One unfortunate thing about being human is that seemingly no matter how hard we try, we just accumulate a lot of clutter. Spring always seems to be the time to declutter our homes from top to bottom, but removing clutter can be (and perhaps should be) a year-round effort to keep it down.
If you’re hunting for a new home, then this is a perfect opportunity to leave your clutter behind this spring and start your new living arrangements with a clean slate. Here are our tips for leaving your clutter behind.
Start Small
Just the thought of decluttering a home sends chills down your back. The sheer magnitude of the task seems so insurmountable that even the most organized neat-freak would steer clear of the task. In reality, though, decluttering your home is an incremental process that can be taken in small steps.
Focus on manageable areas of your home instead of tackling the entire home by itself. Start by picking a neglected bookshelf, the spare closet, or a cabinet in your kitchen that is just collecting dust. From there, you can start to declutter in a small, manageable, and (dare we say) satisfying way.
Sorting Through the Stuff
Sorting through things may be one of the most challenging parts of the whole decluttering process, and you’ll likely find there are forgotten about items that you just can’t seem to part with.
Start by creating three piles to sort your things into keep, trash, and donate (garage sale can also be exchanged here). From there, it’s very simple to make some decisions on what to keep and what to get rid of. Be ruthless about getting rid of things that you don’t have use for, but be gentle enough to keep things that have personal or intrinsic value to you or your family.
Leave the Emotions at the Door
As you begin decluttering, you’ll certainly run across things you’ve long forgotten about, memories you’ve made with your family and things that bring back those loved ones you haven’t seen for a while. And while it’s fun to unearth something forgotten and reminisce, it can also be a major hindrance to your decluttering effort.
With that said, leave your emotions behind when you embark on a decluttering journey. Again, you don’t have to be inhuman, but it’s not essential to keep every birthday card from the day you were born either. Let those things have their moment, then let it pass and carry on with your mission.
Keep Important Documents
One thing that will be tempting during your decluttering is to throw away any piece of paper that doesn’t have an immediate value to your life, but keep in mind that important financial documents may come in handy when it comes time to finance your new home.
Recent pay stubs, bank statements, and other financial documents from the past 6 months or so will be handy when it comes to securing financing down the road.
If you haven’t already started to gather those documents or you’re looking for a lender to help you through the mortgage process, then get in touch with Tidewater Mortgage Services, Inc. Tidewater’s expert loan officers can help you get pre-qualified for a mortgage and get you started on a path of homeownership in as little as 24 hours. Fill out an application today to get started!
