Decluttering trends: Four ways to unburden yourself from stuff

Key insights:

• For a comprehensive approach to tidying your home, try the KonMari Method or Swedish Death Cleaning.
• The Four Boxes Method and 12-12-12 Challenge are great ways to get your home in order fast.
• Remember, you don’t need to purchase anything fancy to get your home in order now.
• Gather your family or friends to get involved with decluttering too.

Have you heard of the mega-hit Netflix show, Tidying Up? Five years after releasing her bestselling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, organization expert Marie Kondo has taken the streaming world by storm in her new series where she helps real Americans tidy their belongings and their lives.

The series has become so popular that people are purging their own belongings en masse and thrift shops are seeing a spike in donations as a result.

Of course, the “KonMari” method isn’t the only effective way to declutter your life. There are other methods that homeowners swear by, whether they’re cleaning up to sell their homes or just want to enjoy their space a little more. After all, minimalism is more than just a trend, it can be a way to relieve stress, anxiety and save money.

Here, we’ll discuss four different methods for decluttering your home, so that you can live in a space you truly love.

KonMari Method

The KonMari Method of tidying up is popular not only for its ability to effectively clean your home, but also for the importance it places on positive emotions. By implementing this approach to a decluttered life, you won’t have to feel guilty or sad when discarding items from your house. Rather, you can focus on keeping the items that “spark joy” in your life and let go of the rest.

Here’s how you can implement the KonMari Method in your space:

• Commit to tidying up your home, office, etc.
• Picture your ideal lifestyle.
• Discard items prior to organizing.
• Begin to tidy by category of items, e.g. clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items and sentimental items.
• Declutter these categories in order.
• Ask yourself — Does this item spark joy? If not, it’s time to thank the item and let it go.

Swedish Death Cleaning

Swedish Death Cleaning is not as intimidating as it may sound. In fact, this method of cleaning is based on a minimalist approach that emphasizes comfort while letting go of belongings that are no longer needed.

So, where does the name for this method come from? First adopted by Swedish people, this method encourages the clearing of your unwanted or unused items so that eventually others won’t have to do it for you.

Although it’s common to initiate this type of cleaning around middle age, it’s always a great time to begin tidying! Here are all the details on the Swedish Death Challenge, so you can start to clean up your house.

The Four Box Method

All you need to begin the Four Box Method of tidying up is four boxes! This simple method of cleaning involves a separate box for:

• Donations
• Trash
• Relocated items
• Things to keep

Once you have your boxes set up and labeled, go to a room or closet in your home and begin sorting your items. When everything has been placed in a box, you’ll move the items to their new location and move on to the next room.

This method is great for anyone who wants to complete their tidying up process over a longer span of time. After the boxes are set up, you can continuously revisit the task until it’s complete.

12-12-12 Challenge

Similar to the Four Box Method, the 12-12-12 challenge will prompt you to locate the following:

• 12 items to toss
• 12 items to donate
• 12 items to put away

Everyone in your family can participate in this quick and creative way to declutter your home. So, whether you and your partner have a friendly cleaning competition or you incentivize your kiddos to complete their portion of tidying, you can get the entire home to join you on this cleaning feat.

The best part of the 12-12-12 challenge is that you can do it as often as you like — you can try it every day for two weeks to start out, and then less often as your home becomes less cluttered.

Ready to tidy up?

Whether you’re starting spring cleaning early or you’d like to get your home in tip-top shape before you list it for sale this year, these four methods of tidying up will help you get a jump start on your cleaning process. For additional guidance on home sale preparation, reach out to Edina Realty or one of our agents.

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