Instead of Spring Cleaning, Try Spring Decluttering

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The urge to spring clean your home is a strong one. You know warmer months are coming, things are about to look up, and you want to enjoy all of that in a fresh, revitalized environment. Typically, that involves your standard cleaning, but what if you shook it up this year? Try a spring decluttering approach instead, getting rid of what no longer serves you so you can really enjoy your space. Here's how to do it.

Assess your space

This is something I practice a lot, especially since I started heavily decluttering about two years ago: I stand in a room and look at it as objectively as I can. When you get used to things—a bunch of stuff piled on a side table, an old box you don't really use, a Swiffer that has somehow been propped on the same wall for weeks—you don't really notice how cluttered it all looks anymore, let alone how little you really use or need all that junk.

It is difficult to do, but try looking around as if you didn't live there and really noticing what is all over the place. If you're really struggling, call a friend over to give an assessment or take a picture of the room. Somehow, looking at a photo of the space, not the space itself, really helps me see how it truly looks.

Choose a decluttering method to follow

Before you choose a method to follow (and there are many), make a commitment to stick with your decision and get rid of a lot of things. In general, no matter which approach you're following, you'll be sorting items into one of four categories: Keep, throw, donate, and sell. In fact, many decluttering gurus don't even acknowledge "sell" as an option, choosing to focus instead of keep, throw, and donate, but I find that selling things has been helpful for me not only financially, but because I end up absolutely sure that someone else is getting use out of them.

It can be helpful, especially if you're not in the habit of decluttering, to actually set out four boxes and manually sort everything into them. One piece of advice: When a box is full, take it immediately where it needs to go. The trash box goes straight to the trash. The donation box goes into your car or, better yet, right to the drop-off center. Getting into the habit of being actionable about clutter starts with doing what you say you're going to do with each category of items.

As for what kind of approach to take, you have options. I suggest starting your spring decluttering with a bang rather than a bit-by-bit method, only because that's the point of spring cleaning. You can downshift into a more measured approach to keep the party going all year long later. For now, try your hand at getting rid of as much as you can. Some good options here are the "move-out" method and the Peter Walsh method.

The move-out method comes from Katie Holdefehr, author of Embrace Your Space and associate editorial director at Real Simple. It will put a bit of a push behind your efforts, which is just right for spring cleaning season: You act as if you're actually moving out of your home and into a new one, except the "new" home is actually the one you already have, just cleaner and better. You set a "move-out" date and box up everything in the room, categorizing it like you would if you were actually leaving, but asking yourself, "If I really moved, would I want to take this with me? Would there be a place for it in my new home?" When everything is boxed up and you've gotten rid of all the stuff that didn't elicit a "yes" to those questions, clean the room thoroughly, then unpack. You may find even more things that you don't want to keep, so get rid of those, too.

Peter Walsh's method is also pretty harsh: Empty the space entirely and then set a vision for it. If you're decluttering your living room, for instance, spend some time imagining how you really want to live in there, whether it's turning it into a place to get your work done or spend cozy nights watching movies. Really focus on the vision for what you want that room to be, then sort everything you moved out of it into two piles: Things that serve that vision and things that don't. Get rid of what doesn't, then put everything else away.

What to do when you get stuck

This isn't easy, primarily because we all have a tendency to justify keeping things we don't really need, whether for sentimental reasons or because we're worried we might somehow need them one day. The reality is that you probably won't need a lot of your clutter and, in the event you do, it can be replaced rather than taking up space in the meantime. To work through these mental roadblocks, there are questions you can ask yourself as you declutter. Here's a list of my favorites, which includes questions like these:

• "When was the last time I used this?" This can help you determine if you even actually use the thing you're considering getting rid of.

• "Do I want the job of managing this item?" This helps you realistically frame the commitment and responsibility that holding onto something will demand of you.

• "Would I know I had this if I needed it?" This is useful for cleaning spaces like junk drawers, which are full of those items you make excuses to hold onto "just in case."

What happens when spring is over

I don't always recommend ripping off the Band-Aid and starting with a technique as hardcore as the move-out or Peter Walsh methods, but they work well if you're trying to jump start a new, clutter-free lifestyle, which makes them a great fit for spring cleaning season. It might be difficult and you might end up keeping a lot of things you don't need, but the bigger the jump start, the better the results. To maintain and enhance those results, you need to keep going, decluttering all the time. I've been doing it for two years now and I'm still nowhere near a minimalist, but there are some excellent long-term approaches you can follow to keep this energy going.

First, build micro-decluttering into your existing cleaning schedule. (No existing cleaning schedule? Here's how to build one.) Micro-decluttering involves picking a tiny space and focusing only on that, rather than on a whole room or even the whole house. You're not decluttering the bathroom, but the medicine cabinet. You're not decluttering your living room, but one shelving unit in it. Picking a tiny space every day stops you from getting overwhelmed and, over time, creates a much more manageable home.

The same is true for methods like 12-12-12 and 365 Less Things. With 12-12-12, you find 12 items to donate, 12 items to throw, and 12 items to put away every single day, but it's easier than it sounds. If you threw your junk mail on the table by the front door or find a Starbucks straw wrapper in your purse, those count as what you can throw away just as much as a broken appliance does. A blanket on the couch that really belongs in a basket counts for something to put away just as much as a whole load of clean laundry does. Again, take this in small increments to build a habit. With 365 Less Things, you're dedicating yourself to getting rid of one thing every day over the course of a year. It's the perfect way to follow up on a major round of spring decluttering because it slows down the process in a way that's totally manageable. It might not seem like much, but after a full year of doing it—when you'll end up back at spring cleaning!—you'll be down a significant amount of junk and your home will be better off long-term.