tell if you really love something is if you are constantly using it. So maybe there's a foundation you use 24/7, but you have some glitter eyeliner that you use every once in a while. It's obvious which one you should hold on to, right? What are some things that you truly love, and what are some things that you can let go?
"Truth is, when you simply ... everything down, everything's just going to be easier. Now it's time to get rid of the workout sets [and] the 80,000 Chanel lipsticks that you're not putting on. You don't need it. Make space in that closet [for] the things that you do use [and love.] It's a lot more freeing when you have a few amazing pieces that you love, right?" - Dany
After weeks of decluttering, donating products, and organizing, I really found this to be true. The simpler your space is, the happier you feel! When you're surrounding yourself with the things you love, your mood and lifestyle improve, and you have more space to enjoy what you have!
A Decluttered Home = A Happy Mind
I was SO thankful for Dany and all the amazing advice she gave Nate and me for our home. Since our talk with her, we've made excellent progress on decluttering not only the office space, but also the rest of the house, including Monkey's living area! We used to have bunny poop scattered everywhere, but now he has his own playpen area next to the window.
The hard work of purging is DONE, and I'm proud of myself! Once you can make it past there, organizing everywhere is so much easier and more enjoyable. Dany is going to help me figure out the room flow and the mindful placement of everything, and that's the FUN part! I'm PUMPED!
I hope these five decluttering tips help you simplify your space to create a happier, clearer mind! And if you have any decluttering tips of your own, I'd love to hear about them! Tag me on Instagram @rrayyme with your best organizing tips, and share this post with someone who's looking to purge their home and lifestyle!
LOVE YOU LOTS!
